Question Period Note: Government Measures to Reduce Gun Violence

The Government of Canada’s commitments to strengthen gun control and ban assault-style firearms.

• There is consensus across the country that more must be done to counter firearms violence. Building on the May 1, 2020 prohibition of assault-style firearms, today we introduced Bill C-21 which includes wide ranging measures to keep Canadians safe.

• We are creating red and yellow flag regimes to combat intimate partner and gender-based violence. This will allow anyone to apply to the courts for an immediate removal of an individual’s firearms or ask a Chief Firearms Officer to suspend and review an individual’s license if they may be a risk to themselves or others.

• We will fight gun smuggling and trafficking by increasing penalties for those crimes and protect Canadians from gun violence by creating new offences for altering a cartridge magazine and by introducing tighter restrictions on replica firearms, the importation of ammunition, and the depiction of violence in firearms advertising.

• We will help create safer communities by supporting municipalities that choose to restrict handgun storage and transportation and will give young people the opportunities and resources they need to resist lives of crime by providing $250 million over five years directly to municipalities and Indigenous communities to support youth programming.

• This complements our government’s previous investments to support provincial and territorial activities through the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence. More than
$214 million, over five years, is being directed to our provincial
and territorial partners to combat gun and gang violence.

On Sunday, February 7, 2021, a 15-year old girl was shot to death in a Montreal suburb. Media reports point to an increase in gun violence in Montreal, noting an increase in certain areas involving criminal gang members and illegal handguns. Concerned with the increase in gun crimes, Montreal police announced the new squad of 22 investigators, to crack down on gun trafficking. The squad will begin its work on February 22, 2021.

Generally, firearms-related homicide doubled from 2013 to 2017 (134 to 267), fell slightly in 2018 (249), and increased again in 2019 (261). Shootings are now the most common method of homicide. According to police, gang violence accounted for approximately 51% of firearms-related homicides in 2018 and 53% in 2019.

This rising firearms-related violence is fueling public concern and giving rise to demands for federal action to curtail the availability and use of firearms in Canada. On February 16, 2021, the government introduced Bill C-21 that will combat intimate partner and gender-based violence, reduce firearms trafficking and smuggling, and support municipalities that wish to further restrict handguns. The Bill includes a wide range of measures that would amend both the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act to make communities safer while respecting law-abiding firearms owners. This legislation complements the May 1, 2020 prohibition of over 1,500 models of assault-style firearms and their variants. Of those, nine principal models of assault-style firearms are prohibited as they have semi-automatic action with sustained rapid-fire capability (tactical military design with large magazine capacity), are of modern design, and are present in large volumes in the Canadian market. Also included are two categories of firearm that exceed safe civilian use: firearms with 20 mm bore or greater or with a muzzle energy of greater than 10,000 Joules.

Program Design for the $250M to communities

In the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, the Government committed to providing dedicated funding of $250 million over five years, beginning next fiscal year to municipalities and Indigenous communities to support prevention and intervention programs to reduce gun and gang violence. This funding will compliment work that is currently underway under the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence (ITAAGGV).

The strategic goal of the program is to prevent and reduce gun and gang violence using a collaborative, multi-pronged approach which focuses on prevention and intervention activities at the community-level. According to the Fall Economic Statement:

‘’To crack down on gun crime and make our communities safer places to live, the government proposes to provide dedicated funding of $250 million over 5 years, starting in 2021-22, for municipalities, community-led initiatives and Indigenous communities, to support anti-gang programming. This investment will be delivered by Public Safety Canada and will support programs aimed at youth gang interventions through wrap-around supports. This funding will complement the government’s previous investments to support provincial and territorial initiatives.“
Source: 2020 Fall Economic Statement (https://www.budget.gc.ca/fes-eea/2020/home-accueil-en.html), p. 101

This funding of $250 million will flow directly to municipalities and Indigenous communities, including self-governing Indigenous communities over five years starting in 2021-2022. Communities are best placed to determine the solutions to suit their unique needs and this funding seeks to initiate momentum and complement existing programing to create lasting generational change in the gang landscape in Canada.

In accordance with the Fall Economic Statement, $15 million will be allocated for 2021-22, with $58.8 M allocated each year until 2025-2026.

Source: 2020 Fall Economic Statement (https://www.budget.gc.ca/fes-eea/2020/home-accueil-en.html), p. 110

[Redacted]. New terms and conditions will also be developed for the new program. PS will commence early engagement with PTs and larger municipalities to discuss the implementation approach.

Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence

The new funding builds on the Government’s earlier investments, in 2018, of $327.6 million over five years, and an anticipated $100 million ongoing, to establish the ITAAGGV. The majority of financial resources, approximately $222 million over five years, are allocated to provinces and territories (PTs) ($214 million), under the Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund (GGVAF), to combat the issue of gun and gang violence in communities across Canada by distributing to partners within their jurisdiction that can help:
• Develop and deliver gun and gang violence prevention and intervention initiatives;
• Enhance law enforcement and prosecution capacity to address gun and gang violence;
• Support data gathering/reporting, and research, knowledge development and information around gun and gang violence;
• Provide training for enforcement, prevention or other professionals; and,
• Support for the development/refinement of strategies on gun and gang violence and the measurement of results of initiatives.

Twelve PTs have signed multi-year funding agreements under the GGVAF. Prince Edward Island is currently engaged in the signature process for their contribution agreement.

Through the GGVAF, PS has put in place a four year Contribution Agreement with Quebec for a total value of $46.6M. The project is titled Fonds d'action contre la violence liée aux armes à feu et aux gangs - Québec (FACVAFG - QC). The annual breakdown is as follows:

2019-20: $8,100,748
2020-21: $9,635,901
2021-22: $12,907,266
2022-23: $16,018,708

2020-21 Allocation of GGVAF Funding

These resources complement existing efforts under the National Crime Prevention Strategy through the Youth Gang Prevention Fund, which received additional $8 million over four years beginning 2019, to fund prevention and intervention activities in Indigenous communities across the country.

As a horizontal initiative, the Government also provided $86 million to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canada Border Services Agency to enhance firearms investigations and strengthen controls at the border to prevent illegal firearms from entering the country.

• Newfoundland, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 21, 2019, received $162,233 in 2019-20 and $380,786 in 2020-21.
• Prince Edward Island, whose agreement length is pending, does not include totals for 2019 20 and received $387,316 in 2020-21.
• Nova Scotia, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 6, 2019, received $416,269 in 2019 20 and $977,051 in 2020-21.
• New Brunswick, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 19, 2019, received $238,406 in 2019-20 and $559,577 in 2020-21.
• Quebec, with a 5 year agreement signed on November 6, 2019, received $8,100,748 in 2019 20 and $9,635,901 in 2020-21.
• Ontario, with a 5 year agreement signed on December 10, 2019, received $9,377,756 in 2019 20 (including carryover funds from year 1) and $13,533,928 in 2020-21.
• Manitoba, with a 5 year agreement signed on February 4, 2020, received $1,174,313 in 2019 20 and $2,756,304 in 2020-21.
• Saskatchewan, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 1, 2019, received $1,046,695 in 2019-20 and $2,456,764 in 2020-21.
• Alberta, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 19, 2020, received $4,684,258 in 2019-20 and $6,166,714 in 2020-21.
• British Columbia, with a 5 year agreement signed on January 21, 2019, received $2,686,047 in 2019-20 and $6,304,591 in 2020-21.
• Yukon, with a 5 year agreement signed on December 21, 2018, received $198,018 in 2019 20 and $464,780 in 2020-21.
• Northwest Territories, with a 5 year agreement signed on March 19, 2019, received $198,018 in 2019 20 and $464,780 in 2020-21.
• Nunavut, with a 5 year agreement signed on February 21, 2019, received $198,018 in 2019 20 and $464,780 in 2020-21.

The Provinces and Territories complete an Annual Performance Report for the Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund. The first report for this program was completed in June 2020 and covers the 2019-2020 results. Early analysis of the data shows that since the inception of the program, PTs have indicated a positive effect on their ability to address Gun and Gang violence within their respective jurisdictions. Moreover;

• 100% of Provinces and Territories indicated that GGVAF funding has enabled them to better respond to gun and gang violence in their jurisdiction,
• 58% of Provinces and Territories have integrated knowledge from funded initiatives into their practice or decision-making, and
• 67% of respondents have provided new resources dedicated to guns and gangs within their police services.

The main objective of the GGVAF is to provide funding to six (6) key areas including intervention programming, training, action-oriented research, prosecution activities, improvement of data, and law enforcement efforts. $26.2M has been distributed to date to the Provinces and Territories and redirected towards to the following five (5) key areas as follows:

• Intervention Programming: $13,081,886.00
• Training: $1,240,424.00
• Action-oriented research: $891,164.00
• Prosecution activities: $213,043.00
• Improvement of data: $10,732,120.00

The remainder has been directed to law enforcement efforts; there has been 59 police service personnel hired to date of the 265 expected personnel to be hired throughout the duration of the funding.

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