There are three specific offences under the Criminal Code that regulate criminal organizations, which your criminal lawyer will be able to identify for you:

1. Participation in the activities of a criminal organization. This offence is punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years. It may include individuals who launder money for a criminal organization.
2. Commission of an offence for a criminal organization. This offence is punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 14 years. It usually applies to those who commit various criminal offences such as drug importation or exportation, extortion, arson, kidnapping, violence, gaming, and money-laundering from which the organization derives a benefit.
3. Instructing the commission of an offence for a criminal organization. This is the most serious of the three offences and is punishable by imprisonment for life.

Any other Criminal Code sentences levied against a member of a criminal organization must be served consecutively with the above-mentioned convictions. Further, there are Criminal Code provisions which can be applied in conjunction, such as conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and counselling a person to commit a crime.

In order to secure a Criminal Code conviction for any offence related to organized crime, the Crown must prove the existence and membership of a “criminal organization” whereby a formal structure and a degree of continuity are established. Accordingly, the courts have given a wide interpretation as to what constitutes as organized.

Further considerations that the courts have taken in determining whether an individual participates in, or actively contributes to, any activity of a criminal organization include whether they use a name, word, symbol, or other representation that identifies the criminal organization; whether they frequently associate with any of the persons who constitute the criminal organization; whether they receive any type of benefit from the criminal organization; and whether they engage in activities at the instruction of any of the persons who constitute the criminal organization.

The Supreme Court of Canada has also interpreted the organized crime provisions of the Criminal Code to determine that a group, rather than individuals, can be considered a criminal organization. In 2005 an Ontario court found the Hells Angels were a “criminal organization” as the term is defined in the Criminal Code. However, the courts have also shown some restraint with regards to interpreting the proper seizure and forfeiture of “offence-related property” as it pertains to organized crime. In a case once again involving Hells Angels, the court found that a club owned property with the Hells Angels insignia did not constitute offence-related property. This was despite the fact that the crown argued the symbols were used to intimate, and thus used in furtherance of their organized crime offences.