Evidence of meeting #18 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 firearm.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
May 13th, 2010 / 4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses for your appearance here today. It's good to see you again, Mr. Momy, and I have a number of questions for you.
Chief Rich testified that he believes the gun registry to be “horrifically inaccurate”. Bearing in mind there has been an amnesty since 2006, would you agree with Chief Rich on that point?
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Police Association
I would not, and the only reason, Mr. Rathgeber, that I would say not is again because of the information in the annual report provided by the Canadian firearms program last year, produced by the RCMP, in regard to consistent use. You would think that if it's so inundated with problems, that--
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
I'm very short on time here. There's an amnesty for registration, so you accept the proposition that many owners do not register their rifles?
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Therefore, you'll have to agree with the chief that the registry is not accurate. People aren't registering.
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Police Association
With the continued amnesties that have been occurring, absolutely. Many are not.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Then you agree that the registry's not accurate, currently, today.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Thank you.
In 2004, your association passed a resolution that said:
The Canadian Professional Police Association...supports a firearm registry system that provides accurate information on all firearms and is accessible to police officers in a timely manner to improve the safety of all police officers and community members in Canada.
So that resolution is no longer valid. You just told me you don't believe the registry is accurate.
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Police Association
In fact, in that document you'll also notice that we continue to improve the firearms program, or the firearms registry. As I indicated, the continued amnesties are certainly not assisting in the registration of firearms.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Certainly the 2004 resolution didn't contemplate an inaccurate registry.
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Police Association
It contemplated, certainly, problems in any type of registry.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Okay. I'm going to change gears slightly.
You talked about a survey. Mr. Wrzesnewskyj talked about it at some length, and he said something that I think you need to correct. He said you represent 75,000 members, and your brief indicates that you represent 41,000 members.
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Police Association
Yes. When I mentioned 75,000, I talked about all front-line police officers across this country, which included the RCMP, but for us it's only 41,000.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
I understand only 408 responded to that survey. You said that.
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Police Association
Yes. This survey was actually compiled by the RCMP Canadian firearms program in 2007.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
You appreciate that less than 1% of your members responded to that survey.
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Police Association
We all know how surveys work, but yes, it's a small--
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
This isn't a random survey. This is a survey that every member has the opportunity to respond to.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
But more than 99% chose not to, correct? You have 408 who responded and you have 41,000 members.
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Police Association
Again, I can't explain how the actual survey was provided because we weren't involved. The Canadian Police Association was not involved in this particular survey. It was a survey that was compiled by the RCMP in 2007, so it had nothing to do with us.
