Bill C-251

An Act to amend the Customs Act and the Customs Tariff (forced labour and child labour)

Sponsor

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay  Bloc

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of Oct. 21, 2025

Subscribe to a feed (what's a feed?) of speeches and votes in the House related to Bill C-251.

Summary

This is from the published bill.

This enactment amends the Customs Act to require customs officers to detain certain goods until they are satisfied that the goods are not goods the importation of which is prohibited. It also amends the Customs Tariff to establish a presumption that goods from certain areas or entities were mined, manufactured or produced wholly or in part by forced labour or child labour.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-251s:

C-251 (2022) Conservation of Fish Stocks and Management of Pinnipeds Act
C-251 (2020) VIA Rail Canada Act
C-251 (2016) Ban on Shark Fin Importation Act
C-251 (2013) An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (no GST on reading materials)

Customs ActRoutine Proceedings

October 21st, 2025 / 10:05 a.m.

Bloc

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-251, An Act to amend the Customs Act and the Customs Tariff (forced labour and child labour).

Mr. Speaker, only one shipment from all regions of origin combined has been seized and detained at Canadian customs due to the use of forced labour in the manufacturing of the products it contained.

In contrast, the United States has seized millions of U.S. dollars' worth of goods arriving from a single region of origin. One thing cannot be denied: The Canadian model is a failure. The Liberal government must be aware of this, since it committed to tabling a similar bill before the end of the year in the 2023 and 2024 budgets, and yet it did not do so.

I am therefore pleased to table this bill today, which will emulate the U.S. model in that the importer will bear the burden of proving that goods originating from certain entities were not produced using forced labour. That is what is in effect in the United States, and this system is working very well. We do not want our goods to be tainted with blood.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)