A popular Canadian YouTuber named Cody Ko is in the midst of a scandal after American internet personality Tana Mongeau alleged the two had a sexual relationship when she was 17 and he was 25.
The alleged affair between Ko and Mongeau has a lot of people wondering whether Ko broke the law, and many are wondering exactly what laws Canada has in place regarding consent between adults and teenagers.
Ko has more than 6 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and Mongeau has 8 million followers on TikTok and 6 million on Instagram. According to Pedestrian, Mongeau revealed the news of the affair on her podcast Cancelled after she was asked who she slept with that had the “smallest d**k.”
“Oh my god, no one look at me. Cody Ko… I can say that, I was literally 17,” she said. She would also bring it up on a later episode, saying she didn’t intend to comment lightly on it. “I hooked up with Cody Ko when I was 17 and he was 25. Yeah, it happened. At 25 now… I would never do anything like that so I’m like, ‘What the f**k was wrong with you?’ But I don’t associate it or hold it with trauma.”
Mongeau says she now understands she was “taken advantage of.” So what does the law say?
What is the age of consent in Canada — did Cody Ko break the law?
Per Justice.gc.ca, Canada’s official age of consent for sexual activity is 16. The age of consent is higher when it’s a “relationship of trust, authority or dependency.”
There are also some “close in age” exceptions. For example, someone who is 14 or 15 can consent if their partner is no older than five years, and again there’s no “relationship of trust, authority or dependency or any other exploitation of the young person.” Also, someone who is 12 or 13 can consent if the partner is less than two years older.
A 17-year-old cannot consent if their partner is “in position of trust or authority towards them” like a teacher or coach. If the young person is dependent on the partner for money or support, then they also cannot consent. Finally, if it’s an exploitative relationship, there’s no consent.
We don’t know the exact details about Ko and Mongeau’s relationship, but if there are points from the above issues involved, then Ko could indeed have broken the law. Additionally, because age of consent law is typically dependent on the country where the act took place, the situation between Ko and Mongeau gains complexity, as Mongeau is American and the U.S. has unique age of consent laws within each state.