Evidence of meeting #15 for Public Safety and National Security in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was gun.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz
That's because there's just you and the government side. Is that okay?
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Rick Norlock Conservative Northumberland—Quinte West, ON
On a point of order, no, that isn't. This committee was constrained by the opposition as to the number of days and times we were going to sit. We should abide by that, because what we're going to have here, time and time again, is an interjection by the opposition who are--
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Rick Norlock Conservative Northumberland—Quinte West, ON
I have a point of order right now, Mr. Chair, but if you want the opposition to run the meeting, you can shut me down and let them go. I'm tired of this.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz
No. We're going to end this meeting at 5:30, as was agreed by the committee, so you have about two minutes left.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Thank you.
Senior Deputy Commissioner Sweeney, this may be the last time you appear before a committee before your summer retirement, so let me begin by expressing the gratitude of all members of the committee and our tremendous respect for you and for your 36 years of service to the RCMP in serving and protecting all Canadians. I express that on behalf of everyone and our constituents.
Now, many years ago you were a front-line officer. Did you ever respond to a domestic incident?
5:25 p.m.
D/Commr William Sweeney
Yes, I did.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Because these can involve highly irrational, emotional states, and potentially be very dangerous, would it have helped to know whether or not there was a long gun in the residence?
5:25 p.m.
D/Commr William Sweeney
Yes, it would have, but, as has been testified to or alluded to by my colleague, Chief Hanson, we always assume that there are firearms or weapons until such time as we have concluded that this is not the case. However, in domestic cases, when we have reason to remove one of the offending parties--and more often than not that's a male--and we know there are firearms, in the absence of a registry, we're operating in a void.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Thank you.
In Ms. Hoeppner's opening statement, she drew a parallel between sharp knives and long guns. What is more dangerously lethal, a sharp knife or a long gun, for instance, in a case of responding to a domestic?
5:25 p.m.
D/Commr William Sweeney
I wouldn't be able to give you an answer to that, sir. Both weapons are just terribly lethal. I wouldn't be able to answer that intelligently.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Okay.
I'd like to move on to the number of queries. There are 11,000 queries per day. That comes out to a current cost of $1.16 per query made to the firearms registry. Since 2004 we've seen an increase in usage from just over 2,000 to over 11,000 usages per day. That's a 531% increase; in the last two years it's a 59% increase. Every year there are double-digit percentage increases in the usage.
Doesn't this continuous increase in usage of this policing tool indicate its utility?
5:30 p.m.
D/Commr William Sweeney
I would be speculating, but if I was to speculate I would suggest that it's because the front-line officers are understanding better today what is accessible and that they have greater confidence in the quality and the reliability of the information. And that's not just the front-line officers, that's our dispatchers, who quite often will make a query into the system on behalf of the responding member.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
That seems to indicate that the system is working more efficiently as we go forward.
In fact, Chief Superintendent Cheliak, you had referenced the fact that there are new programs that tell us, for instance, if there's been stockpiling of long guns taking place, and it red flags potential situations.
It's just been a few years since the Roszko situation in Mayerthorpe, Alberta. Are those the types of stockpiling incidences that would be red flagged by this registry and the new systems you have in place?
5:30 p.m.
C/Supt Marty Cheliak
The stockpiling aspect is red flagged for anyone who acquires in excess of 10 firearms over a 30-day period. That's where the flags go up.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz
Thank you very much.
Unfortunately, our time is up.
I'd like to thank all of our witnesses for appearing before us today. I wish we had more time, but unfortunately we don't.
The meeting is adjourned.