Criminal Code

Marginal note:Intimidation of a justice system participant or a journalist

• 423.1 (1) No person shall, without lawful authority, engage in conduct referred to in subsection (2) with the intent to provoke a state of fear in

  • (a) a group of persons or the general public in order to impede the administration of criminal justice;

  • (b) a justice system participant in order to impede him or her in the performance of his or her duties; or

  • (c) a journalist in order to impede him or her in the transmission to the public of information in relation to a criminal organization.

• Marginal note:Prohibited conduct

  (2) The conduct referred to in subsection (1) consists of

  • (a) using violence against a justice system participant or a journalist or anyone known to either of them or destroying or causing damage to the property of any of those persons;

  • (b) threatening to engage in conduct described in paragraph (a) in Canada or elsewhere;

  • (c) persistently or repeatedly following a justice system participant or a journalist or anyone known to either of them, including following that person in a disorderly manner on a highway;

  • (d) repeatedly communicating with, either directly or indirectly, a justice system participant or a journalist or anyone known to either of them; and

  • (e) besetting or watching the place where a justice system participant or a journalist or anyone known to either of them resides, works, attends school, carries on business or happens to be.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (3) Every person who contravenes this section is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than fourteen years.