Thank you very much, Chair.
Since we we're talking about clause 4, with Mr. Julian's indulgence, I will continue to talk about why red flag laws are a problem, based on the testimony we heard at committee.
The Canadian Bar Association said this:
Some have argued that the proposed provisions are a useful suicide prevention tool. We find that the deployment of tactical teams and subjecting mentally ill people to high stress situations with possible criminal consequences is not a suitable means of handling this issue. In fact, it poses the very real risk that mentally ill individuals will not seek help and instead conceal issues fearing that their doctor, psychiatrist, or any other person might seek these heavy sanctions against them.
The defence lawyer Mr. Friedman said the following:
The concern is that the courts will be flooded with people with complaints that have been investigated by the police and found to be meritless.
We don't need more backlog in our courts when the police are already taking extensive enforcement action on firearms public safety concerns.
He went on to suggest this:
Access to justice is an enormous problem right now.... We are waiting 12 to 18 months for a trial in those courts....
...by cutting out that screening mechanism of police investigation, we're essentially inviting people to flood the courts. They're almost all going to be self-represented individuals, which poses all sorts of other challenges.... They should be going to the police.
He went on to say the following:
[We're] basically creating a funnel such that the only people who are going to access that resource are people who have been denied by the police. They've been denied by the police because the police take their jobs very seriously.
...In almost 15 years of practice, I've never seen that. I've seen...far more overzealous police enforcement than absolutely non-reactive.
The Canadian Bar Association also added another couple of quotes:
Section 110.2(1) is particularly worrisome because of criminal charges that arise from s.110.1 weapons prohibition order. It’s unclear how a s.110.2(1) order denying access to information would apply with the Crown’s disclosure obligations under R. v. Stinchcombe, if criminal charges are laid against the subject of a s.110.1 weapons prohibition. Section 110.2(1) as written will make it ripe for Charter litigation surrounding an accused’s right to a fair trial and full answer and defence.
They also say this:
Police officers themselves are vulnerable to false complaints under these provisions. An aggrieved individual, who was arrested, can present a one-sided account of the interaction in court. There is no cross-examination or any ability to check records. Their identity can be sealed, preventing a further investigation. Under the current law, the initial seizure result is the revocation of licenses, which allows police or the military to continue to perform duties until they respond to the allegations. The new provisions would result in a firearm prohibition that removes the officer from active duty.
That was from the Canadian Bar Association.
There are two last ones.
The firearms expert Tony Bernardo from the Canadian Shooting Sports Association said the following:
...we've been living with red flag laws for 25 years now. This is not new. This is an enhancement of existing laws. For 25 years now, if someone were to make a complaint that they were being threatened with a firearm, the police would have the ability to come right that minute and remove the firearm. That's in Bill C-68, in the Firearms Act. That's been around for a long time.
A. J. Somerset, the author of Arms: The Culture and Credo of the Gun, put it this way:
If this is viewed as being a way of protecting people who are at risk, women in abusive relationships, for example, I think it's asking a lot of those people to figure out...how to go to...[court], how to make this application, how to make sure that application gets heard quickly.
Mr. Chair, it is abundantly obvious to me that these red flag provisions create more harm than they do good for those whom we are trying to protect who are vulnerable and who face domestic violence situations.
I will tell you, from first-hand experience from actually doing these investigations for many years, when police receive a complaint that there is a domestic violence situation, that situation—especially over the last 15 years plus—has been taken extremely seriously.
There is an immediate response. There is a fulsome investigation. There is authority to seize firearms immediately, to hold those firearms, to take statements from witnesses and to put the accused in custody, if there is evidence, and to have them before the courts on a bail hearing. Those provisions don't exist in these red flag laws. They actually create an opportunity for the abuser to continue to abuse and confusion for the victim. I'm astounded by what I see here. It's really a failed attempt to actually make a difference.
If a neighbour calls the police, currently we respond to domestic assaults. If a spouse or anybody else calls and believes that a person is in imminent danger, for example, we determine whether there are firearms in the residence. We determine the safety risk. We involve our victim services unit. We involve whatever resource we need to ensure the safety of this victim and then the proper dealing with the accused. The ability to report a spouse or a public safety concern with a firearm has existed since the Firearms Act was passed into law in 1995.
With the current legislation—outside of what is trying to be done here with this new Bill C-21—there are currently four escalating options that exist in law.
First, under the Firearms Act, the chief firearms officer can give notice to revoke a licence. The person may continue to keep firearms while disputing the revocation in court. This is a revocation of a licence, not a prohibition order.
Second, a police officer or a CFO can apply to a provincial court for a prohibition order if he or she believes on reasonable grounds that it is not in the best interests of safety. Notice is given and the firearm owner can provide evidence and contest the order at a hearing.
Third, a police officer may seek a warrant for search and seizure. It can be done without notice, but it also cancels the firearms licence, and there is no prohibition until after a full hearing.
Fourth, in pressing circumstances, as I said previously, police have the authority to go straight to seizing a firearm if they deem it is in the best interests of public safety to do so, like ongoing domestic assault, a suicide attempt, etc. There is no firearms prohibition until the court hearing. If the police do this properly, they must go back through the warrant process.
What we heard at committee from witnesses was that this provision gives ordinary citizens in this country extraordinary powers to cause search and seizure of a legal owner's property with an “act first, ask questions later”. As we heard at committee, this is rife with opportunities for abuse.
As I said, police have authority to confiscate firearms on public safety grounds and can do so efficiently through existing legislation. We know that the courts are currently extremely backlogged, and the prohibition order that removes firearms without notice or dispute may potentially have grave impacts on military or police if it's not followed according to the existing law.
As I've said, the goal of any legislation, specifically around Bill C-21, should be the protection of Canadians—public safety. If we have a provision that is absolutely contrary to what the bill's supposed attention is, then why are we continuing to push it? I would suggest that the government should consider absolutely removing this clause. I can't support it—I won't support it—but the government should be looking at removing clauses with anything to do with red flag laws completely from this bill.
We have heard from countless witnesses, and I've only mentioned a few and read their testimony at this committee, who say, “Please stop. You're putting the people we work with, people in our communities, at risk by continuing to pursue red flag laws in this legislation. Stop it.”
With that, I would say that we need to do just that. We need to listen to the experts we had here in committee and actually defeat this clause in the bill.
Thank you.