November 26, 1998 For Immediate Delivery
FIREARMS CENTRE IGNORED 40 RECOMMENDATIONS BY PRIVACY COMMISSIONER
"Isn’t government supposed to protect our Charter rights to a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’ ?"
Ottawa – Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, is appalled by what he learned from Privacy Commissioner Bruce Phillips. Phillips was responding to Breitkreuz’ concerns about privacy rights violations in the new Firearms Act. "Bill C-68 is due to come into force on December 1st, and the Privacy Commissioner’s response confirms my worst fears that the privacy and safety of millions of gun owners is now threatened," commented Breitkreuz. "If anyone was looking for another justifiable reason to delay the implementation of this totally flawed and ineffective piece of legislation, this is it!"
Here’s an excerpt from November 23rd letter the Privacy Commissioner sent to Breitkreuz: "This past June, my staff reviewed drafts of many of the forms for the new firearms licencing and registration systems. Following this review, we provided to the Canadian Firearms Centre a total of more than 40 comments relating to eight of the forms. These comments related generally to the fact that many of the questions appeared to be too loosely worded and that, in providing answers to these questions, applicants could be providing more personal information than would be necessary to determine if, in owning firearms, they might pose a threat to themselves or others. On September 29, we received copies of the final version of some of the forms that were made available to the public on October 1. Our Office was not aware that our comments resulted in very few changes until the forms had already been printed and distributed."
"The Minister of Justice ignored the Commissioner’s warnings in his 1996/97 annual report," reported Breitkreuz. Back then Mr. Phillips said, "Since the [firearms] regulations themselves provide little detail, it now appears that the only forms and schematic of the process will provide the answers – far too late to provide legal protection." Breitkreuz added, "Following their Minister’s lead, her bureaucrats ignored more than 40 recommendations to improve the forms the Privacy Commissioner warned the government about a year and a half ago. The arrogance of the bureaucrats in the Justice Minister’s department is absolutely disgusting," raged Breitkreuz.
"This gun registration system is going to leak like a sieve. Private information about millions of firearm owners and the guns they own is going to be an open book to criminals across Canada. If law abiding, responsible firearm owners were considering registering early, I say don’t do it! Wait until the government gets its act together. Wait until your Charter right to a "reasonable expectation of privacy" is fully respected and fully protected," urged Breitkreuz.
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The Office of Garry
Breitkreuz, M.P.
Yorkton: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa: (613) 992-4394