The story
In the early 1900s, motion pictures were rising in popularity. It was decided nationally that censorship of them was necessary in order to be suitable for a wide, general audience of varying ages, mental, and educational levels. However, since national censorship for such a large and diverse country was unworkable, each province would censor according to their own provincial community standards. However, Ontario would be the "main" censor in that theatrical prints would be censored/edited by the Ontario censors then distributed throughout Ontario, and the other provinces. The other provinces would provide additional censorship/editing if it was necessary for their own province.
In the Maritimes, motion pictures were censored for a general audience until the 1950s when the provincial film censor boards began to simply attach an "Adult rating" warning to films if necessary, if the approved film was deemed suitable for adults. All films were still subject to editing by censors if necessary.
The following ratings were used from the late 1960s to the early 1980s:
General Entertainment
Adult Entertainment
Admittance Restricted to persons 18 years of age or over.
Films were still subject to editing by censors until the 1980s, when the boards slowly drifted towards classification. Films that were made for the purpose of "pornography" or "excessive violence" were rejected altogether. Around 1984, rating captions were created for use with all categories. These warnings underwent a few changes over the next few years.
In the late 1980s, the ratings were altered slightly and remained unchanged until December 31, 1993:
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General (G) – Suitable for general audiences.
Adult (A) – Suitable for ages 14 and older. These films may contain scenes involving hand-to-hand combat, the use of weapons with brief scenes of blood-letting or killing, scenes involving brief or casual nudity, implicit sexual activity not visually portrayed, horror scenes, use of coarse or vulgar language, or violence or nudity that is integral to the plot.
Restricted (R) – Suitable for ages 18 and older. These films may contain prolonged scenes depicting violence with blood-letting, graphic depiction of accident, intense horror, full nudity, rape or sexual activity, or repeated use of offensive language.
Exempt (E) – Certain videos were exempt from classification if they were educational videofilms used for instruction in educational institutions, cultural videofilms, heritage videofilms, religious videofilms, children's cartoons, travelogues, political videofilms, videofilms used for industrial or business promotions, videofilms of sporting events, and instructional "how-to" videofilms, other than sexual.
It was around this time that the home video market began to increase in popularity and pornographic films were no longer rejected. Pornographic videos would receive a Restricted rating with an "Explicit Sex" caption. These videos would require segregation from non-pornographic videos.
Some of the captions:
Extreme Violence
Offensive Language
Language May Offend
May Frighten Young Children
May Offend Some Religious Beliefs
Not Recommended For Children
Nude Scenes
Parental Guidance Recommended
Some Scenes May Offend
Violent Scenes
Not Suitable for Children
Perversions
Objectional Material
Explicit Sex
The following ratings were used from January 1, 1994 to March 31, 2005:
General (G) – Considered to be suitable for all ages. No restrictions on viewing.
Parental Guidance (PG) – All ages may attend. However, parents should know that the theme or content of the film may be more mature than in general films. It may be appropriate for those 8 years of age and over. Some titles may carry an additional information caption.
Captions for PG:
Frightening Scenes
Language Warning
Mature Theme
Adult Accompaniment (14) – Considered to be suitable for those 14 years of age and older. Those under 14 must be escorted by an adult.
A film with this rating may contain:
Scenes of limited violence
The use of weapons without excessive blood-letting
Restrained portrayal of accident or disaster
Scenes of casual or brief nudity, romantic involvement that is not sexually explicit, where participants are at least partially clothed
Some coarse or vulgar language
Captions for 14:
Violent Scenes
Nude Scenes
Blood Letting
Offensive Language
Sexual Content
Controversial Subject Matter
Mature Subject Matter
Gory Scenes
Restricted (18) – Considered to be suitable for those 18 years of age or older. Those under 18 must be escorted by a parent or legal guardian.
Films with this rating may contain:
Excessive use of foul or offensive language
Depictions of extreme violence and horror
Graphic sexual activity
Captions for 18:
Offensive Language Throughout
Extreme Violence
Explicit Nudity
Graphic Sexual Content
Controversial Subject Matter
Explicit Material (XXX)
These films contain:
Sexually explicit scenes
Graphically or excessively violent scenes
Captions for XXX:
Explicit Sex
Excessive Violence
Exempt (E) – Some types of videos are exempt from classification and will carry an E label. These videos have not been viewed by the Authority. They may include children's cartoons, travelogues, instructional videos, athletic events and cultural, industrial, religious or political material.
Not Approved (NA) – The Authority may prohibit the display, exhibition, sale, lease, rental, exchange or distribution of a film where the film contains:
(a) a graphic or prolonged scene of violence, torture, crime, cruelty, horror or human degradation;
(b) the depiction of the physical abuse or humiliation of human beings for the purposes of sexual gratification or as pleasing to the victim;
(c) a scene where a person who is or is intended to represent a person under the age of sixteen years appears in a scene of explicit and exploitative sexual activity;
(d) a scene depicting indignities to the human body or an animal in an explicit manner.
Source for rating information: Maritime Film Classification Board website.
From Wikipedia’s article on Maritime Film Classification Board, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3