Thank you very much for your question.
I am exceedingly concerned about access to federal firearms safety courses, or firearms safety courses in general, in the rural parts of Canada, certainly for the native bands, the residents who live on small ranches and small farms, and the people who live in exceptionally small towns. Many of the chief provincial firearms officers around the country have arbitrarily restricted the number of firearms safety instructors, so it's even more difficult than it normally would be for such residents to have access to courses.
That is why in both Manitoba and Quebec the federal government has set it up so that hunter safety courses can be seen as equivalent to federal firearms safety instruction. I would urge that to be set up in British Columbia. We have many instructors who teach in both the federal course and the provincial course in British Columbia. These are high-quality hunter training courses in Quebec, in Manitoba, in British Columbia, in many provinces, and these should be encouraged. If you live in a small town or a small village and the only firearms instructor is hundreds of miles away, it means that you have to drive and stay the night to take a long course. This is an incredible imposition on people in small towns.
I would encourage the government to not dismiss the challenge option so that people can take training at better convenience. The test, of course, is the final arbiter of whether the person is safe or not. If he or she passes that test, then they are safe.
Thank you for your question. I hope that answers it.