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Criminal Code

s. 279.01 Trafficking in Persons

Trafficking in persons

  • Kidnapping & Trafficking in Persons
  • Kidnapping & Trafficking
Maximum sentence
Life (with aggravating conduct) / 14 years otherwise
Classification
Indictable

Last verified: June 2026 · Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca

The law says

Criminal Code s. 279.01
Verify on justice.gc.ca(opens in a new tab)
  • (1)Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation is guilty of an indictable offence and liable (a) to imprisonment for life and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of five years if they kidnap, commit an aggravated assault or aggravated sexual assault against, or cause death to, the victim during the commission of the offence; or
  • (b)to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of four years in any other case.
  • (2)No consent to the activity that forms the subject-matter of a charge under subsection (1) is valid.
  • (3)For the purposes of subsections (1) and 279.011(1), evidence that a person who is not exploited lives with or is habitually in the company of a person who is exploited is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof that the person exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of that person for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation.
Amendment History (3)
  • 2005, c. 43, s. 3
  • 2014, c. 25, s. 18
  • 2015, c. 16, s. 1

Justice Laws is the authoritative version. If this copy and it ever differ, Justice Laws wins.

Immigration

Where this offence sits under IRPA

Trafficking in persons means moving, holding or controlling a person in order to exploit them. It must be charged by indictment. The top sentence is 14 years. It rises to life if the offender kidnaps the victim, commits an aggravated assault or aggravated sexual assault, or causes the victim’s death. A conviction is serious criminality under IRPA s.36(1)(a). It can also bring in organized criminality under s.37, where it was part of a criminal group's activity or of transnational crime. The victim’s consent is no defence.

This is how the law sorts the offence, not a reading of any one record. An officer decides each case.

IRPA sections involved