Good morning. My name is Hélène Larente. I am from Rapides-des-Joachims, Quebec. I am a female hunter very involved in the Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs in Quebec. I am an instructor for the Programme d'éducation en sécurité et en conservation de la faune. I am also an instructor for the Canadian Firearms Safety Course, and I am the founder and coordinator of the Women's Hunting Program. For over 25 years, I have been involved in hunting and fishing organizations and in the Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et des pêcheurs, which represents hunters and anglers in Quebec.
I am here today as a Quebecker and as a Canadian and I join the federation in saying that I am in favour of scrapping the long-gun registry as per Bill C-19. I feel that keeping a registry like that is pointless for a number of reasons. I don't believe it protects women or society. It gives a false sense of safety, since, just because a gun is registered, it does not mean that it cannot be used to commit an irreversible act. To think along those lines is to bury your head in the sand. Peace officers have to assume—and always must—that there are weapons in the places where they intervene because there are—and always will be— unregistered guns, even with a registry. The long-gun registry has not been effective at all in achieving the main objective of reducing crime. Unfortunately, the infamous registry has not prevented other appalling acts from being committed, similar to the one that led to the tragedy at the École polytechnique de Montréal.
As a hunter, I don't think it is fair that we are being treated like criminals and that we are being penalized in their place, since the real criminals circumvent the law and don't register their guns. I would even argue that the registry encourages smuggling. In addition, the debate around this registry we hear so much about casts a negative light on hunters. It is not the gun itself that's dangerous, but the person using it. The fact that the gun is registered changes nothing.
So far, billions of dollars have been wasted, and the wrong people have been targeted. Maintaining this registry will cost taxpayers some additional millions of dollars. But it is never too late to make positive corrections. I am sure that this money needs to be used somewhere else, where it can really protect or help Canadians. In order to make public safety a priority, the money should go to: measures that have a real impact in controlling crime; increasing the police presence in our streets; being better equipped to monitor offenders; supporting social programs and the fight against crime; developing education, awareness and accountability programs.
Education and awareness are key factors in encouraging people to report acts of violence before tragedies happen. It is also important to consider and develop tools and ways to combat violence, which is still far too present in families, in schoolyards and especially in disadvantaged areas. People have to feel that they are being heard and that they have the support they need to report those acts. If needed, additional resources must be provided to help people in distress, who are often left to fend for themselves. People have to be urged to safely store their firearms at all times. In desperate or similar situations, the reaction time and the obstacles that make it more difficult to get hold of a gun can actually change the course of events. A few minutes, even a few seconds, can make all the difference in the world and can help to avoid a tragedy. All this is simply to say that storing guns properly can save lives.
It is important to remember that firearm suicide rate has declined over the past few years. That is a result of legal obligations to store firearms and of education campaigns. Professor Jean Caron's studies at the UQAT have showed that storing firearms has a direct impact on the suicide rate. I would also like to point out that we are already subject to screening in terms of gun ownership in the form of the mandatory firearms possession and acquisition licence. The RCMP automatically does an investigation on each person who applies for a licence. Just like the federation, I believe that the mandatory qualification process for gun owners has to be maintained.
While I sympathize with the families affected by the events at the École polytechnique, I feel that we have to open our eyes and stop making decisions solely based on compassion for people in a certain category. There is much more to it than that. Like those families, I also feel that we have to find real solutions to fight against crime and gratuitous violence. We need to invest in the right things to further protect Canadians and to help people in distress, as well as those with illnesses.
Thank you for listening.