Mr. Speaker, one of the defining characteristics of our country is its deep commitment to order and to civility. It has been that way from the beginning.
Ours is a nation created by consensus, not by revolution. Our domestic history is a chronology of quiet accommodation rather than dramatic conflict. We are known throughout the world for our distinctly peaceful character. Our proudest international symbol is the blue beret. Our most valued asset at home is the safety of our cities and of our streets.
Canadians firmly intend to preserve and strengthen the outstanding civility that has always distinguished them. The political and legislative program on safety in public and private places shows this government's commitment in this regard.
It is in the context of that unconditional commitment to public safety that we undertook and have now completed a thorough review of Canada's laws in relation to firearms.
I rise in the House today to announce the decisions that we have arrived at and to table a document that sets them out in detail.
Let me first report to the House on the process that I followed in preparing the decisions that are being announced today. Since May of this year when the Prime Minister asked me to take on this challenge, I have worked with the caucus of the Liberal Party to meet with Canadians from all walks of life who are interested in this issue.
During the past five months I have visited for this purpose all 10 provinces and both territories. I have met with more than 150 national and regional groups of firearm owners and users: with farmers for whom the rifle is a tool in their daily work, with hunters, with gun collectors, and with sports shooters, some of whom have achieved international distinction in their sport.
I have visited aboriginal communities and I have spoken with families that hunt for sustenance. I have also met with police, doctors, nurses and victims organizations. I have reviewed the research relating to firearms safety and public health. I have listened and I have learned. I now wish to report on this extensive process of consultation.
In the first place there is of course no doubt that the entire subject of the regulation of firearms is controversial, but I can also report that there are broad areas of consensus. First, Canadians believe strongly that they do not want a country in which people feel they must own a firearm to protect themselves. That is simply not the way we wish to live.
Second, Canadians want above all to have a lawful and safe society in which the criminal misuse of firearms is dealt with severely. Canadians do not want to follow the approach taken to firearms by the United States. They want this government to chart a different course that will lead us to a different destination.
Third, I have learned that the firearms question is not a rural-urban issue. Canadians who live in the rural environment are just as concerned about their safety as are the rest of us. Indeed, they have reason to be concerned. Studies have shown that the homicide rate in rural areas is almost twice that in the urban environment.
Fourth, Canadians want our firearms laws to acknowledge and respect the legitimate interests of hunters and of farmers. They too are an important part of the Canadian way of life. Hunting is a long and valued tradition in Canada. It is a pastime enjoyed by many Canadians and, of equal importance, it is a very significant economic activity for many regions of this country.
Therefore our goal must be to strengthen and safeguard our Canadian approach, which allows people to own and use a weapon only for purposes that we as a society consider to be justified. An approach that ensures a fair and reasonable control on the possession and use of firearms. An approach that provides safety standards for the use and storage of firearms throughout the country. An approach that severely punishes any criminally negligent use of firearms.
With the careful consultations now concluded, the time has arrived to act. I wish to table in the House a document which describes the approach that the federal government will take through legislation.
Let me be very clear in doing so. The process of consultation leading to legislation is now over. As I have said, we have listened and we have learned but now we will lead. We will lead with the support I hope of this House. We will continue to work with the provinces, the territories and the aboriginal communities to ensure that our proposals are implemented in the fairest manner possible.
The areas in which we will act follow the three broad categories: First, criminal sanctions for the use of firearms in crime; second, controls over firearms in private ownership; and, third, efforts to reduce firearms smuggling.
Let me turn first to the question of criminal penalties. There is a disturbing trend particularly in urban areas toward violence with firearms. Five Canadians each week are victims of homicide by guns. The increased use of handguns in crime is particularly troubling. To strengthen the law and to provide real deterrents in sentencing we will introduce new strong penalties for 10 specific serious crimes.
Where firearms are used for robbery, attempted murder, manslaughter, sexual assault, and six other serious offences, there will be mandatory minimum penitentiary terms of four years together with a lifetime prohibition against the possession of restricted firearms.
Those who choose to use a firearm in such a way must know that they will surely incur severe consequences. We will also propose minimum mandatory prison sentences for the possession of a stolen firearms and the possession of handguns without permits if they are loaded or if the owners have ready access to ammunition.
Our second theme deals with the controls over private ownership of firearms in Canada. There are two measures here. The first is our proposal to ban most handguns and a wide variety of military type weapons. The second is the proposal for a universal registration system for all firearms.
I will deal first with the banning of military type weapons and most handguns. I say at the outset that we start from the principle that only those firearms that we agree as a country are appropriate for legitimate purposes should be available for private ownership. Hunting rifles and shotguns of course are in that category.
But there are also several types of military and paramilitary firearms that are designed to imitate weapons used by the army and the police and are intended not for hunting or farming but for combat.
I am able to tell the House today that we will prohibit effective January 1, 1995, 21 types of such paramilitary firearms comprising more than 200 individual models. When the laws we propose are in place we will also ban, among others, the Ruger Mini-14 used in the murders at l'École polytechnique.
We will also ban the further sale of most handguns because we have determined they have no legitimate sporting purpose. Almost 60 per cent of the handguns currently registered to Canadians fall within that category, some 553,000 handguns. With respect to those handguns that remain, we will strengthen the controls over access and use and we will require their owners to prove each five years that they continue to qualify or they will lose the privilege of possession and use. We will also ban the import, the manufacture and the sale of replica firearms.
Let me turn to the subject of universal registration. We will introduce such a system for all firearms. Indeed such a system is the foundation for all three strategies that I am describing today, criminal sanctions, controls over private ownership and efforts to reduce smuggling.
For years, the chiefs of police and medical community in Canada have been asking the federal government to adopt such a system. They believe that such a registration system can contribute to greater public welfare without imposing excessive constraints on hunters, farmers and target shooters. Our government agrees with them.
During a reasonable period of transition a registration for all firearms will be introduced in order to identify the owners of firearms and to record all firearms they own. Registration will
encourage compliance with safe storage requirements. It will allow police responding to emergency calls to know the firearms that are present before they arrive. It will allow police to seize all firearms owned by someone who is the subject of a prohibition order in the criminal court.
I ask that the House not underestimate the importance of that last point, of enforcing prohibition orders in the context of domestic violence. The House must bear in mind that on average one woman every six days is shot to death in this country, almost always in the home, almost always by someone she knows. Almost all of the firearms used for that purpose are legally owned. Almost all of them are rifles and shotguns. The people who pull those triggers become criminals by that very act.
We must also not lose sight of the fact that 1,100 Canadians commit suicide with a firearm each year. Too many of them are young people who act on an impulse. We must also remember that in the years since 1970, 425 children have died because they were accidentally shot and killed in Canada.
Increased compliance with safe storage, encouraged by universal registration will make it more difficult for these young persons to get access to a firearm either in a moment of torment or by tragic accident.
Registration will also be the key to ammunition controls. Once the system is in place only those persons who are 18 years of age or over and who can produce proof of registration will be entitled to purchase ammunition.
May I pass now to the control of Canada's borders and emphasize at the outset how large a task that is. I need not tell anyone how vast the frontier is we share with the United States. In terms of preventing the illegal entry of firearms the challenge is extraordinary.
We share the border with a country where guns are readily accessible. There are 130 million border crossings a year. It is simply impossible to open every trunk and glove compartment, but there are ways in which we can and will do better.
Further to the vigorous measures already taken by the revenue minister, we are announcing additional strict measures today to control the importation of firearms and to reduce illegal imports and gun trafficking.
First, we will end the practice of using Canada as a transit point for deliveries of weapons to countries that would not allow their direct entry.
Second, all shipments of firearms arriving in Canada will therefore have to be accompanied with a permit issued in advance.
Third, inspections and enforcement at the borders will be enhanced.
Fourth, new criminal offences and stiff penalties for smuggling will strengthen our hand.
Fifth, every firearm entering Canada will be registered. This will allow guns that disappear from bulk shipments to be traced and will permit us to follow every firearm to the point of sale.
May I finish as I began by talking about the kind of country we want to live in. The laws we will introduce are for all of Canada. They are sensitive to the concerns and the lifestyles in both the rural and the urban environment but they are also designed to achieve a single national purpose: safety in our homes and in our streets.
It has been said that the best way to predict the future is to invent it. Today we propose a way to invent a Canadian future that will reflect the best about us and to preserve what matters most.
