Parliamentary Committee Notes: Other Federal Firearms Measures
Date:
Classification: Unclassified
Branch / Agency: CPB
Proposed Response:
- Too many Canadians have been affected by senseless acts of gun violence.
- Our government has taken significant steps to address gun violence in our communities by introducing stronger gun controls and investing in policing, border enforcement and community gang prevention strategies.
- For example, under my tenure as Minister of Public Safety, the Government brought into force measures from former Bill C-71, An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms, which received Royal Assent in June 2019.
- This included bringing into force expanded background checks for license applications and renewals in July 2021, and finalizing consultation with Canadians on draft regulations on license verification and business record-keeping.
- Since 2018, we have also invested $358.8 million through the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence to combat the issue of gun and gang violence in communities across Canada.
- In 2018-19, I had the privilege of leading a national consultation, where we heard from a wide range of stakeholders on how Government could strengthen gun control, including banning assault-style firearms.
- We also took bold action on May 1st 2020 to prohibit assault-style firearms. This resulted in an Order in Council that reclassified approximately 1,500 models of firearms and their variants.
- And more recently, under Minister Mendicino’s leadership, our government has continued to make communities safer from gun violence by introducing Bill C-21 to:
- introduce a national "freeze" on the sale, purchase and transfer of handguns by individuals within Canada, and bringing newly-acquired handguns into Canada;
- help prevent firearm-related deaths in cases of gender-based and intimate-partner 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.
- The Government recognizes more can be done to protect Canadians in their communities. This is why we continue to take action to address the root causes of violence, and reducing firearms smuggling at our borders.
Background:
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 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.
Former Bill C-71
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 additional screening criteria to consider, including a history of harassment, whether the applicant was ever subject to a restraining order, and whether they pose a risk of harm to any person; 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’s storage place 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) business record-keeping, requiring businesses to maintain inventory and sales records for non-restricted firearms for a minimum of 20 years.
Guns & Gangs Programming
The Government has made federal investments of up to $358.8 million over five years, to establish the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence. The majority of resources, approximately $214 million over five years is allocated to provinces and territories (PTs) to combat the issue of gun and gang violence in communities across Canada, under the Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund (GGVAF). 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 support detection and interdiction efforts, the Government has provided $125 million through ITAAGGV to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the CBSA to enhance firearms investigations and strengthen controls at the border to prevent illegal firearms from entering our country. This funding also supports CBSA investments in an all-weather detector dog training facility, additional detector dog teams at key highway crossings, expansion of x-ray technology at postal centres and air cargo facilities, and key training in the detection of concealed goods in vehicles crossing our borders.
Comprehensive Suite of Firearms Measures
In Budget 2021, the Government announced an investment of $312 million over five years, starting in 2021–22, and $41.4 million 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.
Efforts to Combat Firearms Smuggling and Trafficking
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 travellers 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), 2019–20 (753) or 2020–21 (548). 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.
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