Ministers from four provinces oppose use of police resources for gun buyback

Justice and public safety ministers from four provinces called on the federal government to halt its plans to use RCMP and police resources during the coming confiscation of banned firearms.

In 2020, the federal government announced a ban on more than 1,500 types of so-called “assault style firearms,” and said the guns will be confiscated during a buyback program. A proposed price list showed owners will be compensated as much as $2,819, depending on the type of firearm in question.

The move has been met with significant opposition, with many critics arguing that removing legally owned firearms from registered owners will not have a great impact on either gun crime or public safety in Canada.

According to the provincial government, ministers from Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick oppose the move, saying police resources are scarce and should be used to improve public safety rather than to “confiscate legally acquired firearms.” Instead, the ministers argued, gun crime should be fought through tighter border security, and by cracking down on smuggling and illegal firearms trafficking.

The four provinces also jointly called on the federal government to “ensure that no funding for the Guns and Gang Violence Action Fund or other public safety initiatives be diverted to the federal firearms confiscation program.”

“While we fully support crime initiatives that focus on the issues related to the criminal use of illegal firearms, preventing and combatting gang violence and addressing the issue of illegal or smuggled guns in our province, we don’t support those that impact law abiding hunters, sport shooters, ranchers, farmers and Indigenous people who use firearms for lawful and good reasons,” Saskatchewan Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre and Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Christine Tell said in a joint statement.

Their comments were echoed in a statement by Kris Austin, New Brunswick’s minister of public safety.

“New Brunswick’s bottom line is this: RCMP resources are spread thin as it is,” Austin said.

“We have made it clear to the Government of Canada that we cannot condone any use of those limited resources, at all, in their planned buyback program.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of this story, correcting the first name of New Brunswick’s minister of public safety.