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)

International TradeOral Questions

November 4th, 2025 / 2:35 p.m.


See context

Bloc

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

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister returns from a mission to Asia, let us not forget that China trades heavily in products made using forced labour, including child labour. Canada's economic diversification must never be achieved through modern-day slavery and by violating human rights. The Bloc Québécois introduced Bill C-251 to block imports from regions suspected of using modern slavery, unless the seller can prove that they do not profit from forced labour or child labour.

Will the government support our bill?