Absolutely. In my case, the chief of police who was serving that day was one of this country's biggest advocates of gun control. And he let that fact be known and made it perfectly clear that his senior administration should fall in line with his beliefs about that.
A couple of us didn't. I, in clear conscience, said what I believed to be true about criminal activity in Winnipeg at that time and as a trend across this country. Another of my fellow senior officers spoke out as well. I believe he, too, was disciplined. But we said what had to be said.
Today we have chiefs of police telling their rank and file that they cannot speak out against this gun registry, and they're ordered not to attend here or speak out elsewhere about their beliefs about that. And their beliefs are based on facts and street experience, not on some sweeping statement from a leader who says, all my police officers agree with this.
Some police association executives have spoken out and said, our membership supports this long-gun registry. They were literally taken apart by the membership after making those statements, because most of them said, we don't support that; who are you to be saying that on our behalf? And these chiefs are doing the same thing now. They're saying, we support this--but that's not the case.