Bill C-286 (Thomas’ Bill) explained: what it would change

People searching for Bill C-286 are usually asking one of three things: what it says, whether it has passed, and whether it makes magic mushrooms legal. This article answers those from the primary record: the bill’s own text, the LEGISinfo page run by Parliament, and the House of Commons debates of the day it was introduced. It takes no side. It does not predict what will happen to the bill.

What is Bill C-286, and who introduced it?

Bill C-286 is a private member’s bill in the 45th Parliament, first session. Its long title is “An act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Food and Drugs Act”. LEGISinfo lists Corey Tochor as its sponsor. He is a Conservative MP from Saskatoon: LEGISinfo gives his riding as Saskatoon East, while the House debates of the day name it Saskatoon—University (LEGISinfo; Hansard, 16 June 2026).

The bill has no official short title in the published text. “Thomas’ Bill” is the name the sponsor used at introduction: he called it Thomas’s bill and said Thomas was a constituent who had stage 4 cancer (Hansard). A website titled Thomas’ Bill links to the bill. We cite it only for the name; the claims on it are advocacy, and we have not repeated them.

In his remarks the sponsor said that Thomas’s doctor prescribed psilocybin with counselling, that Thomas obtained it through Health Canada’s special access program, and that it was working for three years until he was cut off. These are the sponsor’s statements in the House. We have not verified them. He described the bill’s aim as letting physicians prescribe psilocybin counselling to patients without Health Canada overriding them (Hansard). The same entry in the debates records Elizabeth May, a Green MP, saying she would support it.

Do not confuse this bill with others that share the number. Bill numbers are reused in each session, and earlier Parliaments had unrelated bills numbered C-286 (openparliament.ca). The one discussed here is C-286 in the 45th Parliament, 1st session.

What does the text of Bill C-286 say?

The first-reading text is short: a purpose clause and three amending clauses. The table sets out what each clause provides, with our plain reading beside it. Both are our summaries, so read the bill itself before relying on either. We cross-checked it against the XML version Parliament publishes (bill XML).

Where is Bill C-286 now?

As of 4 October 2026, LEGISinfo shows first reading as the latest completed stage, on 16 June 2026. Second reading, consideration in committee, report stage, third reading and all Senate stages are marked “not reached”. The record lists no House votes and no committee meetings, and no royal assent. LEGISinfo’s status line reads “Outside the Order of Precedence” (LEGISinfo record).

First reading of a private member’s bill is a formality. In the debates of 16 June, the motions were deemed adopted and the bill was read the first time and printed (Hansard). The House of Commons explains that private members’ bills are debated through an order of precedence built from a random draw of members’ names, and that items on it are considered in the order listed, usually one a day (House of Commons procedure). A bill outside that order is not on that list. That is what the LEGISinfo status line says about C-286. What happens next depends on parliamentary procedure and decisions we cannot see, and we make no forecast.

For comparison, a different private member’s bill about special access to drugs, Bill C-265 (sponsor: Marcus Powlowski), has passed second reading and been referred to committee (LEGISinfo, C-265). We checked the bill’s text: it does not mention psilocybin. It is a separate bill from C-286.

How does federal law treat psilocybin today?

To see what C-286 would change, it helps to see the current rules. The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act lists psilocin and psilocybin in Schedule III, and says that, except as authorized under the regulations, no person shall possess a Schedule III substance (Justice Laws, CDSA). Health Canada says the production, sale and possession of magic mushrooms are illegal in Canada, and that there are no approved therapeutic products containing psilocybin in Canada or elsewhere (Health Canada). Our deeper explainer is are magic mushrooms legal in Canada?.

Two routes exist for medical or scientific use. First, the Minister of Health can exempt a person, a class of persons or a substance from the Act for a medical or scientific purpose or in the public interest, under section 56(1) (Justice Laws, CDSA). See section 56 exemptions and psilocybin. Second, the Special Access Program lets a licensed practitioner request access to a drug that is not authorized for sale. Health Canada says it reviews requests case by case, only practitioners (not patients) can apply, and an authorization is not a statement that a drug is safe or effective (Health Canada SAP notice, 27 February 2023; Health Canada). More in the special access program and psilocybin.

How the regulations sort psilocybin is the key background for the bill. Health Canada’s SAP notice calls psilocybin and MDMA restricted drugs. The new Controlled Substances Regulations (SOR/2025-242) came into force on 1 October 2026 (Canada Gazette; Ontario College of Pharmacists, 1 October 2026). They list psilocin and psilocybin in Schedule 4, Part 1, the restricted drugs. They define a prescription as an authorization for a controlled substance other than a restricted drug, and let a practitioner named in a letter of authorization, issued under section C.08.010 of the Food and Drug Regulations, possess a restricted drug (Canada Gazette). In short, restricted drugs reach patients through a letter of authorization, not an ordinary prescription.

What would Bill C-286 change if it passed?

Taking the text as introduced, its operative effects are of three kinds. None is certain; how a court or Health Canada would apply the wording is a legal question, and bills can be amended before they pass.

• Category. The text says that for the Narcotic Control Regulations psilocin and psilocybin count as narcotics, and that for Part J of the Food and Drug Regulations they are not restricted drugs. In the Acts we searched, current to 21 September 2026, neither “narcotic” nor “restricted drug” is defined; the bill would add those definitions to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Food and Drugs Act (CDSA; Food and Drugs Act).
• Priority review. Any request for priority review of a new drug submission for psilocin, psilocybin or a substantially similar substance would be deemed granted on the day it is received. Health Canada’s guidance says priority review means a 180-day review target, compared with 300 days for non-priority submissions (Health Canada fact sheet). It sets eligibility criteria: a serious, life-threatening or severely debilitating condition with substantial evidence of clinical effectiveness, plus either an unmet need or an improved benefit-risk profile. The sponsor must send a written request and a clinical assessment package before filing the submission, and Health Canada says it will tell the sponsor within 30 calendar days whether the request is accepted (Health Canada guidance). The bill’s deeming rule would replace the department’s decision about that request for these substances.
• Stated purpose. The bill’s purpose clause would put into the statute that the aim is access to hallucinogenic drug medical treatment without bypassing existing approval processes.

The sponsor’s stated aim in the House was to let physicians prescribe psilocybin counselling without Health Canada overriding them (Hansard). Whether the text’s wording achieves that is a question for lawyers and for the committee stage, if the bill reaches one. We do not assess it.

What would Bill C-286 not change?

• Magic mushrooms. The text names psilocin and psilocybin and their salts. It does not mention mushrooms, and it does not change the Health Canada position that production, sale and possession of magic mushrooms are illegal (bill text; Health Canada).
• The schedules and offences. The bill amends section 2 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and adds definitions. It does not amend Schedule III or the possession and trafficking offences (bill text).
• Drug approval. The text does not approve any psilocybin product. Health Canada says no therapeutic product containing psilocybin is approved in Canada (Health Canada), and the bill’s own purpose clause says it is not meant to circumvent approval processes. Priority review shortens a review target; it is not an approval.
• Practice rules. The text says nothing about training, facilities, doses, who may be treated or what a clinician must do. We found no provisions of that kind in it.

The text contains no provision about a patient’s entitlement to psilocybin, and none about possession by members of the public.

Does the bill match the regulations in force on 4 October 2026?

This is a drafting observation, and it is confirmed by the regulation’s own text. The bill’s text relies on the Narcotic Control Regulations, Part J of the Food and Drug Regulations and, in clause 2, the New Classes of Practitioners Regulations. The Controlled Substances Regulations repeal all three: section 237 repeals Part J (with Part G) of the Food and Drug Regulations, section 238 repeals the Narcotic Control Regulations and the New Classes of Practitioners Regulations (among others), and section 239 sets the coming into force for 1 October 2026 (Canada Gazette). The Ontario College of Pharmacists stated on 1 October 2026 that the regulations are in effect (OCP).

The Justice Laws consolidations we opened are current to 21 September 2026, before that date, and so still show the Narcotic Control Regulations (Justice Laws, NCR; Justice Laws, CSR). The bill was printed on 16 June 2026, before the 1 October date. The bill as introduced therefore refers to regulations that, from 1 October 2026, are no longer in force. We cannot say how Parliament, Health Canada or a court would read the bill against the new regulations, or whether the text would be amended. If you rely on it, check the current text on LEGISinfo.

A smaller point is the date in clause 4, which refers to a Priority Review of Drug Submissions Policy “adopted by the Department on December 13, 1996”. Health Canada’s guidance explains both dates. Its background section says that on 13 December 1996 the former Therapeutic Products Programme issued a policy statement titled Priority Review of Drug Submissions. The guidance document’s own control block gives 16 September 2002 as the date adopted, 30 November 2005 as the revised date, 1 March 2006 as the effective date and 18 December 2008 as the administrative-changes date (Health Canada guidance). So 1996 is the date of the original policy statement, and 2002 is the adoption date of the guidance as it now stands. The bill’s “as amended from time to time” wording would apply to the current version; we do not interpret how.

What has Health Canada said about it?

We found no Health Canada or ministerial statement about Bill C-286 itself. What Health Canada has published are statements about the present system: its psilocybin page (modified 20 October 2026) says clinical trials are the most appropriate way to advance research with unapproved drugs, that no approved therapeutic products contain psilocybin, and that the Special Access Program and section 56(1) exemptions are case-by-case routes (Health Canada). Its Special Access Program notice (27 February 2023) says requests are reviewed case by case and that a practitioner must supply evidence for the patient’s condition (Health Canada SAP notice). These are statements about the law as it stands, not responses to the bill.

Health Canada’s regulatory impact statement for the Controlled Substances Regulations also says the regulations incorporate the earlier class exemption that covered activities with psilocybin and MDMA in relation to a Special Access Program authorization (Canada Gazette).

How can I follow Bill C-286?

• Check the bill’s LEGISinfo page for the stage, votes, committee meetings and any amended text.
• Read the printed text at the bill document and the sponsor’s first-reading remarks in the House debates of 16 June 2026.
• For the law as it stands, read the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and Health Canada’s page.

What we could not verify

• The account of Thomas’s treatment: it is the sponsor’s own statement in the House, and we did not check it.
• How the bill’s wording would work in practice, now that the regulations it names have been repealed from 1 October 2026.
• Any statement by Health Canada or the Minister about this bill.

Shroomverse sells mushroom products. This article is general information about a federal bill and the law around it. It is not legal or medical advice, and it does not encourage anyone to use drugs.