The RCMP’s recent letter claiming to “nullify” registration certificates for restricted rifles banned by the Liberal government’s May 1st Order in Council is causing confusion across the firearms community.
On July 21st, we published our opinion that – while the letter informs you that your certificate has been cancelled – the RCMP’s letter is NOT a Firearm Registration Certificate Revocation Letter. [i]
In that commentary, we said the letter is the RCMP’s attempt to play games with the rights of Canadians. Worse, their deceitful actions are condoned at the highest levels of this Liberal government.
We asked Arkadi Bouchelev, the lawyer representing nine public interest litigants[ii] in their Judicial Review of the May 1st gun ban by Order in Council for his opinion.[iii]
According to a legal analysis provided to the CSSA by Mr. Bouchelev, the answer is a resounding “No.”
“After reviewing the relevant law, it is my conclusion that the recent RCMP letters revoking certain restricted firearms registration certificates (“Revocation Letters”) fail to comply with at least two major requirements pursuant to the Firearms Act and related regulations.
“Subsection 72(1) states that when the Registrar revokes a registration certificate, he shall give the holder of the certificate notice in the prescribed form.
“Subsection 72(2) states that notice must include reasons for the decision and must be accompanied by a copy of sections 74 to 81 of the Firearms Act.
“Sections 74-81 of the Firearms Act describe the appeal process in a case a certificate is revoked.
“To put it simply, if the Registrar wants to revoke your registration certificate, he must give the holder of the certificate notice, in proper form, including a reproduction of the sections of the Firearms Act that explain how to appeal the decision.
“The Revocation Letters clearly do not follow this required format, as they do not contain a reproduction of sections 74-81 or include any other instructions on how to challenge the revocation.”
We’re grateful to Mr. Bouchelev for his analysis of the relevant portions of the Firearms Act, as it proves we were on the right track in our commentary The RCMP’s ‘Not A-Registration-Certificate-Revocation’ Letter published on July 12st.
So, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, the question is back in your court.
Are you trying to circumvent the Firearms Act by issuing revocation letters in an illegal form so you can deny us our legal rights as specified in Section 82 of the Act?
Or are you showing off more of your ignorance of the Criminal Code as well as your disdain for ordinary Canadians?
STRAIGHT QUESTION: Is this RCMP letter a Firearm Registration Certificate Revocation Letter, Minister Blair?
Yes or No.
Sources:
[i] https://cssa-cila.org/the-rcmps-not-a-registration-certificate-revocation-letter/
[ii] https://cssa-cila.org/DonateToPILReview
[iii] https://s3.amazonaws.com/CSSA/PDF/2020-07-21-Legal-Analysis-of-RCMP-Revocation-Letters.pdf
Second Reading of Bill C-21: What Does That Mean?