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Prosecutions under First Nation laws

S-224 An Act to amend the Director of Public Prosecutions Act

Directs federal prosecutors to handle offences under First Nation laws unless a community hires its own prosecutor or makes an agreement.

What Bill S-224 would do

The bill would direct the Director of Public Prosecutions to initiate and handle prosecutions of summary conviction offences under First Nation laws on behalf of the First Nation. This would not apply if the First Nation hires its own prosecutor or makes an agreement with a provincial or territorial government to handle those prosecutions. The published material gives no further detail.

Official text

Official summary

This enactment amends the Director of Public Prosecutions Act to provide that the Director of Public Prosecutions initiates and conducts prosecutions of summary conviction offences under First Nation laws on behalf of the First Nation that made or enacted the First Nation law, unless the First Nation has appointed or retained a prosecutor or entered into an agreement with a provincial or territorial government for the prosecution of such offences. Available on the Senate of Canada website at the following address: www.sencanada.ca/en 1st Session, 45th Parliament, 3 Charles III, 2025 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-224 An Act to amend the Director of Public Prosecutions Act His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: S.‍C.

2006, c. 9, s. 121

The government's summary, printed at the front of the bill as introduced.

Kind
Senator's bill
Sponsor
Mary Jane McCallum, Senator
Introduced
in the Senate
Last activity

Where it stands

  1. ProposedJun 3, 2025
  2. Being studiedsince Jun 11 Exact stageAt consideration in committee in the Senate · Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs · since June 11, 2026A committee of MPs or senators is going through it line by line.
  3. Almost law
  4. Law

In a Senate committee since June 11

  1. First reading in the Senate done

    Before the Senate on 1 sitting day,

  2. Second reading in the Senate done

    Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs

    Before the Senate on 2 sitting days, to

  3. Committee in the Senate now

    Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs

  4. Report stage in the Senate not yet

  5. Third reading in the Senate not yet

  6. First reading in the House not yet

  7. Second reading in the House not yet

  8. Committee in the House not yet

  9. Report stage in the House not yet

  10. Third reading in the House not yet

  11. Royal assent not yet

Exact procedural stages

Officially: At consideration in committee in the Senate · Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs · since June 11, 2026.

  1. Senate
  2. House
  3. Royal assent

Debates in the House 0

No debate on this bill is in the record we hold yet (Senate debates are not covered).

Discussion

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