“We wish to inform new immigrant arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here,” a declaration on the Canadian village of Herouxville’s website reads. “We consider it completely outside norms to… kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc.” (Those Canadians and their crazy laws.)
The annoucement also points out that women are allowed to drive in our neighbor to the north, as well as dance, vote and own their own homes, and it bans Sikh children from carrying ceremonial daggers to school (even though Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled that they can). Naturally, Canadian Muslims are offended. They can take some cold comfort, perhaps, in the knowledge that there are plenty of other crazy laws on the books in Canada (besides those banning the ritual murder of women), like
- Comic books which depict illegal act are themselves illegal.
- You may not pay for a fifty-cent item with only pennies.
- In Alberta, if you are released from prison, it is required that you are given a handgun with bullets and a horse, so you can ride out of town. (This one might be a little outdated.)
- It’s illegal to climb trees.
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It is, of course, completely untrue about the comic books. Canadians read the same comics Americans do. Lists of “crazy laws” are often compilations of urban myth, unenforced bits of archaic legislation or long-eliminated laws and regulations.
posted by Paul Paquet on 1-31-2007 at 3:39 pm
i’m sure canadian muslims aren’t miffed by the anti-sikh bylaws
posted by sabrina on 1-31-2007 at 4:30 pm
Of course, even if a law isn’t regularly or evenly enforced doesn’t mean it isn’t on the books and can’t attempted to be enforced at a later date (see southern sodomy laws).
posted by Tom on 1-31-2007 at 8:05 pm
There is still a law on the books in my hometown that prohibits boys from carrying slingshots. It dates back to the days when there were horse-drawn trolleys for public transportation; some found good sport in stinging the backside of those horses with slingshotted projectiles.
posted by Dave on 2-1-2007 at 12:11 am
I’m glad to see the mentalfloss crew has finally come around to see the plus side of burning women alive, stoning them, and lopping off their wiggly bits. The audacity of some eurocentric misanthropes to believe ladies should be allowed to disgrace their entire family’s honor by choosing their own sexytime partners!
It’s difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the dhimmi North Americans or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain though- there is no stopping them. They will soon be here. I for one, welcome our new misogynist overlords. As an insipid trolling personality, I can be useful in rounding up others to toil in their, their, well, whatever economic activity they someday choose to undertake once they’re done slaughtering everyone who disagrees with them.
posted by Aaron on 2-1-2007 at 8:40 am
As I understand it, the law you were refering to was that you must be given a gun, a bullet, and a horse if you are kicked out of the city, not if you are released from prison. I could be wrong.
posted by Colin Olthof on 2-1-2007 at 12:02 pm
These are the same as those ‘crazy laws’ you always read about… They’re outdated local bylaws from small towns, not at all indications of how my country is run.
Sarasota: It is illegal to sing in a
public place while attired in a swimsuit.
Florida: Methuselahs, Salamanazars, Balthazars or Nebuchadnezzars, otherwise known as traditional Champagne bottle sizes, are all illegal in Florida.
In Canada you can drink at 19, smoke weed pretty much anywhere, gamble freely , and the strippers are completely naked.
We’re not backward. Or boring.
posted by Rhi on 2-1-2007 at 8:55 pm
But we are often hilariously xenophobic!
Oh and yeah, actually, we’re pretty dull. It’s the dope.
posted by Thursday on 2-4-2007 at 11:42 pm
i’ll love to go to canada if that is a law
posted by Bobby on 5-1-2008 at 12:33 pm