C-242Jail Not Bail Act
An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Department of Justice Act
Private member's bill, introduced in the House of Commons on September 22, 2025
- Status
- Defeated at second reading in the House of Commons
What it does
Changes bail and release rules for some violent offences, adds stricter detention rules in repeat cases, and requires an annual report on judicial interim release.
What it does
- Replaces the main release principle with public protection, and tells police, justices and judges to give public safety primary weight when deciding release.
- Adds more violent offences to reverse-onus bail rules, creates a new category of “major offence”, and blocks police from releasing someone arrested for a major offence.
- Requires a superior court judge to decide release in some repeat major-offence cases, and orders detention if the person was already on release for another major offence and had a major offence conviction in the past 10 years.
- Ends interim release when a person is convicted of an indictable offence while awaiting sentence, and bars people convicted of an indictable offence in the past 10 years from acting as a surety.
- Requires release decisions to consider whether the accused is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and, if not, whether they may leave Canada, and makes passport surrender mandatory for some non-resident accused.
- Requires the Minister of Justice to table a yearly report on judicial interim release, including release outcomes, compliance, recidivism, public-attention incidents, effectiveness of conditions, and disparities between groups.
Who it affects
- People charged with violent offences
- People on bail or release
- Repeat offenders
- Sureties
- Non-citizens and non-permanent residents
- Police, justices and judges
- Victims and witnesses
- Minister of Justice
Background
The bill amends the Criminal Code rules on judicial interim release and the Department of Justice Act. It adds a yearly reporting duty on the state of judicial interim release in Canada.
Where it is
House of Commons
First reading
Completed.
Second reading
Defeated here. Defeated
Committee
Not reached.
Report stage
Not reached.
Third reading
Not reached.
Senate
First reading
Not reached.
Second reading
Not reached.
Committee
Not reached.
Third reading
Not reached.
Royal assent
Royal assent
Not reached.
Introduced by an MP who is not a minister. These bills compete in a lottery for debate time, and most do not become law. How a bill becomes law
How the House voted
2nd reading of Bill C-242, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Department of Justice Act
Vote 91,
Failed
136 yeato193 nay · 10 paired
Party breakdown for vote 91 Party Position Yea Nay Did not vote Liberal Nay 0 164 6 Conservative Yea 136 0 5 Bloc Nay 0 22 0 NDP Nay 0 6 0 Green Nay 0 1 0 Total 136 193
What MPs said
Each party’s first speech on this bill in the House, from Hansard. Excerpts are the speaker’s opening sentences, unedited.
LiberalJean Yip· November 7, 2025
“That is why I rise today to talk about Bill C-242, the jail not bail act, as part of a broader national conversation about how our bail system should function: how it can best manage risk, promote accountability and maintain confidence in the administration of justice.”
Read the full speech on openparliament.caConservativeArpan Khanna· November 7, 2025
“It is always a great honour to stand in this chamber to discuss such an important piece of legislation.”
Read the full speech on openparliament.caBlocMarie-Hélène Gaudreau· November 7, 2025
“In a democracy, there are fundamental principles that distinguish true democratic regimes from states that merely claim to be democratic. The rule of law is based on rules, values and principles that are non-negotiable.”
Read the full speech on openparliament.ca
Read the source
LEGISinfo status: Bill defeated. Bill data from LEGISinfo, votes from openparliament.ca and the House of Commons. Last updated October 13, 2026.