{"id":37352,"date":"2023-05-11T12:08:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T12:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/blog\/sexual-activity-consent-legal-definition\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T17:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:32:15","slug":"sexual-activity-consent-legal-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/en\/legal-glossary\/sexual-activity-consent-legal-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual activity: legal definition and consent in Canadian law"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Definition\"><\/span>Definition<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/en\/legal-glossary\/sexual-activity-consent-legal-definition\/#Definition\" >Definition<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/en\/legal-glossary\/sexual-activity-consent-legal-definition\/#Example\" >Example<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/en\/legal-glossary\/sexual-activity-consent-legal-definition\/#Legal_references\" >Legal references<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>In criminal law, <strong>sexual activity<\/strong> refers to any act of a sexual nature. Every sexual activity requires the <strong>consent<\/strong> of each participant, defined as the voluntary agreement to engage in the specific activity in question. Consent must be present at the time of the act, may be withdrawn at any time and cannot be given by a person who is unconscious, incapable or induced by abuse of trust, power or authority. Sexual activity without consent constitutes sexual assault.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Example\"><\/span>Example<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A person who agreed to kiss does not thereby consent to further activity. Continuing after the other person says &#8220;stop&#8221; is an activity without consent.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Legal_references\"><\/span>Legal references<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Criminal Code<\/em>, ss. 271 to 273.1 (sexual assault and definition of consent) and 273.2 (mistaken belief in consent).<\/li>\n<li><em>R. v. Ewanchuk<\/em>, [1999] 1 S.C.R. 330; <em>R. v. J.A.<\/em>, 2011 SCC 28.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition In criminal law, sexual activity refers to any act of a sexual nature. Every sexual activity requires the consent of each participant, defined as the voluntary agreement to engage in the specific activity in question. Consent must be present at the time of the act, may be withdrawn at any time and cannot be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-glossary"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sexual activity: legal definition and consent in Canadian law | AM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Legal definition of sexual activity and consent in Canadian criminal law: voluntary agreement, ongoing consent, incapacity, sexual assault, with an example and references.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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