Following are comments by the RCMP in 2015 and 2016 related to deleting registration records of Quebec residents from the so-called “Long-gun Registry.”
Concern about what data exist on licensed firearm owners in Quebec and in the rest of Canada was revived last week after the government proposed a law instructing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to give all data in the Canadian Firearms Registry to Quebec.
The comments go from newest to oldest. (Bold added for emphasis.)
- RCMP History of Firearms Control in Canada, revised September 2016:
On March 27, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Quebec’s appeal challenging the constitutionality of the provisions of the Ending the Long Gun Registry Act requiring destruction of the non-restricted registration records, and refused to order the transfer of these records to the Province of Quebec. As a result, the Canadian Firearms Program stopped accepting and processing registration/transfer applications for non-restricted firearms from within the province of Quebec, and all electronic records identified as being related to the non-restricted firearms registration records in Quebec were deleted.
- RCMP 2015 Commissioner of Firearms Report, published April 2016:
The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision on Quebec’s non-restricted firearm registration records
April 2012 to early March 2015
The Ending the Long-gun Registry Act came into effect on April 5, 2012. At that time, the CFP undertook the necessary work to implement the new legislation, which included the destruction of existing non-restricted firearms registration records held in the Canadian Firearms Registry in October 2012. Between April 2012 and early March 2015, due to a court challenge from Quebec, the Registrar still registered non-restricted firearms for residents of Quebec, and the Commissioner of Firearms continued to maintain Quebec residents’ non-restricted firearms registration records, pending the final decision by the Supreme Court of Canada.
March 2015
The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision regarding the non-restricted firearms registration records for residents of Quebec on March 27, 2015. The Court dismissed Quebec’s appeal challenging the constitutionality of the provisions of the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act requiring the destruction of non-restricted registration records, and refused to order the transfer of these records to Quebec. The CFP immediately complied with the decision and Act, by halting the acceptance and processing of registration and transfer applications for non-restricted firearms from within the province of Quebec, and taking steps to execute the deletion of the remaining Quebec non-restricted registration records from the Canadian Firearms Registry.
- RCMP Deputy Commissioner Peter Henschel, also the person responsible for the Canadian Firearms Program, speaking to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, 04 June 2015. (“That decision” refers to the Supreme Court of Canada ruling against Quebec.):
When that decision was rendered on March 27, 2015, the RCMP deleted the remaining Quebec records from the Canadian Firearms Information System between April 10 to April 12, 2015, again consistent with the government-approved implementation plan.
Less than three weeks after Henschel’s comments, on 23 June 2015, the Minister of Public Safety of the time, who oversaw the RCMP, delivered a hard drive containing the long-gun registry records for Quebec to a Federal Court, Canada’s Information Commissioner said in its 2014-2015 annual report.
Related Information
- RCMP Kept Half of Long-Gun Registry Data, 2015 Transcript Shows
- Christopher di Armani: Did RCMP Deputy Commissioner Peter Henschel Lie to Committee? Part 1, Part 2.
- Conservative Member of Parliament Bob Zimmer asks Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale about registry data (Facebook video)
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