Bill C-257 Promoting Terrorism
C-257 An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Promotion of Terrorist Activity or Group)
Bill Type: Private Member’s Bill
Bill Sponsor: Roman Baber (York Centre)
Status: Outside the Order of Precedence — 1st Reading November 17, 2025. This Bill hasn't passed yet.
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WHO GAINS POWER
- Prosecutors gain a new criminal charge — wilfully promoting a terrorist activity or terrorist group — that did not previously exist in the Criminal Code
- Police gain expanded grounds to investigate and wiretap communications related to promotion of terrorism (the new offense is added to the list of wiretap-eligible offenses)
- Sentences for this offense must be served consecutively — on top of any other terrorism-related sentence, not at the same time
WHO LOSES POWER
- Anyone who publicly promotes terrorist activity or a terrorist group — even without directly encouraging a specific act — can now be charged
- The offense applies whether or not the statements named a specific group or actually caused anyone to act
WHO GAINS MONEY
- No direct financial provisions in this Bill
WHO LOSES MONEY
- Individuals convicted face up to five years in prison — with associated legal, personal and financial consequences
- No direct government spending provisions
THE CATCH
- The Bill includes four defenses: truth, good faith religious opinion, public interest discussion on reasonable grounds and good faith intent to flag content for removal
- ⚠️ "Willfully promotes" is not defined in the Bill — courts will determine what crosses the line between criticism, commentary and criminal promotion
- ⚠️ The religious opinion defense is broad — statements made "in good faith" based on a religious text are exempt, even if those statements relate to a terrorist group or activity
- ⚠️ No intent to incite is required — a person can be convicted even if no one was actually encouraged to act and even if the statements were general rather than specific