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C-251 — An Act to amend the Customs Act and the Customs Tariff (forced labour and child labour)
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C-251
An Act to amend the Customs Act and the Customs Tariff (forced labour and child labour)
In progress
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BILL C-251
An Act to amend the Customs Act and the Customs Tariff (forced labour and child labour)
Last activity : Outside the Order of Precedence
In progress
Commons · 1st2025-10-21Commons · 2ndCommons · 3rdSenate · 1stSenate · 2ndSenate · 3rdRoyal assent
Sign-in required — one request per person, no anonymous requests
What it does, in plain language
- Creates a presumption that goods mined, made or produced, in whole or in part, in a country or area designated as a "subject of concern" or by a listed entity are the product of forced or child labour, and therefore banned from import.
- Requires customs officers to hold such goods until they are satisfied the goods are not prohibited from being imported.
- Lets importers rebut the presumption by showing they monitored their supply chain, supplied the required certification and information, and exercised full due diligence.
- Allows the Governor in Council to designate a country or area as a subject of concern, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety after consulting the Minister of Labour, where there are reasonable grounds to believe forced or child labour is used.
- Allows the Governor in Council to create a list of entities (companies or organizations) reasonably believed to use forced or child labour.
- Gives the Minister of Public Safety power to update the list: add alternate names, remove names no longer used, or delist an entity that has stopped using such labour.
- Requires a review of each listing five years after it is added and every five years thereafter, with a ministerial recommendation on whether it should stay.
- Provides for regulations setting out supply chain tracing, certification procedures and deadlines, importer due diligence, and what information must be filed and when.
🤖 AI-generated from the bill’s official text as introduced — may not reflect amendments adopted since.
✋ What does “challenging” mean?
Clicking “Ask for an explanation” is a citizen request for the bill's sponsor to explain it in plain language — and for us to keep an eye on it together.
An account (email) is required — one request per person, no anonymous requests. 🔥 At 1,000 requests on the same bill, a public post is made, in the hope an MP agrees to sponsor a petition to the House.
It works on any bill, including one that has already received royal assent — that is often the one people want to understand.
Votes in the Commons
Every recorded vote — who voted what, and by what margin.
On the “who voted what” detail — the House of Commons publishes each member's name for every recorded (nominal) vote (Yea / Nay / paired). The by-member breakdown above (the "+" button on each row) comes directly from that official source (ourcommons.ca), not an estimate. The party shown next to each name is taken from the current House roster; people who have since left the House appear separately under "Former members".
How to read a vote
Recorded vote
Members vote one by one and each choice is entered in the public record. That is what lets us say exactly who voted what — no interpretation.
Passed is not law
A passed vote clears ONE stage. A bill must pass both chambers and then receive royal assent before it becomes law.
Paired is not absent
In the Commons, two members from opposing sides can agree not to vote: their voices cancel out. It is neither an absence nor an abstention.
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