Question Period Note: Government Measures to Reduce Gun Violence

• Too many Canadians have been affected by senseless acts of gun violence, including in our Northern communities.

• For example, we know that in 2020 firearm-related intimate partner violence accounted for 38% of female victims in the rural North.

• Our government has taken bold action by introducing stronger gun controls and investing in policing, border enforcement and community gang prevention strategies.

• Though we have made progress, we have a responsibility to work together to reduce gun violence in all regions of the country.

• As such, we have introduced legislation to:
• introduce a national "freeze" on the sale, purchase or transfer of handguns by individuals within Canada, and bringing newly-acquired firearms into Canada;
• prevent firearm-related deaths in cases of family violence and self-harm;
• increase criminal penalties to target those that smuggle and traffic firearms;
• make it an offence to alter a gun magazine;
• enable police information-sharing needed to investigate firearms offences; and
• prevent illegal ammunition from entering our country.

• All levels of government have a shared responsibility to reduce gun violence. The federal government stands ready to support and collaborate with provinces, territories, municipalities, and Indigenous communities in taking action to further reduce gun violence.

In 2020, while firearm-related violent crimes have been a small proportion of all police-reported violent crime in Canada, the rate of certain violent offences specific to firearms increased for the sixth consecutive year (a 15% increase compared to 2019 according to Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime statistics). Firearm-related homicide doubled from 2013 (134) to 2020 (277).

In 2019, 51% of firearm-related homicides were related to gang activity, the majority committed with handguns (78%). The number of victims of police-reported intimate partner violence where a firearm was present increased 65% from 2013 (401) to 2019 (660). Further, suicide by firearm also continues, with over 500 deaths identified in 2019. Canada has experienced nine high-profile mass shootings in urban and rural areas since 2014 which have captured public attention, including l’École Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989, Dawson College in Montreal in 2006, Moncton in 2014, the Quebec City mosque in 2017, and Nova Scotia in 2020. Assault-style firearms were used by the perpetrators in these mass shootings.

Northern Specific Considerations

In the Rural North in 2020, the firearm present was most commonly a rifle or shotgun (39%). For women, firearm-related intimate partner violence (IPV) was most frequent in rural areas. In 2020, there were 31 per 100,000 in the rural North (compared to 4.1 in urban areas and 8.1 in the rural South). Firearm-related IPV accounted for 38% of female victims in the rural North. Although firearm-related IPV for male victims was also higher in rural areas, rates were low compared to females (1.4 per 100,000 males in the rural South, 2.8 per 100,000 in the rural North and 0.9 per 100,000 in urban areas). The majority of incidents involving a victim of firearm-related violent crime were solved (with at least one accused identified in the incident), with those in the rural North (83% in 2020) and rural South (72%) more often solved than those in urban areas (54%).

Government officials will consult Indigenous Peoples as part of the regulatory process on the impact on Indigenous and northern communities and on the need for tailored exceptions for sustenance hunting and trapping and employment.

Prohibition of Assault-Style Firearms

On May 1, 2020, the Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and Other Weapons, Components and Parts of Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited, Restricted or Non-Restricted were amended to reclassify as prohibited over 1,500 models of 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 firearms that exceed safe civilian use: firearms with 20 mm bore or greater, or with a muzzle energy of greater than 10,000 Joules. In addition, the upper receivers of M16, AR-10, AR-15 and M4 pattern firearms have been prescribed as prohibited devices.

The Government decided that these newly prohibited firearms and components are not reasonable for hunting or sport shooting purposes given the inherent danger that they pose to public safety. Following the ban, the Government declared an amnesty period, which has been extended until October 30, 2023. The Amnesty Order protects affected individuals from criminal liability for illegal possession of a now prohibited firearm in order to afford the individuals with time to dispose of the firearms. Further, the Government announced its intention to establish a buy-back program to offer fair compensation to affected owners and businesses while making sure the program’s implementation is cost-effective. This was reaffirmed in the 2021 Speech from the Throne and Minister’s mandate letter. There are currently a number of court applications challenging the May 1, 2020, Order in Council prohibiting certain assault-style firearms. The grounds for review include: alleged breaches of the Charter; alleged violations of the Bill of Rights; and, an allegation that the decision is ultra vires the enabling authority under the Criminal Code.

Former Bill C-71 & Bill C-21

An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms (former Bill C-71) received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019. Two elements were brought into force via an Order in Council on July 7, 2021: 1) expanded background checks to determine eligibility for firearms licences from the previous five years to the entirety of a person’s life, as well as enhanced screening to consider harassment, restraining orders, and a history of violence; and 2) re-instatement of the requirement for a separate Authorization to Transport when transporting restricted and prohibited firearms to any place except to an approved shooting range or to bring the firearm home after purchase. In May 2022, two regulatory amendments were also implemented: 1) licence verification, which would require vendors to verify the firearms licence of the buyer with the Registrar of Firearms before transferring a non-restricted firearm; and 2) requiring businesses to maintain inventory and sales records for non-restricted firearms for a minimum of 20 years.

Former Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms), introduced on February 17, 2021, sought to amend the Criminal Code, Firearms Act, Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and Nuclear Safety and Control Act. Measures included among others, to: limit access to and remove firearms from individuals who may pose a risk to themselves and others; increase maximum penalties for offences; increase information sharing between law enforcement agencies; create new offences for altering a cartridge magazine and depicting violence in firearms advertising; and tighten restrictions on the importation of non-prohibited ammunition.

Former Bill C-21 also proposed amendments to support municipalities that wished to restrict handguns. The federal government would have created conditions on an individual’s federal firearms licence to restrict handgun storage and transport in those municipalities that passed bylaws to these effects. The 2021 mandate letter to the Minister of Public Safety includes a commitment that calls for “Providing financial support to provinces and territories that implement a ban on handguns across their jurisdiction”. Firearms is a shared responsibility of both Canada and provinces/territories that has been recognized by the Supreme Court. Provinces and territories have authority to regulate the property and civil rights aspects of firearms.

Cross-Border Smuggling
The cross-border smuggling of firearms poses a threat to the safety and security of Canada. Given the availability of firearms in the United States (U.S.), including firearms that are strictly controlled or prohibited in Canada, most firearm seizures happen at the Canada-U.S. land border. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) seizes large quantities of firearms every year from U.S. citizens, mostly from non-compliant travelers attempting to retain their personal firearms while travelling. In 2021–2022, CBSA has reported seeing a large upward trend with 678 firearms seized to-date in the first half of the fiscal year compared to total firearms seized in 2018–19 (696) and 2019–20 (753). With the removal of COVID-19 restrictions at the land border, CBSA anticipates that this trend is likely to continue. The total number of firearms successfully smuggled into Canada is unknown.

Comprehensive Suite of Firearms Measures
In Budget 2021, the Government announced an investment of $312M over five years, starting in 2021–22, and $41.4M per year ongoing for PS, CBSA, and the RCMP to enhance Canada’s firearm control framework. This funding includes program measures that will:
• Strengthen services to support the lawful acquisition, ownership and use of firearms by enhancing RCMP Canadian Firearms Program (CFP) services to Canadians and law enforcement;
• Combat illegal firearm-related activities by increasing RCMP capacity to trace crime guns and to continue to build a national system that allows for the flagging of straw purchasing of firearms, and provide RCMP and CBSA with additional resources to target firearms smuggling and trafficking; and,
• Enhance firearms policy advice and promote awareness of firearms programs by establishing capacity for the RCMP to begin the development of a buyback program for those firearms that were prohibited on May 1 2020; increase PS capacity to support the policy, legislative, regulatory, and program measures to deliver on the Government’s firearms commitments; and continue to develop and advance the firearms social marketing campaign that will raise awareness and educate Canadians on the need to reduce violent crimes through a variety of initiatives.

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