Women’s groups criticize Liberals over delay of key firearms measure

OTTAWA — More than a dozen women’s advocacy groups chastised the Liberals on Tuesday for failing to bring into force a key provision in firearms legislation passed almost two years ago.

The measure would make anyone subject to a protection order — a legal order often issued in domestic violence cases — ineligible to hold a firearms licence while the order is in effect.

The groups say it was meant to quickly remove firearms from the hands of abusers at the time when they are often the most dangerous.

The groups include the National Association of Women and the Law, Women’s Shelters Canada, YWCA Canada, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, among others.

The federal Public Safety department had no immediate reaction Tuesday.

The groups released the statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and less than two weeks before the anniversary of a gunman’s 1989 killing of 14 women at Montreal’s École Polytechnique.

The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, informally known as White Ribbon Day, falls on Dec. 6. to mark the anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre.

Gun control group PolySeSouvient, formed in response to the mass shooting, recently wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney to say it would be “disingenuous and even hypocritical” for Liberal MPs to wear white ribbons this year given the government’s lack of action on key firearm measures.

In March, the government proposed regulations to flesh out the firearms legislation passed by Parliament in late 2023.

A key element of the law makes an individual ineligible to hold a firearms licence if they are subject to a protection order or have been convicted of an offence involving domestic violence.

The women’s advocacy groups say they fear the regulations would narrow the scope of the protection order measure by limiting firearm licence ineligibility only to those under civil protection orders.

That would exclude orders that are not civil in nature, such as peace bonds made under section 810 of the Criminal Code.

The groups also say the government has adopted an interpretation that would mean the provision making people found guilty of domestic violence offences ineligible for gun licences would apply only to those convicted after the provision comes into force.

“Weakening the law, combined with the ongoing delay, shows a troubling disregard for women’s safety,” their statement says.

The advocacy groups say since the passage of the firearms legislation, at least 11 women and girls have been killed by intimate partner gun violence in Canada.

“How many more that we don’t know about?” says the statement. “How many more to come?”

Failing to implement a democratically adopted measure is not good government, the groups add.

“When Parliament adopts essential protections, it is the government’s responsibility to bring them into effect without delay,” says the statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2025.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press