Evidence of meeting #36 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was c-21.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Dakalbab, I don't know if you want to weigh in on that from a policy perspective as well, with any of the data or research that you've seen.
5:40 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Crime Prevention Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I think my colleague mentioned that there's obviously a link between guns and gender-based violence. There is no doubt about it.
From a policy perspective, we're very clear on that aspect, and I think when there's a risk and we eliminate the risk, automatically....
I can't tell you what the numbers are going to be in the future, but I am sincerely hopeful that it will significantly help the situation that we're in right now.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
Thank you.
It wouldn't be fair that we would go this entire meeting, Mr. Gaspar, without at least turning our attention to you a little bit. You're almost off the hook, but not quite.
CBSA officers have apprehended at the border ghost guns, 3D-printed firearms, so on and so forth. This importation is obviously a serious concern. In my earlier question to the minister, I talked a little bit about this. Could you share your perspective from the CBSA's point of view on how Bill C-21 can or will or should help address this issue?
5:45 p.m.
Vice-President, Commercial and Trade Branch, Canada Border Services Agency
Again, I have to be a little careful, because it's certainly a bit of a policy question. I can tell you that Bill C-21 codifies and cohesively brings together the overarching approach that the government and all members of the public safety portfolio have been using for a number of years now, starting with the initiative to address guns and gangs violence, and that is to take a multipronged approach.
Therefore, Bill C-21, as my colleague Talal has indicated, takes a look at the root causes and takes a look at initiatives that can be put in place to protect the most vulnerable members of society from a policy perspective. It underscores the kinds of investments that we have been making to support those types of outcomes through the budget 2021 provisions and the 2018 guns and gangs funding, which is intended to improve investigative capacity and enable us to better liaise with our international partners to identify the source of import threats.
I'd have to underscore that point more than anything else. It's not unlike any other kind of smuggling regime: The further upstream in the import stream that you're able to identify the threat and interdict it, the more likely you are to be successful. I think if we look at it holistically, that's the key benefit of Bill C-21 from a border effectiveness perspective: It brings together that cohesive approach through a multipronged solution to address gun violence in Canada.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I don't know how much time I have left, but I suspect it's not much. I'll give that back to you.
Thank you very much to all the witnesses.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thanks to all of you.
I'd like to thank all the witnesses for being here. I know that there's been a little extra time, and I appreciate that.
I'd also like to thank all of our staff, our interpreters and the technical staff for bearing with us for this extra time.
With that, I believe we have a will to adjourn, so this meeting is now adjourned.