Release Date |
Film |
Notes |
1916 |
Damaged Goods |
Banned in Ontario.[1] |
1918 |
Manitoba institutes a ban (since lifted) on all comedies, due to the belief at the time that they would lead to frivolty in real life. |
1931 |
Little Caesar |
Banned in Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.[2] |
1937 |
The Life of Emile Zola |
Banned in Quebec.[3] Available in Quebec since 1997 with a "G" rating.[4] |
1939 |
Thugs with Dirty Mugs |
Banned in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1939, because censors "felt the film was just an excuse to show criminal activity."[5] |
1946 |
Scarlet Street |
Banned in New Brunswick.[1] |
1946 |
Wicked Lady |
Banned in New Brunswick.[1] |
1947 |
Forever Amber |
Banned in Quebec.[1] Available in Quebec since 1994 with a "G" rating.[6] |
1953 |
The Wild One |
Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec ban the film.[7] Available in Quebec from 1968 to 2013 with a "14+" rating and since 2013 with a "G" rating.[8] |
1963 |
Tom Jones |
Alberta bans the film. After two years, the decision is reversed and it is allowed to be shown.[9] |
1967 |
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
Nova Scotia censors ban the film, describing it as "obscene and blasphemous". After an appeal from the distributor and media coverage, the decision was later reversed and the film was released with a "Restricted" rating[9][10] |
1967 |
Warrendale |
Manitoba bans the film due to the language. However, due to public outcry, the decision was reversed.[9] |
1968 |
Romeo and Juliet |
Banned in Ontario.[1] |
1970 |
On est au coton |
The National Film Board of Canada blocks the release of Denys Arcand's controversial documentary. An edited version is released in 1976, but the original unedited version was not released until 2004.[11][12] |
1970 |
Women in Love |
The Alberta censors ban the film due to nudity.[13] |
1971 |
A Clockwork Orange |
Alberta and Nova Scotia ban the film.[1] Alberta reversed the ban in 1999. The Maritime Film Classification Board has also reversed the ban.[14] Both jurisdictions now grant an R rating to the film. |
1972 |
Pink Flamingos |
Edited in several provinces, with Nova Scotia banning it outright until 1997.[14] |
1973 |
Heavy Traffic |
Banned in Alberta. |
1974 |
Last Tango in Paris |
Banned in Nova Scotia, leading to the landmark Nova Scotia (Board of Censors) v McNeil court case. |
1976 |
Blood Sucking Freaks |
Banned in Nova Scotia[14] and Ontario. |
1977 |
In the Realm of the Senses |
Banned by all provinces except Quebec. In 1991, the ban was overturned by most provinces. |
1978 |
Pretty Baby |
Banned in Ontario by the Ontario Censor Board. The ban was repealed in 1995.[15] |
1979 |
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens |
Banned in Nova Scotia.[14] |
1980 |
Caligula |
Banned by all provinces except Quebec, which gave it an 18+ rating. Edited versions were later passed. The 156-minute "unrated" version has subsequently been reevaluated and approved with an R rating in the Maritimes.[14] |
1980 |
The Tin Drum |
Edited, and later banned outright as child pornography by the Ontario Film Classification Board.[16] |
1981 |
Not a Love Story |
The feminist documentary critique of the pornography industry was itself banned in Ontario for its pornographic content, although that decision was ultimately reversed.[17] |
1983 |
I Spit on Your Grave |
Banned in Nova Scotia until 1998.[14] |
1985 |
Day of the Dead |
Banned in Ontario and the Maritimes, with a cut, 97 minute version passed in Ontario.[18] The original 101 minute version was resubmitted to the Ontario Film Review Board in 2008 and given a 14A rating.[19] The 101-minute version has also been granted an R rating in the Maritimes.[14] |
1986 |
Blue Velvet |
Banned by the New Brunswick Film Classification Board.[20] New Brunswick now uses the ratings provided by the Maritime Film Classification Board, which granted an R rating.[14] |
1987 |
Bad Taste |
Banned in Nova Scotia; it is now available on DVD with an 18 rating. |
1989-1993 |
Death Scenes |
Video series is banned in Nova Scotia.[14] |
1994 |
Exit to Eden |
Temporarily banned by the Saskatchewan Film and Video Classification Board.[21][22] |
1997 |
Bastard Out of Carolina |
Banned by the Maritime Film Classification Board. This decision was later appealed, and a video release was allowed. |
2001 |
Fat Girl |
Banned by the Ontario Film Review Board until 2003 |
2006 |
Bumfights |
This series of shot-on-tape reality productions, is banned in seven of the thirteen provinces and territories; the remaining give it an R rating. As of 2016, the films are still banned in Quebec.[23] |