Public Urination

Municipal bylaws may prohibit public urination and impose fines that vary by place and circumstances. There is no standalone Criminal Code offence named public urination, but the conduct may support an indecent-act charge under section 173(1) if that offence's legal requirements are met.

Municipal bylaws may prohibit public urination and impose fines that vary by place and circumstances. Public urination, defecation, or similar conduct is usually dealt with under local bylaws or provincial offences rather than the Criminal Code itself. The rule, ticket amount, and enforcement process vary by city and province.

These are not Criminal Code offences. Penalties vary by province, territory, municipality, and sometimes by bylaw or set-fine schedule.

Public urination is ordinarily a municipal bylaw matter, under bylaws enabled by provincial legislation, with set fines that vary city by city.

Ontario has its own statute and set-fine framework. Specific dollar amounts should be checked against the current official Ontario source.

In narrow cases, conduct could instead be charged federally as an indecent act in a public place (s. 173(1)) or nudity (s. 174 — which requires the Attorney General's consent to prosecute). Those sections target indecency, not ordinary public urination, and charges under them for urination are exceptional.