Public Safety Committee on May 11th, 2023

[Kellie Paquette]

That's correct. Thirty days is reasonable.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

There is not a calculation in here that with this new power there may be more cases or complaints that come up and what the resource limits of that might be on you.

It is possible that if the complaints do increase because of the ease of getting this into the system, you may not have the resources to go through them in 30 days? Is there any cushion, in other words?

[Kellie Paquette]

I don't have any statistics on that. The 30-day period is reasonable, based on the processes we have to date.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

Is there any further discussion on this amendment?

Seeing none, I shall call the vote.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

I'd like a recorded vote.

(Amendment negatived: nays 9; yeas 2 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

That is all about clause 34, so shall clause 34 as amended carry?

I'm sorry, did you want to speak to the clause?

Okay, go ahead.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I have just a quick question. Well, it may not be that quick, because I'd like a fulsome answer on this.

Could the officials explain in its entirety what this clause 34 has achieved in its new, amended form?

[Rachel Mainville-Dale]

Clause 34 establishes the “yellow flag” licence suspension regime. There is a test in terms of when a licence may be suspended by a CFO, providing for a notice that the chief firearms officer would give in writing of the suspension to the holder of the licence, with regard to creating an exception for non-disclosure of information, as well as for the termination of the suspension and a prohibition on the use, acquisition and importation during time the licence is suspended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Okay, thank you.

Shall we conduct the vote?

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Let's do a recorded vote.

(Clause 34 as amended agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

(On clause 35)

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Is there any discussion on clause 35?

Mr. Shipley.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I have a question for our officials tonight.

We've talked a lot about the words “to carry”. Can we get exactly what the “authorization to carry” entails?

[Rachel Mainville-Dale]

An authorization to carry is an authorization to carry a restricted or prohibited firearm, either in the course of reasons of employment or for reasons of protection of life. It is defined and described under section 20 of the Firearms Act.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you for that. I'm sure there are some people watching this who aren't really up to speed. To clarify, isn't it fairly limited in terms of the individuals who have permission to carry?

[Rachel Mainville-Dale]

Yes.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Could I get a couple of specific examples?

You said it was for work. I think you said that. Is that correct?

[Rachel Mainville-Dale]

For employment, a reason for carrying a firearm and having an authorization to carry is, for example, being a security guard with the armoured car carriers. They are often authorized to carry, because they are private businesses.

Another one is with regard to, for example, trappers. They will often carry a side arm as well as their long gun when they're hunting. They would have an authorization to carry.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you.

You made a very interesting comment. I asked this back in our witness days, a long time ago—too long ago.

We heard from some trappers that they use them quite often to carry. I wish I could remember. There was a second individual who said he had never seen that. You just mentioned that trappers have the right to carry.

Do many trappers carry?

[Rachel Mainville-Dale]

I don't have the statistics to be able to share.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

This gentleman does.

[Rob Mackinnon]

Yes. Between working in a remote wilderness area and/or trapping, I think the number is currently at about 400 ATCs that have been issued for those purposes. It's not a high number.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

I guess that's a matter of opinion. To me, 400 seems like a lot. I didn't think it was going to be that high, quite frankly.

I don't know if you're going to know the answer to this. I'm just trying to get a relation....

Do you know how many trappers there are? Would any of the officials know? I obviously don't know. I'm not a big trapper myself.

No. Okay. I think I'll leave some time for my colleagues.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

It's Mr. Perkins and then Mr. Tochor.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, officials.

This clause refers to the commissioner of firearms being able to revoke that. Is the commissioner of firearms the only person who can revoke that?