Bill C-71 (Historical)

An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms

Part 1 of this Act amends the Firearms Act to, among other things,
(a) remove the reference to the five-year period, set out in subsection 5(2) of that Act, that applies to the mandatory consideration of certain eligibility criteria for holding a licence;
(b) require, when a non-restricted firearm is transferred, that the transferee’s firearms licence be verified by the Registrar of Firearms and that businesses keep certain information related to the transfer; and
(c) remove certain automatic authorizations to transport prohibited and restricted firearms.
Part 1 also amends the Criminal Code to repeal the authority of the Governor in Council to prescribe by regulation that a prohibited or restricted firearm be a non-restricted firearm or that a prohibited firearm be a restricted firearm and, in consequence, the Part
(a) repeals certain provisions of regulations made under the Criminal Code; and
(b) amends the Firearms Act to grandfather certain individuals and firearms, including firearms previously prescribed as restricted or non-restricted firearms in those provisions.
Furthermore, Part 1 amends section 115 of the Criminal Code to clarify that firearms and other things seized and detained by, or surrendered to, a peace officer at the time a prohibition order referred to in that section is made are forfeited to the Crown.
Part 2, among other things,
(a) amends the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act, by repealing the amendments made by the Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1, to retroactively restore the application of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act to the records related to the registration of non-restricted firearms until the day on which this enactment receives royal assent;
(b) provides that the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act continue to apply to proceedings that were initiated under those Acts before that day until the proceedings are finally disposed of, settled or abandoned; and
(c) directs the Commissioner of Firearms to provide the minister of the Government of Quebec responsible for public security with a copy of such records, at that minister’s request.

[Rob O'Reilly]

Yes, certainly. With Bill C-71, we would therefore be doing licence verification for non-restricted firearms. We don't have concrete numbers as to how many non-restricted firearms are currently being acquired, because there are no means to be able to record that.

However, as mentioned by the minister, we will not only have our telephone services, which are currently available nationally, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, but we will be implementing a web portal that will facilitate licence verification as well. If there is a need to provide additional services on the weekend, we will scale up to be able to meet that demand.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Do you anticipate an increase in the use of these portals and programs with the changes in Bill C-71?

[Randall Koops]

Bill C-71 would impose on the vendor the obligation to check that a licence remains valid. There also remains in the Firearms Act the offence of acquiring a firearm without the proper valid licence to do so. Bill C-71 doesn't touch that.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Quebec has its own law and last January it created a new firearms registry. The difficulty in Quebec is the sale of firearms between owners in Ontario or other provinces and those in Quebec, who are then required to register those firearms. Everyone says it is not a registry, but the information will be recorded by the vendors, and if the vendors close shop, the government will have a database.

Does Quebec need Bill C-71 for its own registry to be effective?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Okay.

The main problem is not the weapon itself, but the person's mental health. Most often, crimes are committed by people who are not criminals, but who have mental health problems.

In light of the proposed changes in Bill C-71, will the government have the necessary resources to properly monitor people with mental health problems? Right now, there are 2.1 million license holders. How do you think you will be able to control the situation with your current resources?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

My questions pertain to background checks. How many firearms license holders are there in Canada right now?

Second, the act will apply primarily to new applicants, so the applicants will be younger and will not have a very long history. How will Bill C-71 address crime in your communities?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have two or three questions for you.

The first pertains to background checks. Under Bill C-71, a person's entire life history will be checked. This applies to new applicants for a firearms licence.

First, do you know how many license holders there are in Canada right now?

Second, how will Bill C-71 affect crime in your communities?

[Rob O'Reilly, Director, Firearms Regulatory Services, Canadian Firearms Program, Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

The only thing I would add in relation to your question is that prior to 2015, when the regime existed, where there were no authorizations to transport automatically added as a condition on the firearms licence, everyone was required to apply for an authorization to transport for many purposes, but including the two purposes that you've given, namely, transportation to a gunsmith and transportation to a gun show.

In 2015, we issued approximately 143,000 authorizations to transport, and 96.5% of those were for the two purposes that remain under Bill C-71. We had approximately 250 ATTs issued for going to a gun show and 131 issued for going to a gunsmith, so it did not represent a significant number of authorizations to transport that were issued prior to their becoming automatic.

[Randall Koops]

That's right.

Bill C-71 doesn't change those criteria, but the criteria that are there, that could be related to gang activity, would include the commission of an offence involving violence; the commission of trafficking offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, namely illegal drugs; or trafficking in firearms, which are activities that gangs are often involved in.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Mr. Spengemann.

Thank you, Minister, for starting us off on the study of Bill C-71.

We'll give the minister a few minutes to leave and then reconvene with the officials.

We'll suspend for two to three minutes.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Okay.

Mr. Chair, I move that the regular members of the committee, before clause-by-clause study of Bill C-71, travel to a shooting range for a hands-on instructional day that would include meeting with the range officer for a question and answer session on firearms, firearms safety, and firearms legislation.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

You're welcome to your opinion, but not that of the police officers or anybody else who you've managed to quote.

What evidence does your department have to suggest that Bill C-71 will reduce gun crime associated with gangs?

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

But you don't have any statistical or empirical evidence from your department that suggests that any measures in Bill C-71 will actually reduce or stem the flow of illegal firearms from the United States.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, what are your department's expected results? What has your department told you in so far as if Bill C-71 were to pass in its current form, there would be a decrease in illegal guns crossing the border from the United States?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Regina—Wascana, SK]

I believe sincerely that there are five important measures in Bill C-71 that will contribute to public safety in a very meaningful way. Bill C-71 itself is in the context of a larger policy package that in part deals with guns and gangs, and we are committing up to $100 million per year to invest with provinces, police forces, and municipalities on specific initiatives with respect to gangs, including prevention, intervention, interdiction, and withdrawal from gang organizations.