Public Safety Committee on June 7th, 2018

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Do you want me to start at the beginning? I'm wondering if Pierre got any of what I said.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Did you get that from the beginning?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I heard a short bit, then the interpreter said she didn't have the text. So we're missing the rest.

Please start over.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

My motion reads:

After having studied Bill C-71, An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms, the Committee wishes to make the following recommendations to the Government:

(a) That as part of the regulatory process, the Government of Canada review the reference process for Possession and Acquisition Licenses to determine both who can be used—

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

The mike was not open, but keep going, Pam, it's okay.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

for a reference, and also to ensure that references are actually checked;

(b) that the Minister of Public Safety work with his provincial and territorial counterparts to implement “duty to warn”, which would require medical professionals to advise provincial authorities about persons who have diagnosed conditions that are likely to put the lives of other people in danger;

(c) that the Minister of Public Safety work with his provincial and territorial counterparts to ensure prompt and accurate date transfer of court records of new criminal charges or convictions to the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) and Canadian Firearms Information System; and

(d) that at the suggestion of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians and other stakeholders, the Government of Canada examine the effectiveness and appropriateness of current individual firearms storage regulations as well as after-hours commercial storage regulations.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

The motion is in order. We obviously didn't get 48 hours' notice, which is the usual expectation.

We don't have to debate the merits of it tonight, but I see three people who want to speak.

Mr. Paul-Hus.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

For the committee's benefit, and given my role as vice-chair, I want to point out that there really has not been enough consultation on Bill C-71. Furthermore, as I have already said, the bill does nothing to oppose criminals; it attacks honest citizens.

The most important point, and I want this to be clear, is that indigenous people consider Bill C-71 unconstitutional as far as it concerns them. If indigenous people do not have to comply with the requirements of this bill, that will constitute a form of segregation from other Canadian citizens, who will be required to comply. I simply wanted to underscore that fact.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Ms. Dabrusin.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I was also just going to be reading the text of a motion to be debated next week.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Okay.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

My motion, and the interpreter has the wording, is:

That the Committee report the following to the House in relation to its study of Bill C-71:

After having studied Bill C-71, An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms, the Committee wishes to make the following recommendations to the Government:

a) That the Government of Canada expand research into firearm-related injury and death, including research on the correlation between firearms and suicide and intimate partner violence;

b) That, as raised by the Toronto police and other stakeholders, the Government study mechanisms to identify large and unusual firearms transactions, especially those involving restricted and prohibited guns, to better identify illicit straw purchasing schemes, gang activity, or trafficking operations; and

c) That, at the suggestion of PolySeSouvient, the Government of Canada examine whether it is reasonable for commercial firearms manufacturers to promote the sales of their wares, namely restricted and prohibited weapons, in a manner that particularly glorifies violence and simulates warfare.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Mr. Motz.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

I have to respectfully suggest that both of these motions seem to me that we now have suggestions to the government by this committee that we do what we should have done in this committee, and that's to take a stand on some of these issues.

Now we're trying to cover our ass, the proverbial CYA. I'd like to add to the record the very limited amount of time we had to review this very serious legislation and to listen to witnesses. There's a multitude more; we did not hear from witnesses who wanted to testify before committee.

Their briefs that were submitted to committee weren't even considered as part of putting this bill together.

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions' recommendations were not considered.

A brief submitted by Benjamin Copithorne was not given consideration, nor were his recommendations.

A gentleman by the name of David DeCosse was not considered. A Dr. Barbara Kane was not considered. A gentleman by the name of Mike Duynhoven was not considered.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I think Mr. Dubé has a point of order.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Are these notices of motion or are we debating these motions now?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

All these were notices so there's no debate, but Mr. Motz is on a separate point altogether from what I can see, having nothing to do with either Ms. Damoff's or Ms. Dabrusin's notice of their notices of motion.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

This is a notice of motion that these individuals be added to the record—

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Are you making a separate notice of motion?

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Sure.

If I may continue, number six is the national office of the Canadian Federation of University Women, which submitted a brief but was not included.

The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime was not included. Priscilla de Villiers, the executive director of the Victim Justice Network, was not included. The National Association of Women and the Law was not considered. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre was not considered.

Dr. Mark Sinyor was not considered. Terry Warner from Ontario was not considered. The name of Bill Skinner, on behalf of the Arnprior Fish and Game Conservation Club, was submitted and was not considered. Mr. John Melnick was not considered. James Veltkamp was not considered.

Michel Parent of B.C. was not considered. Evan Koziel was not considered. Justin Law was not considered. Colette Prevost, for the Toronto YMCA, was not considered. There were numerous other ones.

I think it's important that Canadians appreciate that they all took the time to make their recommendations and their submissions to this committee. They were thwarted from being heard because of the self-imposed arbitrary timelines to rush this bill through Parliament.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You're making a statement, from what I can see. I thought you said you were making a motion. Are you making a motion? Or are you making a statement?

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

I didn't hear one.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I didn't hear a motion either.

Mr. Calkins.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Chair, this just confirms what everybody in Canada who has been paying attention to this debate has known all along: that this is the fire, ready, and aim approach that the government has taken when it comes to firearms.

I find it regrettable that the motions for which we have just been given notice in front of this committee weren't given on day two of the standing up of this committee after the last election. I shudder to think of what Bill C-71 actually might have looked like had this committee had the opportunity to pursue these two notices of motion and had thoroughly studied and brought back some recommendations to the government for a bill that might effectively have reduced crime and actually improved public safety.

It seems a bit rich to me that with less than a year to go in the parliamentary calendar, this committee is going to be embarking on this. It sounds to me like the Government of Canada and this committee are pursuing a Liberal platform for the next election campaign rather than actually pursuing good legislation on behalf of Canadians.

This committee has also been tasked with a motion that was just passed unanimously in the House of Commons dealing with rural crime, and my guess is that will get short shrift when it's compared to these notices of motion, which I'm sure will be passed next week by the majority of members on this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I know you'll all be disappointed that I'm not calling an extra meeting on Monday, but on behalf of the committee, I do want to thank all of our witnesses for their endurance of our questioning, sometimes persistent and sometimes otherwise.

We do owe you a vote of thanks for your persistence.

With respect to the issue raised by Mr. Calkins, my initial plan on Tuesday was to call one of the two motions that are before us, either that of Mrs. Stubbs or that of Mr. Rayes, and at least get those things started. I'd also like to be able to deal with the aboriginal report. It has been rewritten and is ready for consideration. That's my vague plan for Tuesday.

With that, we're adjourned.