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Status

• Bill C-289 received first reading on June 17, 2026. It would amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Criminal Code.

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

• For offences involving trafficking or possession for the purpose of trafficking a synthetic opioid in Schedule I:
  • More than 40 mg: mandatory life imprisonment.
  • 20 mg to 40 mg: a minimum of 15 years’ imprisonment, with a maximum of life.
• For import, export or production offences involving more than 40 mg of a Schedule I synthetic opioid, the bill would impose mandatory life imprisonment.
• Other Schedule I or II substances remain subject to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under the provisions amended by the bill.
• When sentencing a person for a designated substance offence involving a Schedule I synthetic opioid, a court would have to consider as aggravating factors:
  • The offence being committed within 300 metres of a substance use treatment centre, school, child care facility or another location protecting vulnerable persons that is designated by regulation.
  • An amount of at least 2 mg for a substance listed in item 16 of Schedule I; or, for any other such substance, an amount reasonably expected to cause death if consumed.
• The bill would add a regulation-making power to designate additional locations for the proximity factor.

Criminal Code

• People convicted of the specified trafficking, possession-for-trafficking, import, export or production offences involving more than 40 mg of a Schedule I synthetic opioid would be sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole until they had served 25 years.

Costs and timing

• The provided text does not specify costs or a coming-into-force date.