Status of Implementation of Bill C–71
Date: December 16, 2021
Classification: Unclassified
Branch / Agency: CPB
Proposed Response:
- On July 7, 2021, our government brought into force expanded background checks for licence applications to cover the entire lifetime of an applicant’s history.
- And the Chief Firearms Officer must now consider whether the applicant has a history of harassment or restraining orders, or poses a danger to any other person.
- These changes will prevent people with a history of violence from owning a firearm.
- We also restored limits on the transportation of restricted and prohibited firearms.
- Individuals must now seek a Chief Firearms Officer’s authorization to transport these firearms for repair, exportation, and to a gun show, among other places.
- Our Government is committed to completing the implementation of former Bill C-71 at the earliest opportunity.
- The proposed regulations before this committee will keep firearms out of the hands of those that should not have them, and enable the tracing of crime guns.
- The proposed regulations on licence verification will make certain only those individuals with a valid firearms licence may purchase non-restricted firearms.
- The regulations would also require businesses to keep sales and inventory records on non-restricted firearms for at least
20 years. - Law enforcement needs these records to investigate and trace crime guns.
- But I want to be clear: the records will be held by businesses — not government — and judicial authorization will be required to access the records.
- I encourage this committee to study the regulations as a matter of priority and my officials and I stand ready to assist your deliberations.
If pressed on the delay in implementing C-71
- Our Government moved quickly but carefully to implement C-71 in a way that was fair and transparent to gun owners and businesses.
- We consulted on the proposed regulations. And we made certain the RCMP had the tools needed to implement them effectively.
- The government intends to implement the remaining regulations at the earliest opportunity. The regulations are critical to public safety, in that they make certain that firearms do not end up in the hands of criminals, and they enable better tracing of crime guns.
If pressed on repeal of government power to downgrade the classification of a firearm:
- The RCMP is the technical centre of expertise on firearms classification.
- Our Government will re-introduce legislation at the earliest opportunity so that the RCMP’s decision is final.
Background:
An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms (Bill C-71) received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019. Two elements were brought into force via an Order in Council on July 7, 2021:
- Expanded background checks to determine eligibility for firearms licences from the previous five years to the entirety of a person’s life, and widened eligibility screening to include whether the applicant has a history of harassment or restraining orders, or poses a danger to any other person; and
- Re-instatement of the requirement for a separate Authorization to Transport (ATT) when transporting restricted and prohibited firearms to any place except to an approved shooting range or to bring the firearm home after purchase. This was the requirement prior to legislative changes in 2015.
Two regulatory amendments were pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on June 26, 2021, for a 30 day public comment period:
- Licence verification (not in force): Bill C-71 provides that vendors must verify the firearms licence of the buyer, by contacting the Registrar of Firearms before transferring a non-restricted firearm. The Registrar would check the licence number in the Canadian Firearms Information System and issue a reference number if the licence is valid.
- Proposed regulatory amendments would provide that the buyer must give the vendor the information on the front of the licence card (including the photograph), that the vendor must verify the identity of the buyer (where possible), and that any reference number issued by the Registrar would be valid for 90 days.
- Business record-keeping (not in force): Bill C-71 requires that businesses keep records on the possession and disposal of non-restricted firearms as a condition of the business licence.
- Proposed regulatory amendments would prescribe the information which must be recorded (characteristics of the firearm, including make, model, and serial numbers; activities related to its possession [e.g. purchase by the business, repair, modification, etc.] and disposal [e.g. its sale, gifting, deactivation, etc.] and their dates); that the business must retain the records for a minimum of 20 years; that businesses who are going out of business must forward the records to a prescribed official (the Registrar); and that the Registrar may destroy the records after 20 years from the date of receipt.
- The Firearms Information Regulations (Non-restricted Firearms) would be repealed as they prohibit imposing conditions on business licences that these records be kept.
- The Aboriginal Peoples of Canada Adaptations Regulations (Firearms) would be amended to remove references to sections of the Firearms Licences Regulations that will be repealed. The sections to be repealed deal with the now-defunct Possession-Only Licence, and there will be no impact on Indigenous firearms licence holders.
The Firearms Act requires that regulations be tabled in both Houses of Parliament for up to 30 sitting days. The regulations were tabled on June 21, 2021, and the 30 day clock resumed upon the return of Parliament in November 2021. Any changes recommended by Parliament may be incorporated, and the regulations published and brought into force thereafter. The earliest anticipated date for doing so would be June 2022.
The final element of Bill C-71, the repeal of the “deeming provisions”, would remove the authority for the Governor-in-Council to ‘deem’ firearms to be of a less restrictive class, irrespective of any RCMP technical finding, and return full control over technical firearms classification to the RCMP. Bringing this element into force requires a legislative change.
Several other provisions, including those clarifying that seized firearms are considered forfeited to the Crown and those allowing remaining long-gun registration records to be transferred to Quebec, came into force over the last two years.
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