An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in persons)

Bill S-224 was a Senate Private Member's Bill amending the Criminal Code (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46) sections 279.01 and 279.011 on the trafficking-in-persons offences. Brought after the 2023 RCMP National Coordination Centre against Human Trafficking reported approximately 1,400 trafficking-related occurrence reports annually, with Indigenous women representing approximately 50 percent of identified victims (despite being 5 percent of the female population per Statistics Canada). The bill would have lowered the means and consent thresholds for proving trafficking under the Canadian framework to align with the Palermo Protocol (United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime Protocol to Prevent Trafficking).