e-4097 (Justice)

Canadians deserve to be safe in their communities. That’s why the Government of Canada is taking action on gun violence with a comprehensive plan that gets firearms off our streets and puts more resources into our neighbourhoods, while respecting hunters and law-abiding gun owners. 

Firearms violence is a complex issue affecting Canadians in both urban and rural settings and implicates various types of firearms. As part of a comprehensive approach to address gun violence and strengthen gun laws in Canada, the Government has introduced Bill C-21, which represents the most significant changes to gun control legislation in more than 40 years. The objective and spirit of Bill C-21 is to enhance public safety through targeted firearms control and, since its introduction, the Government has made clear commitments to take further action to protect Canadians and our communities from gun violence.

When Bill C-21 was tabled, the Government noted the intention to continue working to ensure a comprehensive ban of assault-style firearms. In November 2022, amendments were proposed to accomplish this. The core intent of the amendments was to prohibit assault-style firearms that are not suitable for civilian use, and not to target firearms that are commonly used for hunting. The proposed amendments generated significant debate and legitimate concerns in society, and were withdrawn to create an opportunity to further consult with Canadians.

On May 1, 2023, the Government announced re-introducing revised amendments to Bill C-21 in SECU, alongside regulatory and other measures to deliver on its commitment to ban assault-style firearms. The proposed measures would add a new prospective technical definition to the definition of “prohibited firearm” in the Criminal Code; through regulations, require that manufacturers seek a Firearms Reference Table number before being allowed to sell in Canada; address the growing threat of illegally manufactured firearms, otherwise known as “ghost guns”; include a specific provision stating that nothing proposed in Bill C-21 derogates from the rights of Indigenous peoples recognized and affirmed under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982; and, require a parliamentary review of the amendment to the definition of prohibited firearm five years after the coming into force of the new provisions.

Despite a long history of handgun regulation in Canada, handgun violence continues to inflict significant damage to Canadians and communities. Handguns are the weapon of choice in most firearm-related crimes, which is why limiting the number of handguns is a critical part of the Government’s plan to protect Canadians from gun violence. In order to strengthen handgun control across Canada, Bill C-21 includes measures that would essentially cap the domestic lawful handgun market in Canada by freezing the sale, purchase, or transfer of handguns by individuals within Canada and prevent individuals from bringing newly acquired firearms into Canada. The freeze on the sale, purchase or transfer of handguns by individuals within Canada, and on the importation of newly acquired handguns into Canada, came into force by regulatory amendments pursuant to the Firearms Act on October 21, 2022. 

Bill C-21 puts the safety of Canadians first by recognizing that handgun use is appropriate in some situations and providing for limited exceptions from the national freeze on handguns. For example, exempted individuals would include those with an Authorization to Carry restricted or prohibited firearms, which includes those who carry firearms for their lawful profession, those who use them in the context of trapping, and a very small number of people who use them for protection of life (where police are too far away or unable to provide protection and the person is in demonstrable danger). Also exempted would be elite sport shooters training for, competing in, or coaching handgun disciplines that are recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Furthermore, freezing the market would not involve a confiscation of the existing stock of handguns. Owners of existing handguns would continue to possess and use their handguns for sports shooting or collecting, but they would not be authorized to import new handguns, transfer their existing handguns (except to businesses or exempted individuals), or acquire new ones.

Bill C-21 is only one of the many avenues the Government is pursuing to prevent firearm violence and loss of life. The cross-border smuggling of firearms poses a threat to the safety and security of Canadians. To help address gun smuggling and trafficking, Canada and the United States have formed the Canada-United States Cross Border Firearms Task Force (CBFTF). Both countries have committed to working together, consistent with their respective domestic laws, to identify the primary sources of illicit firearms and to disrupt their flow, and the exchange of illicit commodities for such firearms across the shared border. On April 28, 2023, following the conclusion of the 2023 Canada-United States Cross-Border Crime Forum, it was announced that Canada and the United States plan to deepen cooperation in tackling gun violence in several key areas, including timely and actionable information sharing, investigations and enforcement. Ministers decided to continue advancing both domestic and bilateral efforts to reduce firearms violence, including through the CBFTF, to trace and seize guns used in crime, disrupt cross-border firearms smuggling, and to identify and target shippers and receivers through the coordination of joint operations and investigations. Ministers also decided to advance collaborative work related to stemming the proliferation of privately manufactured firearms (“ghost guns”) and strengthen cooperation with state, provincial, Indigenous and tribal partners. In addition, Ministers highlighted the Memorandum of Understanding between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), signed in March 2023; as well as a Memorandum of Understanding between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), signed in November 2022. These arrangements will be pivotal in helping both countries interdict firearms and drugs through enhanced information sharing.

As part of the Government’s investment of over $356 million over five years, and an anticipated $100 million ongoing, to establish the Initiative to Take Action against Gun and Gang Violence, it provided $125 million to the RCMP and the CBSA to enhance firearms investigations and strengthen controls at the border to prevent illegal firearms from entering the country. This investment enhances the RCMP’s regional firearms intelligence presence and creates a dedicated analytical capacity to develop actionable intelligence reports for law enforcement at the local, regional and provincial/territorial level. For the CBSA, this funding provides them with greater operational capacity to screen passengers and examine commercial shipments, thereby protecting Canadians by preventing firearms and inadmissible people from coming into the country illegally. It 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. 

Building on these investments, 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 Public Safety Canada (PS), the 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 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 the RCMP and the CBSA with additional resources to target firearms smuggling and trafficking; and,

• enhance firearms policy advice and promote awareness of firearm 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.

Illicitly manufactured firearms or “ghost guns” are difficult to detect and trace, and are becoming more prevalent given the increased accessibility of 3D printing technology and the adaptability of certain unregulated components. Through recent government investments, the RCMP is working in a number of key areas to combat firearms trafficking and illicit manufacturing to reduce gun violence, including:

• expanding its firearms tracing capacity to assist law enforcement in determining the sources of and trafficking routes for firearms used in crimes, as well as, support strategic-level analysis of illegal firearms usage in Canada;

• bolstering the capacity of the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team to: i) support firearms-related criminal investigations; ii) conduct outreach to police on new technologies and emerging criminal trends in firearms trafficking and illicit manufacturing (i.e. ghost guns); iii) build a national network of firearms trafficking working groups to strengthen information sharing and collaboration to detect bulk/straw purchasing and interdict illicit firearms transfers; and, iv) partner with industry associations to provide education and training to firearms retailers on identifying firearms traffickers; and,

• continuing to work closely with the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. law enforcement to disrupt smuggling and trafficking networks by enhancing intelligence and analysis partnerships on tracing and sourcing of illegal firearms, including ghost guns.

With these initiatives, the Government is taking concrete steps to make our country less vulnerable to firearms violence while being fair to responsible firearms owners and businesses.