An Act to amend the Criminal Code (restitution orders)

Bill C-238 is a narrow, focused amendment to the Criminal Code's restitution provisions. Currently, when someone is sentenced for a crime, a judge can order the offender to pay restitution to victims for certain losses. This bill adds a new category: for offenders convicted of human trafficking offences or drug trafficking/production offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, a judge could also order restitution to organizations (not individuals) that provide front-line community services, such as emergency responders and victim support agencies.

Specifically, these organizations could be compensated for costs they incurred because of the crime, including emergency shelter and medical supplies (like overdose-reversal kits), harm reduction programs (such as overdose or infectious disease prevention), security measures and equipment, counselling or mental health support for staff who experienced trauma on the job because of the offence, and extra operational costs from increased demand for their services, such as hiring more staff or providing specialized training. To qualify, these expenses must be reasonable and their amount must be easy to determine, and this restitution would be paid separately from any other restitution the offender is already ordered to pay.

In short, the bill doesn't create new crimes or penalties; it expands who can be compensated through a restitution order and what kinds of community-level costs can be claimed when human trafficking or drug offences harm a community's front-line service organizations.

This bill amends the Criminal Code to allow courts to order offenders convicted of human trafficking or drug trafficking offences to pay restitution directly to organizations that provide front-line community services.

• New restitution category — courts sentencing someone for offences under sections 279.01 to 279.02 (trafficking in persons) or sections 5, 6, or 7.1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (trafficking, importing/exporting, or possession for those purposes) may order restitution to a non-individual entity that provides front-line services, such as emergency or victim support services.
• Eligible expenses — restitution may cover costs for emergency shelter and medical services (including overdose-reversal supplies), harm reduction programs, security measures and equipment, counselling or mental health supports for staff experiencing workplace trauma, and increased operational costs such as hiring or training staff to meet higher demand for services.
• Conditions on awards — the amount ordered cannot exceed the expenses actually incurred, and those expenses must be "reasonable" and "readily ascertainable" — terms left to the sentencing judge's discretion rather than defined in the bill.
• Discretion retained by courts — the bill adds this as a permitted category of restitution under the existing section 738 framework; it does not require judges to make such an order, leaving the decision to impose it, and the amount, to the court's judgment in each case.
• No new body or reporting mechanism — the bill creates no new office, agency, or review process; it operates entirely through case-by-case sentencing decisions under the existing Criminal Code restitution provisions.