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Status

• Bill C-292 was introduced at first reading on October 8, 2026. It proposes amendments to the Criminal Code; the provided text does not state a coming-into-force date.

Trafficking offences and sentences

• The bill adds fines of up to $100,000, alongside existing punishments, for specified trafficking offences, including trafficking adults or children, receiving a material benefit from trafficking, and withholding or destroying documents to facilitate trafficking. For some offences, the fine applies to the indictable form.
• It changes the definition of exploitation for those offences: a person exploits another if they cause them, by any form of coercion, to provide or offer labour or a service. The bill’s summary says this removes the requirement to demonstrate a reasonable apprehension of fear.
• It requires sentences for offences under sections 279.01 to 279.03 to be served consecutively to punishment for other offences arising from the same event or series of events, and to any other sentence the person is already serving.

Witnesses and evidence

• The bill clarifies that an order allowing a witness to testify outside the courtroom may specify a location outside the courthouse building.
• In specified sexual-offence proceedings, a recording made within a reasonable time after the alleged offence, in which the victim describes the acts complained of, would be admissible if the victim’s physical or mental health could be endangered by testifying and they adopt the recording’s contents while testifying. A judge or justice may exclude it if admission would interfere with the proper administration of justice, and may prohibit other uses of the recording.

Preliminary inquiries

• The bill bars preliminary inquiries for listed charges even if the accused or prosecutor requests one. These include sexual assault offences, several child sexual offences, trafficking in persons, receiving a material benefit from sexual services, and procuring.
• The bar also applies where people are jointly charged, overriding the rule that an inquiry must be held for all jointly charged people when one requests it.