Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour for me to rise on this motion. This matter has been dealt with for some time by the House. Tomorrow it will come to a vote, and it is going to be a very tight vote.
I had an opportunity recently to travel with women's caucus across the country. We talked with groups representing women, police and emergency physicians. We heard from them just how essential the registry is, both as a tool for police and for saving lives.
It is worth mentioning just some of the many organizations that have come out and said that the registry is essential: the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which has more than 430 chiefs of police across the country and of them only three chiefs oppose the registry; the Canadian Police Association, which represents police across this country with more than 160 police associations and of those, only six are opposed and many are reconsidering based on the facts that have been presented over the last number of months; the Canadian Association of Police Boards; Fédération des policiers et policières municipaux du Québec; the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians; the Canadian Association for Adolescent Health; the Canadian Paediatric Society; the Canadian Public Health Association; the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions; the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research; Association Quebecoise pour le prevention du suicide. The list goes on. I am just giving highlights.
Other groups include the YWCA of Canada; the Canadian Federation of University Women; the National Council of Women of Canada; the National Association of Women and the Law; the Coalition of Provincial and Territorial Advisory Councils on the Status of Women; the Canadian Council of Muslim Women; Jewish Women International of Canada; Fédération des femmes du Québec; Alberta Council of Women's Shelters; Manitoba Association of Women's Shelters; Regroupement de maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale.
There are also many governments, the governments of Quebec and Ontario among others; family members of victims or the countless victims who survived the events at l'École Polytechnique and Dawson College; the Canadian Labour Congress; Canadian Auto Workers; the Public Service Alliance of Canada; le Barreau du Québec; the Coalition for Gun Control; Amnesty International. I could spend the full 10 minutes just reading the names that are on this list.
These groups have said clearly that the gun registry is needed and they are asking members of Parliament to save it. The reasons are clear.
I was talking to an inspector in Mississauga who told me a story of being called into a domestic violence situation. He knew that approximately nine guns were registered in that home. The situation was broken up and the man was removed. When he returned to the home the police were assured those guns had been removed, that he was not going back to guns. In the minds of that officer, in that situation the registry saved lives. If that individual had gone back into that home and guns had been there, the officer feared death would have ensued, either for the woman or for the man himself.
In countless other situations, as we travelled across the country we heard individual stories just like that one. We heard of an instance where somebody was suicidal. A family member called in and said the situation had become unstable. The individual called police and said the guns that were in that home needed to be removed. In the minds of the officers we spoke to there was not a doubt that lives were saved by removing those guns from the home and making sure the person did not commit suicide. They would have had no idea of how many weapons were there. Because of the spontaneous nature of crime, because it is in the heat of the moment, because of the fact that suicide often can come out of nowhere, they would have had absolutely no idea that guns were in that home or that something could have been done.
Clearly in these examples the registry saved lives.
When we were in Halifax, an officer spoke to me about how much the registry did to promote accountability in ownership. Just in the same way when we register our car, it gives us a sense of responsibility for owning that car. If something goes wrong, we know instantly that the police would be able to find out exactly what went wrong and who was responsible. Gun ownership is no different. Registration of guns promotes accountability back to the owner of the guns.
We also heard from officers about when weapons are stolen, taken from a home. The registry makes it easy to return those weapons to the rightful owner. In a criminal investigation it can be very useful to know from where the gun was taken, and what time it was taken. It helps to establish where that individual was and at what time the gun was taken.
We also know that, aside from knowing exactly where the weapons are in those situations for crime, it also is a vital tool in solving crime. When we were in Toronto with the women's caucus, we heard from somebody who talked about an inquiry in Collingwood. The inquiry clearly said, if it had not been for the gun registry, they would not have been able to solve that homicide, period. So people can look at this, and I encourage them to look at that inquiry and others. The one in Collingwood could be no more clear that the registry in that example led directly to a conviction.
Here is a reality. In the vast majority of crimes, because they are spontaneous in nature, that means that registered weapons do get used and it does give us an opportunity to trace back ownership and help get convictions.
As well, we know that in situations that are heated, such as in domestic violence, when somebody knows their gun is registered it perhaps gives them pause for thought to know it is going to be a lot harder to get away with a violent act.
All of this, all of this value and so much more, enforcing prohibition orders and others, costs us about $4 million a year, the RCMP says. So, to delete all of that, it would cost about $4 million a year. To put that in context, a complex murder investigation undertaken by the police costs $2 million. If we want to consider some of the spending the current government has undertaken, the fake lake and accessories cost $2 million. So $4 million dollars for that? Come on.
We hear the government say about prison spending, the $10 billion or more, that there is no price too high for public safety. Yet apparently when it comes to protecting women and dealing with things that prevent suicide and something that helps get convictions, $4 million is just too high a price.
I had the opportunity to sit through committee with other members and listen to the families of victims from École Polytechnique. It was painful to watch as they came and fought this battle yet again. They thought they had won. They thought they had gotten through this. For them to come back before committee and be dragged through this process yet again was extraordinarily painful and unnecessary.
However, if there is a silver lining in this debate, I hope, and in fact polls showing increasing support for the registry actually illustrate, that this is a chance once and for all to explain to Canadians why we need the registry, a chance once and for all to put this debate to rest so we can say to the families who suffer because of what happened at École Polytechnique, “Not again; you are not going to be dragged through this a third time”. This debate will be done, here, now. All these national associations that have stood up and said this registry saves lives, all the facts and information that have come out of the RCMP internal report and from others, will end this debate.
The RCMP report, as I said, that just came out stated:
81% of trained police officers supported the statement, “In my experience, [the registry] query results have proven beneficial during major operations.”
When I get the opportunity to look at how our caucus has handled this issue, I am profoundly proud.
About a year ago, we got together and said, “How can we get on one page? There are some concerns about the registry. How we can make it stronger?” With our colleagues, we were able to make a number of suggestions and get to a unified position.
However, I will tell the House that, as I have travelled the country, when I am in places such as Quebec and I talk to the citizens there about their members of Parliament who are voting the other way, against their constituents' wishes; or Kitchener—Waterloo, when the region passes a nearly unanimous motion with constituents pleading with their MPs to support a registry to save lives and their MPs say no, they won't listen to their community; or Mississauga, or out in Vancouver and Richmond, when I hear their constituents overwhelmingly say, “Please support the registry,” and they turn their backs, they got nothing for their constituents.
Instead, we stood together. We got a unified position. We are here in the House to say we are going to make sure that this registry is saved.
Now it comes down to the NDP. A year ago, I wish that party's members had done the same. I wish they had worked with their caucus to get a united position. Right now, this vote is on the razor's edge. NDP votes will determine whether or not it goes through. This is a matter of principle.
It is imperative that all NDP members stand up and vote for something they know as clear as day works.
Therefore, we are calling upon the NDP members to do exactly what we did and get that consensus, not try to have it both ways, not have some of their MPs vote for and some against.
When the time of decision comes tomorrow, they should do the right thing.