Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, on just an initial review of the legislation -- a more detailed, analytical review is taking place now, in consultation with other provincial governments -- it is my initial impression that most of the concerns we had -- although they may have been clearly understood and received by the federal government -- are not reflected in this legislation. There were perhaps only two areas where changes may have been made. But for the most part, our concerns about registration were: We felt registration was not necessary; it was going to be costly; impossible to implement; and, was a major intrusion into the lives of northern people and into the lifestyle of aboriginal people in particular. And that registration is going to go ahead as planned.

As I said, most of the concerns we had have not, on first review, been dealt with by the federal government. The legislation is tabled, it is going to be taken up by the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs and they will be having hearings across the country. We will be inviting them to come and hear northerners first hand. Perhaps at that time, we will not only be heard loud and clear but also, we will have some political movement to meet the concerns that we will be expressing again. Thank you.

Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The registration proposal that the federal government has entailed in this piece of legislation will make it mandatory for all of us to register our rifles and our guns by the year 2003. Failure to do so will be a serious criminal offence. It will require that each of us that wishes to use a gun and to hold one, will be required to apply for a possession permit and failure to do so will also be a serious criminal offence.

The provisions for sentencing under this part, as we see it, are very, very serious. So if you fail to register your guns or if you are in possession without having a possession permit or you are in possession of a gun that is not registered under your name, you are subject to the criminal code that says the sentence will be a maximum of 10 years. On a second offence, the minimum sentence will be a year. On the third and forth sentence, the minimum will be two years. This is not a light suggestion by the federal Minister; it means that, theoretically, all of us will be committing criminal offences on a regular basis.

Every time, for instance, a hunter leaves his gun in the boat of a friend that he is hunting with, he is leaving it in the possession of someone else; he will be committing a criminal offence. Every time you use your father's gun or a relative or friends gun and it doesn't belong to you, you are committing a criminal offence. Every time you store a gun in the protection of someone else's home, a cabin, a tent, a truck, a boat, a skidoo, you will be committing a criminal offence. So it is not a light matter that we are discussing here, there are very, very heavy implications for all northern people and particularly for aboriginal people.

We had extensively discussed with the federal Minister a requirement that there should not be one national safety course for firearms, that in the Northwest Territories aboriginal people use guns from an early age on a regular basis, and we do have our own programs for training in firearms safety. We do not need, for instance, to know about black gun powder, we do not need to know ballistics, we do not need to know about how you figure out calibers, we do not need to know about parts of guns and some of the many technical features of hand guns in order to qualify for a possession permit and a permit to be able to use guns. And yet, in the legislation, it does provide that there will be one course.

So we do not see anything in there that reflects what we thought were some assurances given that there would be flexibility to meet the concerns that we had expressed. These are the concerns that we have expressed; one, on the view that we have that guns are tools for us, they are not weapons. They are not used as weapons to commit offences and ours is a very different perspective from the perspective of people living in Toronto and Montreal where yes, a gun, if you have it in downtown Toronto, is not going to be used for hunting, it is going to be used for committing a criminal offence, in most cases. So these are the concerns that we expressed and where we see the federal proposals falling short. Thank you.