Liberal government adds hundreds of firearm models to list of banned weapons
Move comes one day before anniversary of École Polytechnique massacre
The federal government announced new gun control measures Thursday, adding several hundred models and variants to its list of banned weapons.
"These firearms can no longer be legally used, sold or imported in Canada," Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters.
The announcement comes one day before the 35th anniversary of the massacre at École Polytechnique de Montréal. Radio-Canada first reported the news earlier Thursday.
The new measures, which are effective immediately, list more than 300 makes and models of what the government calls "assault-style" firearms as prohibited weapons.
RCMP Deputy Commissioner Bryan Larkin told reporters that the models that were assessed and added to the list fall under the government's 2020 definition of assault-style weapons. The Liberals previously banned 1,500 models under that definition.
There will be an amnesty period until Oct. 30 of next year for current owners to comply with the ban. The new models will be part of the government's planned buy-back program.
The buy-back program still hasn't been fully launched but Minister of Public Services Jean-Yves Duclos said Thursday that a pilot program that has been running for the past month has collected and destroyed a "couple dozen" guns.
Defence Minister Bill Blair said some of the guns the government plans to collect will be sent to Ukraine as part of Canada's ongoing donations of military aid to that country.
"The Department of National Defence will begin working with the Canadian companies that have weapons that Ukraine needs … in order to get these weapons out of Canada and into the hands of the Ukrainians," he said.
The government also will be implementing measures stemming from Bill C-21, the firearms bill that was adopted in 2023. The government had proposed a more stringent definition of assault-style firearms under that legislation, but dropped a number of amendments to the bill in February in response to a backlash.
A government spokesperson speaking on background said that the new measures apply to some firearms that were included in those initial amendments, while others were left out. Some guns that were not included in the amendments have been included in the new measures, the spokesperson said.
C-21 included provisions to make it easier to revoke licences and take firearms from people who commit violent acts.
Last week, women's groups and victims' families questioned the government about some of C-21's long-awaited measures and why they have not yet been implemented. A government spokesperson said those measures would come into effect in the new year.
On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 women were killed and another 13 were injured at École Polytechnique by a man motivated by hatred of feminists.
Nathalie Provost, a survivor of the mass shooting and spokesperson for the advocacy group PolySeSouvient, said Thursday's announcement is "an important step forward."
"Those are just killing weapons, war weapons, military weapons. So I am so, so proud that today we are doing something," she said.
Conservatives criticize new measures
Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho denounced the new measures and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government of going after lawful Canadians while being soft on criminals.
"Trudeau's latest underhanded attack against lawful Canadians and his continued blind eye to actual gun criminals is an insult to the thousands of victims of gun crime who continue to be terrorized and lose their lives as a result of Trudeau's catch-and-release policies," Dancho said in a media statement.
Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery also spoke against the new measures, arguing they are "undermining law-abiding firearms ownership."
"Alberta's government strongly oppose the arbitrary re-classification of firearms and the federal government's wasteful, ineffective and repeatedly delayed program to confiscate these firearms," he said in a statement.
With files from The Canadian Press