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Canada Knives: Buying Knives in Canada, in CAD
The Vault Guides · Dossier
What Knives Are Illegal in Canada?
8 min read · By The Knife Vault Editorial Team
People ask "what knives are illegal in Canada" expecting a length chart. The Code gives them a mechanism chart instead. This dossier is the categories as the statute and the border notice describe them, plus the everyday knives that are not prohibited weapons simply for existing.
It is not a complete inventory of every prescribed device, and it is not legal advice. When a listing is silent about how the blade opens, treat the silence as a warning rather than a bargain. The statute map is knife laws in Canada.
01 Automatic, gravity, and centrifugal knives
Automatic knives — switchblades, out-the-front automatics, any blade that springs open when you press a button or device in or attached to the handle — match the s. 84(1) wording directly. Gravity knives, which drop open when released, match it too. Knives that open by centrifugal force, classically a butterfly (balisong) or any folder that flies open and locks with a brisk flick of the wrist, are the third limb.
CBSA Customs Notice 18-01, following the Tribunal in T. LaPlante, applies that centrifugal limb at the border even where some preliminary or simultaneous handling of a flipper or other non-edged part is needed, so long as a simple brisk outward wrist flick fully ejects and locks the blade. That is a classification test for importation. It is why "it is a flipper, so it must be fine" is not a sentence that survives contact with an officer at the airport.
02 What is generally not a prohibited weapon
A kitchen knife, a bread knife, a steak knife, a manually opened folding knife, a fixed blade in a sheath, a hatchet, a multi-tool — none of these is a prohibited weapon merely by type. They can still be used unlawfully if the purpose is a weapon, if they are concealed as a weapon, or if a local rule forbids them in a particular place. Type and purpose are different questions.
Thumb-stud and thumb-hole folders that require a deliberate push to open, and that do not fly open and lock from a wrist flick, are the ordinary tool pattern this shop stocks. We do not sell automatics. We do not sell gravity knives. We do not sell knives as weapons.
03 Grey listings and imported advice
Assisted-opening folders, spring-loaded flippers, and anything marketed as "one-handed flick" sit where mechanism descriptions on a product page and the s. 84(1) / Notice 18-01 tests can disagree. We do not certify a third-party listing. We do not tell you a knife will "get through" CBSA. If you import for yourself, you are the importer, and the classification is theirs.
US blogs will mention three-inch limits, "assisted is legal if there is a switch," and holsters sold as weapons. Those sentences describe another country. Read the Code and the notice instead, or pay someone licensed to read them for you.
If the job is the board, start on the chef knives hub — the Mitsumoto Sakari VG-10 Damascus santoku is a cooking tool, not a souvenir mechanism. A work-pocket tool is the Leatherman Rebar. A matching kitchen drawer is the Hezhen 7-piece Damascus kitchen knife set. Knives ship tracked, free over $150 CAD.
Sources & Further Reading
- ◆ Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c. C-46, s. 84(1) — prohibited weapon (Justice Canada)
- ◆ CBSA Customs Notice 18-01 — centrifugal opening knives
- ◆ Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and Other Weapons as Prohibited or Restricted, SOR/98-462
- ◆ CBSA Memorandum D19-13-2 — Importing and Exporting Firearms, Weapons and Devices
Frequently asked questions
Questions from the Counter
- Are butterfly knives illegal in Canada?
- Butterfly (balisong) knives typically open by centrifugal force and are treated as prohibited weapons under the s. 84(1) centrifugal limb. Do not import one as a souvenir. This is a description of the published test, not a ruling on a specific knife.
- Are switchblades illegal in Canada?
- Yes. A knife that opens automatically by hand pressure on a button, spring, or other device in or attached to the handle is a prohibited weapon under s. 84(1).
- Are kitchen knives or chef knives illegal in Canada?
- No. A chef's knife, santoku, or kitchen set is not a prohibited weapon by type. Using or carrying any knife as a weapon is a separate, serious offence regardless of the blade's job at the board.
- Can I import a pocket knife into Canada?
- You can import a knife that is not a prohibited weapon. CBSA applies the centrifugal test in Customs Notice 18-01 at the border. If the blade flicks fully open and locks with a brisk wrist motion, expect it to be classified as a prohibited weapon and refused. Buying from a Canadian retailer who already holds the catalog avoids making you the importer.
On the shelf
Pieces this page is talking about
From the Page to the Palm
Reading about steel is one thing. Holding it is the other.
Every claim in this guide is backed by a piece on the shelf — folding knives steel, named and priced plainly in CAD.
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