(Ottawa) More than 300 models or variations of firearms are now banned in Canada and more will be added to the list in the coming months. The Minister of Public Security, Dominic LeBlanc, and his colleague Jean-Yves Duclos made the announcement Thursday on the eve of the 35e anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre.
Posted at 4:07 p.m.
Updated at 4:09 p.m.
“We have a duty to act to prevent another tragedy from happening,” said Mr. LeBlanc.
An amnesty will be in effect until October 30, 2025 to give the government time to implement its buyback program and for firearm owners to get rid of their models that have become illegal.
The first phase of this program intended for merchants, currently a pilot project, will be expanded. Some models of these war weapons will be sent to Ukraine, which has been fighting Russia’s invasion of its territory since 2022. The second phase, which will apply to individuals, should be implemented next spring.
The ban affects 324 models of military-style assault weapons and their variants, but not military-style weapons frequently used for hunting like the SKS, Ministry of Public Security officials confirmed in a session information.
A decree adopted in 2020, and subsequently expanded, already prohibits more than 2,000 models and their variants. The Trudeau government had promised to strengthen this ban and reestablish the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee to exclude weapons used for hunting. PolySeSouvient wanted to add 482 weapon variants and models.
Nathalie Provost, one of the survivors of this femicide and spokesperson for PolySeSouvient, was present at the press conference. The group, which campaigns for gun control, denounced in September the entry into the Canadian market of new models of military-style semi-automatic weapons despite the adoption of Bill C-21 on gun control. firearms. This legislation was intended to ban new military-style assault weapons.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Nathalie Provost (on microphone), survivor of the killing and spokesperson for the PolySeSouvient collective
“We now fear that the multiple liberal promises to ban assault weapons will not lead to any concrete change,” she said at the time.
The government also promised to launch a buyback program to compensate owners who will have to give up their weapons.
-“Illegal weapons cross the border without problem and criminals use them with impunity and women pay the price,” criticized Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus during question period. Can the government leave hunters and sport shooters alone? »
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in May that he would “reverse everything Trudeau has done” on gun control since he believes the law targets lawful owners and not criminals.
“We have taken concrete steps to remove weapons of war from our streets, weapons designed for the battlefield,” replied Rachel Bendayan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
“I find it very shameful that on the 35th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre, the Conservatives are standing up to repeat the falsehoods of the gun lobby. »
SCREENSHOT OF GOVERNMENT PRESENTATION
Examples of new banned weapons
Revocation of license
PolySeSouvient also hopes that the government will implement the provisions of the law which would prevent feminicides. They were still not implemented almost a year after the bill received royal assent. The group and 49 other organizations that fight violence against women urged the government last week to implement them.
These measures included in Bill C-21 make it possible to revoke the firearms license within 24 hours of any person suspected of having participated in an act of domestic violence or of having stalked someone. The license would also be revoked within 24 hours when a person is subject to a protection order. It would also be prohibited to issue a license to a person who is the subject of such an order or who has been convicted of a violent offense.
The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability reports 163 femicides in the country in 2024, including 22 by firearm.
The mass feminicide at Polytechnique in 1989 cost the lives of 14 students. As has been the case for around ten years, their memory will be commemorated on December 6 with 14 light beams which will be lit on Mount Royal at 5:10 p.m., the time when the first shots were fired.
