Canada rules that flipping the middle finger is a 'God-given' right

A Canadian judge ruled that offending someone is not a crime after two neighbors got into a verbal dispute. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

The gesture is considered rude, offensive and inappropriate but one thing it is not — at least under Canadian law — is illegal.

A Canadian judge ruled last month that giving someone the finger is protected under the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“It is not a crime to give someone the finger. Flipping the proverbial bird is a God-given, Charter enshrined right that belongs to every red-blooded Canadian,” Judge Dennis Galiatsatos wrote in the Feb. 24 ruling.