Gun-control advocates say they are hopeful the federal government’s new handgun legislation tabled Monday, which includes some of the strongest changes to Canada’s gun laws in decades, will prevent tragedies like the Montreal Massacre and brazen acts of gun violence on city streets.
“It leaves a lot of pain, it leaves a lot to be healed and that will [take] decades,” said Meaghan Hennegan, who survived the Dawson College shooting in 2006, just before the announcement.
At the heart of the government’s new Bill C-21 is a new “freeze” on handguns that effectively would make it illegal to buy, sell, or transfer handguns anywhere in Canada.
If passed, the bill would also prohibit importing handguns and remove firearm licenses from people involved in domestic violence or criminal harassment, including stalking.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited recent moments of gunfire in Montreal as he announced the sweeping proposal to Canada’s gun laws, including the shooting of an empty daycare in RDP last week and the death of Meriem Boundaoui, a 15-year-old student who came to Quebec from Algeria to live with her two older sisters.
“As a government, as a society, we have a responsibility to act to prevent more tragedies,” the prime minister said at a news conference in Ottawa flanked by advocates and survivors of gun violence.
A ban on handguns has been at the top of the list of many survivors and gun-control activists for years since the shootings in Montreal and other cities in Canada, especially in the wake of the recent mass shootings south of the border.
Nathalie Provost survived the Ecole Polytechnique shooting in 1989 that left 14 women dead and years of trauma for those who lived through it.
“All those surviving kids, what they will have to go through… I’m sorry… it makes me emotional,” Provost said Monday.
“I really hope today will be a different day for Canadians.”
Mayor Valerie Plante has been calling for a federal ban on handguns for years. She applauded the government’s announcement, saying on Twitter it’s “a gain for safety in Montreal” and that she hopes the bill will eventually lead to an all-out ban in Canada to keep them from getting into the hands of youth.
The guns used in both the Dawson and Polytechnique shootings were legally obtained. Canadian gun owners need to pass a safety course that includes a test, and they also must obtain a license.
As of 2018, there were more than two million legal gun owners across the country.
Guns are, however, being used in more and more fatal crimes in Canada. In 2013, according to Statistics Canada, firearms were used in 26 per cent of the country’s murders.
Just seven years later, in 2020, that share had increased to 37 per cent.
GUN-RIGHTS GROUPS SAY BILL MISSES THE MARK
Some gun-rights advocates say the bill goes too far in limiting the rights of legal, responsible gun owners and ignores the root cause of the gun crime problem in Canada.
Axel Waschke, president of the Pointe-Claire Rifle Club, said there are already strict laws gun owners, like himself, have to follow and the proposed legislation is missing the target. For example, anyone who wants to shoot a gun at his shooting range has to bring their permits with them every time.
“It’s not the guy who asked for an import permit to buy a gun you have to watch out for, it’s the guy who under the table gets things into the country. So why would you think going after the honest businessman or honest person is going to save your crime problem? Waschke said.
“Why would the good citizens have to pay the price because the government cannot control the criminals that are doing all these bad things? I don’t understand that.”
Rod Giltaca, the CEO of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, also believes the federal government is going too far in its gun control agenda.
“The aspect that gets lost in every conversation especially as it applies to multi-victim public shootings is what is causing this violence… whether it’s a handgun, whether it’s a rifle or whether it’s a rented van in downtown Toronto,” Giltaca said .