Mr. Speaker, on February 14th, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada tabled new firearms legislation, Bill C-68, as he indicated he would when he announced, on November 30, 1994, the government's new firearm control program for the stated purposes of cracking down on the criminal use of firearms, by targeting firearms smuggling and by banning many firearms. The centre piece of the new program is its most controversial aspect: the creation of a national system of registration of all firearms.
Department of Justice officials have begun to analyze the bill in detail, but an early review indicates that there are few differences with the consultation package released on December 4, 1994. I had grave concerns when the consultation package was released and, if anything, the draft legislation tabled on Tuesday leaves me even more unhappy than I was a couple of months ago. While the provisions in Bill C-68 which will create serious consequences for real criminals who use firearms in the commission of offenses are certainly supportable, it has other features which the vast majority of northerners will not support.
When Minister Rock visited the Northwest Territories last October, Members of this Assembly expressed their concerns about new firearms legislation, and I and officials of the Department of Justice met with him on several occasions to educate him on the circumstances of life in the Northwest Territories. We achieved some success in demonstrating that measures designed to address the problems in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver were totally inappropriate in remote northern settlements where subsistence hunting is a way of life and firearms are a tool.
As a result, Minister Rock made adjustments in the December proposals to relax the rules on the purchase of ammunition to allow someone to buy ammunition on behalf of another person, to allow for aboriginal firearms officers in remote communities, and to adjust the requirements for training on firearms use to accommodate the special needs of native people. Our early review indicates that the improvements respecting ammunition are in the bill, but appears that the remainder of these modest improvements are not reflected in Bill C-68.
Minister Rock, against our best advice, in December and again in Bill C-68, has introduced the universal registration of firearms, which may be fine for Toronto, but is intrusive and offensive when applied in the Northwest Territories. Under these provisions, everyone will have to register every firearm by January 1, 2003, and the failure to do so could result in a criminal prosecution.
Over the past several months, officials of the Department of Justice and of the Department of Renewable Resources have worked extensively with the Department of Justice Canada representatives to try to develop a modified firearms safety training program designed specifically for NWT residents. Bill C-68 may place that work in jeopardy through its requirement that the Canadian firearms safety training course be the course used throughout the country. Further consultation will be required to determine whether there is a way to soften the blow.
Our legal advisors indicate that there is a serious question as to whether the universal registration of firearms can properly be done within the federal government's jurisdiction over the criminal law: It may infringe on the jurisdiction of provinces and territories over property and civil rights.
It also interferes with the rights of aboriginal persons to pursue traditional hunting activities, and as such may well infringe section 35 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the principles set down in the Sparrow case.
The governments of the NWT, Yukon, Alberta and Saskatchewan adopted a common position for presentation to Minister Rock at the meeting of Ministers of Justice in Victoria -- as I reported yesterday -- at the meeting in January 1995. Later today, I will be tabling that position as we gave to the Minister at that time.
At the Victoria meeting, I expressed our objections to these firearms proposals to Mr. Rock in no uncertain terms. Now that the legislation has been introduced, I will be writing to him to confirm the objections of this government. I will also be writing to Warren Allmand, the chair of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, suggesting that the committee come to the Northwest Territories as part of its deliberations on this bill. Thank you.