37th
PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
Hansard
Pages 9397-9398
http://www.parl.gc.ca/PDF/37/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/Han151-E.PDF
[Adjournment
Debate]
A
motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.
* * *
Mr.
Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton--Melville, Canadian Alliance):
Madam Speaker, on November 6 the solicitor general and the former justice
minister failed to answer my question about a firearms registration certificate
being issued to an individual who does not own the firearm in question. Because
the RCMP was responsible for the error, I asked the solicitor general: The
privacy commissioner is investigating a number of firearms licences that were
issued with the wrong photos. Now we have a documented case of a firearm being
registered to the wrong person. The unhappy recipient complains, “I do not
want to be responsible for a firearm that I do not possess”. Could the
solicitor general please explain how the registry of firearms made such a
potentially catastrophic mistake?
For
some reason I still do not understand why the former minister of justice would
not let the solicitor general answer his own question and she did not answer the
question either. In her response the minister chose to play politics rather than
to address a very serious error in the gun registry that threatens both the
privacy and safety of a Canadian citizen. A strange response for a minister who
claimed to be fully accountable and responsible for the entire Canadian firearms
program.
Since
this incident was documented in November we have had another firearms owner
complain to his member of parliament that the same thing happened to him. He
wrote on the bogus registration certificate:
Never registered this gun. Never owned this gun. Never even seen this gun.
Perhaps
the new Minister of Justice will take more seriously the consequences of the
bungling by his bureaucrats.
Earlier
today I issued a news release documenting just a few of the more recent errors
in the gun registry. These errors were documented by the minister's own
department and provided to me in response to an access to information request.
Other errors were reported in newspapers or to me personally.
I
have in turn notified the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Auditor General
of Canada of these errors and their consequences for the rights and safety of
Canadian citizens.
Here
is a short list of the errors I uncovered and made public today: there were
300,000 unclaimed guns in the old handgun registry; the gun registry lost track
of more than 38,000 licensed gun owners; 832 duplicate firearms licences were
issued; 28 duplicate firearms registration certificates were issued; there were
57 registration certificates for 16 guns; re-registration of 10 handguns
resulted in a 50% error rate; a muzzleloader was registered as a single-shot
machine gun; 3 rifles were registered to the wrong man; a handgun was registered
to the wrong man; 2 rifles were registered as shotguns; 6 identical registration
certificates were issued for 1 handgun; registration forms were sent to a wrong
address; there was a woman's photo on a man's firearms licence and a man's photo
on a woman's firearms licence; and 3 Winnipegers got the wrong photo on their
firearms licences.
On
Monday the new Minister of Justice proudly proclaimed to parliament that the gun
registry works well. The minister should look again. His own department's
documents prove otherwise. Here is a huge list of serious errors and we need an
answer.
Mr.
Paul Harold Macklin (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and
Attorney General of Canada, Lib.):
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to provide an update on the current
status of the registration process and to reinforce the government's commitment
to making firearm registration more convenient and client friendly.
The
previous minister offered to investigate the matters raised by the hon. member
for Yorkton--Melville when he originally asked the question almost four months
ago. He did not take her up on the offer. On behalf of the government, I would
like to restate that offer and extend it to all members of parliament if they
have specific concerns.
I
would like take the opportunity to outline the Canadian firearms centre's
registration initiative. As part of the centre's commitment to client service
and efficiency, the mailing of personalized registration forms to firearm owners
and a limited time fee waiver has made its way across Canada.
Firearm
owners in Atlantic Canada were the first to receive the personalized
registration package and fee waiver in September. The package was then sent to
licensed firearm owners in Ontario and Quebec in the fall, followed by
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the territories in December. The campaign will wrap
up with the end of the fee waiver in Alberta and British Columbia on March 19.
The
regional approach facilitates processing by staggering the applications
received, ensuring a more timely response and that the quality of client service
remains high.
Another
new feature is online firearm registration. In response to these initiatives,
Canadians are registering their firearms in record numbers. With 10 months left
before the deadline, over 1.1 million of the 1.8 million licensed firearm
owners, about 62%, have participated in the registration process. This includes
more than 100,000 applications submitted over the Internet.
Over
the last few months, the Canadian firearms program has completely restructured
the registration process and implemented rigorous measures to ensure the
integrity of information.
The
new personalized registration form is mailed out directly to the licensee. When
the registration application is returned for processing, the form is scanned,
including the bar code that identifies the licence holder. Manual data entry is
eliminated which minimizes the potential for error.
Also
within this process, existing quality assurance procedures have been reinforced
to ensure that the system captures accurate registration information for the
appropriate licensee. The government is committed to ensuring that stringent
security and privacy protection are maintained.
When
licensees receive their registration certificate, they should ensure the
accuracy of the information. If there are discrepancies, individuals should
contact the Canadian firearms centre to rectify the situation.
To
conclude, recent initiatives to streamline the registration process have
increased processing efficiencies and enhanced overall effectiveness. More
important, it provides a more user friendly way for Canadians to meet their
obligations to register their firearms, and they are registering.
I
thank the hon. member for his question and for the opportunity to bring this
important initiative back to the House's attention.
¼
(1825)
Mr.
Garry Breitkreuz:
Madam Speaker, I was trying to listen carefully for an answer and it really was
not there. The exact opposite of what the hon. member just stated is true.
Verifiers have been dismissed. The accuracy in the system is now worse than it
has ever been. Now to lay the whole blame in the lap of a gun owner is
completely wrong-headed.
I
will submit a couple of quotations. The first one from February 7, 2001, is by
the president of the Canadian Police Association, Constable Grant Obst. He said:
--a lot of Canadian cops who believe in the “concept” of a gun
registry have profound doubts that the one being run by CFC [Canadian Firearms
Centre] will ever offer police the information they needed to fight crime.
“They're not happy with the information-fathering,” he said. “They're
asking themselves, will the information be accurate?”
As
I have shown today, the information in the gun registry is not accurate despite
what the government has said. I am asking the minister again--
The
Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos):
The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General
of Canada.
Mr.
Paul Harold Macklin:
Madam Speaker, in response to the hon. member, clearly we have made a great deal
of progress. The online process is one way in which an individual can be very
certain of getting accurate information recorded by the program.
For the member to suggest that there have been problems in the past is accurate and does reflect the situation of the past, but we are working now with much more efficiencies. We have simplified the forms and have done many things ensure that these errors will not occur. We will do our utmost to improve and continue to work with the program to ensure that all Canadians will feel not only that their information is properly recorded but that it is secure and private.
¼ (1830)
The
Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos):
The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly
the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order
24(1).
(The
House adjourned at 6.30 p.m.)