Mr. Speaker, I will start by analyzing briefly the arguments in favour of the bill and then I will address the problem of violence against women within this debate.
First, I wish to remind this House that this bill is supported by a great many social groups and professionals in the police, legal, health and social communities. I will name only a few, which come under the umbrella of the Coalition for Arms Control.
They are the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Canadian Bar Association, the Canada Safety Council, many churches, the Quebec public health network, the Quebec hospital association, many universities and school boards, many unions, the AFEAS and other women's groups and community organizations. Such agreement on an issue that may seem controversial has rarely been seen in Canada and Quebec.
The intense lobbying campaign now under way would suggest that the population is very divided on arms control, but such is not the case. The polls clearly show that the reality has always been otherwise.
Allow me to quote a few of these polls. In December 1989, better arms control was supported by 72 per cent of Canadians and 87 per cent of Quebecers. By January 1991, this support had climbed to 80 per cent of Canadians and 90 per cent of Quebecers. Two years later, in September 1993, universal weapon registration was favoured by 86 per cent of Canadians and 91 per cent of Quebecers. Regarding the sale of firearms, 77 per cent of Canadians and 87 per cent of Quebecers were of the opinion it should be governed by stricter legislation.
As for those directly concerned, i.e. firearm owners, in September 1993, sixty-eight per cent of them supported the idea that all weapons should be registered. This goes to show that the public fears firearms and wants firearms to be better regulated.
Several reasons militate in favour of stricter gun control. The Coalition for Gun Control listed a few. Here are some of the reasons stated: people are safer in a gun-free environment; firearms facilitate suicide; there is much more violence involving firearms in Canada than in most European countries. The current legislation is inadequate in many respects, including accessibility to military assault weapons, absence of a registry of all firearms in circulation, lack of a ceiling on the number of firearms that one can buy and lack of control over the sale of ammunition.
All these reasons justify much closer monitoring of the possession and use of firearms.
Now, moving to a more specific concern of mine: violence against women. There is a direct link between the violence women are subjected to and firearms. I will start by addressing spousal abuse.
It will be recalled that Statistics Canada published the results of a comprehensive survey in October 1993.
It showed that one Canadian woman in every four had been abused by her current spouse or a previous spouse and that 45 per cent of abused women were abused by men they knew. A study conducted by two researchers from the Canadian Center for Justice Statistics and published in March 1994 dealt with the most extreme form of spousal abuse: homicide. Among their findings, the most striking are the following:
For each man killed by his wife, there are on average 3.2 women killed by their husbands. From 1974 to 1992, married women were nine times more likely to be killed by their own spouse than by a stranger. The number of women killed by their spouses after separating is high. During the 18-year period covered by the study, from 1974 to 1992, 1,435 women and 451 men were killed by their spouses. The 1,435 women killed accounted for 38 per cent of all adult women who were murdered, while the 451 men killed by their wives represented 6 per cent of murdered adult men.
Let us now see the link between violence against women and gun control. Another study conducted by Statistics Canada and entitled "Family Violence in Canada" shows that, between 1974 and 1992, forty-two per cent of women murdered by their spouses were killed by a firearm. These eloquent figures are supported by the findings of Mr. Maurice Cusson, director of the École de criminologie at the Université de Montréal, and his research assistant, Mrs. Raymonde Boisvert. In a study entitled "L'homicide conjugal à Montréal: ses raisons, ses conditions et son déroulement", the authors examined the reasons behind, and the circumstances surrounding every spousal homicide committed on Montreal Island between 1954 and 1962, and also between 1985 and 1989.
The authors first found, as women's support groups have been saying for a long time, that control by men is the dominant factor in spousal homicides. This is true for both periods, that is before and after the quiet revolution. The authors also note that homicides triggered by this need to control are always committed by men and that the victims are almost always women, the only exception being homosexual couples.
Out of the five elements identified by the authors as being intrinsic to homicides based on a power relationship, there is the vulnerability of the victim, and this is where firearms come into play. The authors concluded that "the victim must be deprived of adequate defence mechanisms to protect herself from the attacks of her spouse. This raises the issue of power, which usually rests with the man, who is physically stronger than the woman. More often than not, that power is increased by getting a firearm".
The authors of the study see the acquisition of a firearm by the spouse as a danger signal which should not be overlooked. Another study, conducted by the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, showed that, between 1980 and 1989, 72 per cent of women killed by their spouses were shot with a rifle or a gun. These figures are much higher than the percentage of murders committed with this type of weapon.
The new legislation provides that these weapons will be subject to registration and thus to much stricter controls. We must now consider the following: would these women have died if our firearms legislation had been similar to the legislation before the House today?
Let us draw an analogy here. What spousal suicide and spousal homicide have in common are the location-the home-and the means used. The Quebec suicide prevention centre has concluded, from experience, that the suicide rate is higher in homes where guns are available.
A press release issued last October says that 92 per cent of suicide attempts where a gun was used are fatal, while suicide attempts using other means are fatal in only one-third of the cases. We have established a link between access to a weapon and spousal homicide. If we can save just one life by restricting access to firearms, we will have accomplished something.
I support Bill C-68 because I want to eliminate the means used most frequently to kill women. The measures the bill contains will restrict access to guns through compulsory registration and licence renewal for responsible individuals only. Persons previously convicted of violent crimes and stalking will no longer have access to guns and ammunition. Furthermore, I think the minimum four year prison sentence will act as a deterrent to using guns in domestic situations. This is a win-win situation, for women, first of all, and for society in general.