On April 20, 1994, the Canadian Minister of Justice, Allan Rock, tabled draft amendments to the Criminal Code intended to protect society from the pernicious influence of so-called killer cards and games.

Canada has for some time been in the grip of national hysteria over this supposed threat to society, in particular the Serial Killer board game and the Eclipse Comics True Crime trading cards. A vocal opponent has been the mother of a serial killer victim (Debbie Mahaffey, mother of Leslie (in whose death Paul Teale and Karla Homolka are implicated). She is a very sympathetic figure and has been immensely helpful to groups opposed to "violence in entertainment" in Canada.

The board game in question is repeatedly described as killing babies. It isn't. It is about murder, but is a tongue-in-cheek effort aimed at a small adult market. It's expensive and hand-made, with rather poor quality components, and not attractive to or even sold to children. Most important, it is no longer being produced (public outrage drove the game's creator out of his job and away from the city where he lived).

True Crime cards are also marketed to a small adult audience. No criminals profit from their sale: all info on the cards is condensed from material in the public domain. Anyone can read all the gory details they want in a newspaper or "true crime" novel.

But for the sake of protecting Canada from this non-existent threat, the government would drastically limit minors' access to many harmless games, and place unreasonable restrictions on game dealers or social organizations where games are played.

The proposed law would make it a federal offence, punishable by stiff fines and/or up to two years in jail, to "sell or otherwise distribute" to anyone under the age of 18:

"(a) a card that was produced for commercial benefit, a dominant characteristic of which is a description or a pictorial depiction of an actual violent criminal or of an actual violent crime; or (b) a board game that was produced for commercial benefit, in which the players play the part of murderers and pretend to engage in violent criminal activity."

So, for example, the card game "Family Business", a humourous game set in the Chicago mob wars, would be illegal in several ways. The game cards have stylized representations of actual Chicago mobsters like Scarface, as well as actual crimes like the St. Valentine's day massacre. Also, the object of the game is to rub out the other gangs. Yet the game is quite harmless and can safely be played with children.

Any political board game in which assassination is a player option is at risk. A fantasy game like "HeroQuest" or "Dungeon!", which is in effect armed robbery and assault, is at risk. Maybe even playing the German side in a WWII war game is pretending to engage in violent criminal activity, since the Nazi leaders were convicted of crimes against humanity.

Role-playing games are not board games. However, if the tactical situation is represented by counters or figures on a map sheet, it is virtually indistinguishable in mechanics from a board game. Because of widespread public belief that these games involve plotting murders, they are at risk. The act of role-playing an assassin or a vampire, even if it is the game master controlling a non-player villain, would be illegal for minors.

The corollary amendments to these proposals are even more disturbing. The act of "distributing" - which is not narrowly defined and could include simply showing to or playing with - such materials to a minor would be made an "enterprise crime". In other words, it would be treated as profiteering from crime and would expose a game dealer to the "search, seizure and detention" provisions of the Criminal Code. These allow the Crown to obtain a warrant to enter premises, seize and dispose of offending materials, and authorize fines equal in amount to the alleged profit, on pain of increasing prison terms.

It would not be a defence under the proposed law to claim that you thought the person you "distributed" offending material to was over 18, unless you take "all reasonable steps" to ascertain that fact. In other words, to ensure they are not subjected to potential charges, game stores, clubs and conventions would have to demand ID. This can only lead to self-censorship of stock and the barring of minors from gaming events, "just to be safe". It is an unreasonable limitation on minors' access to public places.

The Customs Tariff would also be amended to place these types of materials on the prohibited import list. In other words (and it actually says this), customs officials would be authorized to seize items at the border if their sale to minors would be illegal. Until the sale has actually been made, no offence has been committed, but customs officers are being told in effect to look into the future. This is completely unacceptable.

These amendments put a powerful legal tool into the hands of vocal anti-game and anti-violence groups, who can use it to harass law-abiding game vendors. Even if a game is ultimately found to be inoffensive, the vendor would be obliged to engage legal counsel and endure a protracted court battle, while his accusers would enjoy the publicly-funded services of the police forces and Crown attorneys.

At the age of 16, you are old enough to carry a gun into battle. You're old enough to drive a car. You're old enough to enter into sexual relationships. But you're apparently not old enough to be able to distinguish between imaginary "crimes" and real objectionable activity. You can go to the bookstore or library and pick up "Helter Skelter", but you can't play a game where the murders aren't even real. You can play in a murder mystery party game and pretend to be a murderer, but you can't do the same thing if you roll dice and move pieces around a board. 

Those who wish to protest to the government can write to the Minister of Justice:

The Honourable Allan Rock, P.C., M.P. Minister of Justice House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0A6

Text of Canadian Game Censorship Laws

"Draft amendments to the Criminal Code and the Customs Tariff (crime cards and board games)

CRIMINAL CODE

1. The Criminal Code is amended by adding the following after section 172:

172.1 (1) No person shall sell or otherwise distribute to a person under the age of eighteen years

(a) a card that was produced for commercial benefit, a dominant characteristic of which is a description or a pictorial depiction of an actual violent criminal or of an actual violent crime; or

(b) a board game that was produced for commercial benefit, in which the players play the part of murderers and pretend to engage in violent criminal activity.

(2) Every person who contravenes this section is guilty of

(a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or

(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

(3) It is not a defence to a charge under subsection (1) that the accused believed that the person to whom the sale or distribution was made was eighteen years of age or more at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed unless the accused took all reasonable steps to ascertain the age of that person.

2. Paragraph (a) of the definition "enterprise crime offence" in section 462.3 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subparagraph (v.1):

(v.2) section 172.1 (crime cards and board games),

CUSTOMS TARIFF

3. Schedule VII to the Customs Tariff is amended by adding the following after code 9968:

9969 Cards that were produced for commercial benefit, a dominant characteristic of which is a description or a pictorial depiction of actual violent criminals or of actual violent crimes, the sale or other distribution of which to persons under the age of eighteen years is prohibited by section 172.1 of the Criminal Code.

9970 Board games that were produced for commercial benefit, in which the players play the part of murderers and pretend to engage in violent criminal activity, the sale or other distribution of which to persons under the age of eighteen years is prohibited by section 172.1 of the Criminal Code."