Questions and responses 44th Parliament, 1st session November 22, 2021, to January 6, 2025

With regard to the government's firearms buyback program: (a) how much has been spent to date on the program, broken down by fiscal year; (b) of the amount spent in (a), how much was for (i) program administration, (ii) payments to buy back firearms; (c) how much money went, or will go, towards the buyback program from the (i) allocated, (ii) unallocated, sums outlined in budget 2024; (d) when is the program expected to conclude; (e) what is the expected total cost of the program through to conclusion, broken down by expected administrative costs and expected firearm payment costs; (f) how many firearms have been bought back from (i) dealers, (ii) individuals, (iii) corporations or others, broken down by year; and (g) what is the amount paid out to (i) dealers, (ii) individuals, (iii) corporations or others, for firearms bought back, broken down by year?

With regard to the Canadian Firearms Program under the RCMP: (a) what was their annual operating budget for each of the last five fiscal years; and (b) how has this funding been dispersed across organizational program areas, namely, (i) Firearms Service Delivery, (ii) Firearms Business lmprovement, (iii) Firearms Management and Strategic Services, (iv) Firearms Regulatory Services, (v) Firearms Investigative and Enforcement Support?

With regard to the government’s Firearms Buyback Program: (a) how much has been spent to date on the program, broken down by fiscal year; (b) of the amount spent in (a), how much was for (i) program administration, (ii) payments to buy back firearms; (c) how much money went, or will go, towards the buyback program from the (i) allocated, (ii) unallocated, sums outlined in budget 2024; (d) when is the program expected to conclude; and (e) what is the expected total cost of the program through conclusion, broken down by expected administrative costs and expected firearm payment costs?

With regard to firearms and crime statistics held by the government, broken down by year since 2009: (a) how many fatal shootings, excluding suicides, in Canada, were from (i) legally, (ii) illegaly or improperly, registered firearms; (b) how many legally registered firearms were being operated by someone with a legal firearms licence; and (c) how many illegal or improperly registered firearms were being operated by someone with a legal firearms licence?

With regard to the Firearms Buyback Program: what are the details of all contracts related to the program entered into by the government, including any relevant government entity, such as the RCMP, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) amount, (iii) vendor, (iv) description of the goods or services, (v) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced or competitive bid)?

With regard to firearms which were prohibited as a result of the May 1, 2020, Order in Council SOR/2020-96: (a) how many have been (i) turned in, (ii) seized, (iii) confiscated, (iv) otherwise obtained by the government broken down by how it was obtained; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by those firearms which were previously in the possession of individuals versus businesses; and (c) what is the breakdown of (a) and (b) by make and model?

With regard to the measures in Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms), to increase the maximum penalties from 10 to 14 years imprisonment for certain firearms related offences: (a) how many people have been convicted of each of the related offences since January 1, 2016, broken down by year and offence; and (b) of those convicted in (a), how many received the maximum sentence, broken down by year and offence?

With regard to statistics held by the RCMP in relation to firearms: (a) what definition does the RCMP use to determine if a firearm is domestically sourced or foreign sourced; (b) is the definition in (a) universally used by other police jurisdictions in Canada that trace the origins of firearms; (c) does the designation of a firearm as domestically sourced (i) include firearms that entered Canada illegally, (ii) have unknown sources, due to not having a serial number or other identifying markers removed; (d) which police forces in Canada (i) use the RCMP lab services to trace firearms, (ii) do their own tracing of firearms; (e) what is the RCMP's definition of a "crime gun"; (f) are firearms seized in the course of another investigation for a non-violent crime, a mental health intervention, or turned over to the RCMP as part of an amnesty or other voluntary surrender of a firearm for disposal to the RCMP included in the definition of a "crime gun"; and (g) are the firearms seized by Canada Border Services Agency included in the RCMP reports related to the percentage of firearms sourced domestically or from foreign countries?

With regard to Public Safety Canada's Firearms Program branch: (a) how many separate programs or projects is the branch currently working on; (b) how many employees or full-time equivalents are assigned to each of these programs or projects; (c) what are the Treasury Board classification and associated pay-scale range for each of the employees in (b); and (d) what are the allocated budgets for each of these programs or projects?

With regard to the government’s proposal to buy-back firearms from Canadians: (a) which department or agency will be responsible for (i) collecting the firearms, (ii) storing the firearms, (iii) destroying or deactivating the firearms; (b) which department or agency will be responsible for financially reimbursing Canadians; (c) how will Canadians receive the funds for their firearms; (d) how long will Canadians have to wait from surrendering their firearm until they are reimbursed; (e) which law enforcement agencies will be involved in the program; (f) what amount will be paid for each firearm, broken down by type and model; and (g) how was the amount being paid for each type and model of firearm determined?

With regard to firearms statistics held by the government, and broken down by year since January 1, 2018: (a) how many (i) firearms, (ii) handguns, (iii) long-guns were seized by all police jurisdictions in relation to a gang or organized crime activity; (b) how many (i) firearms, (ii) handguns, (iii) long-guns were seized by the RCMP in relation to a gang or organized crime activity; (c) how many domestically sourced (i) firearms, (ii) handguns, (iii) long-guns were sourced by all police jurisdictions, broken down by type of offense (theft, illegal manufacture) and province of seizure; (d) how many domestically sourced (i) firearms, (ii) handguns, (iii) long-guns were sourced by the RCMP, broken down by type of offense (theft, illegal manufacture) and province of seizure; (e) how many domestically sourced (i) firearms, (ii) handguns, (iii) long-guns were seized and sourced by all police jurisdictions, broken down by type of offense (theft, illegal manufacture) and province of seizure; and (f) how many (i) firearms, (ii) handguns, (iii) long-guns were seized and sourced by the RCMP, broken down by type of offense (theft, illegal manufacture) and province of seizure?

With regard to the government’s current advertising campaign to reduce gun violence: (a) how much is the campaign spending on (i) radio, (ii) television, (iii) online, including social media, (iv) other forms of advertising; (b) how much was spent developing the ads for each part of (a); (c) what is the (i) start, (ii) end dates of each part of the advertising campaign, broken down by platform; and (d) what are the details of all contracts related to the campaign, including, for each, (i) the vendor, (ii) the amount or value, (iii) the description of goods or services provided, (iv) whether the contract was sole-sourced?

With regard to the Order in Council SOR/2020-96 published on May 1, 2020, whereas it states that “the newly prescribed firearms are primarily designed for military or paramilitary purposes” and as the former Minister of Public Safety has re-stated this in the House of Commons of the over 1,500 newly prohibited firearms on numerous occasions: (a) which specific models that were prohibited on May 1, 2020, or since have been or are still in use by the Canadian Armed Forces; and (b) which specific models prohibited on May 1, 2020, or since are in use by any national military in the world?

With regard to government statistics on individuals charged with firearm related offences, broken down by each offence and by year since 2016: (a) what percentage of those charged had a previous criminal record; and (b) what was the total number of people (i) charged, (ii) charged, who had a previous criminal record, (iii) charged, who did not have a previous criminal record?

With regard to government statistics on violent offences involving firearms, since 2015 and broken down by year, including 2023 to date: (a) what was the number of violent offences involving firearms, in total, and broken down by type of offence; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by province or territory and by municipality; and (c) what is the breakdown of (a) and (b) by the number and percentage of crimes that resulted in (i) prosecutions, (ii) convictions?

With regard to firearms statistics held by the government, broken down by year since January 1, 2022: (a) how many firearms were seized by (i) the RCMP, (ii) the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), (iii) other police forces, broken down by source (domestic or foreign); (b) how many firearms were seized and traced by (i) the RCMP, (ii) the CBSA, (iii) other police forces; (c) how many firearms seized by other police jurisdictions were traced by a police jurisdiction other than the RCMP; (d) how many (i) long-guns, (ii) handguns, (iii) restricted firearms, (iv) prohibited firearms, were traced by all police services, broken down by source (domestic or foreign); (e) how many (i) long-guns, (ii) handguns, (iii) restricted firearms, (iv) prohibited firearms, were traced by the RCMP, broken down by source (domestic or foreign); (f) how many (i) long-guns', (ii) handguns', (iii) restricted firearms', (iv) prohibited firearms', sources (domestic or foreign) could not be traced across all police services; and (g) how many of the (i) long-guns', (ii) handguns', (iii) restricted firearms', (iv) prohibited firearms', sources could not be traced by the RCMP?

With regard to firearms statistics held by the government, and broken down by year since January 1, 2018: (a) how many firearms were seized by (i) the RCMP, (ii) the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), (iii) other police forces, broken down by source (domestic or foreign); (b) how many firearms were seized and traced by (i) the RCMP, (ii) the CBSA, (iii) other police forces; (c) how many firearms seized by other police jurisdictions were traced by a police jurisdiction other than the RCMP; (d) how many (i) long-guns, (ii) handguns, (iii) restricted firearms, (iv) prohibited firearms were traced by all police services, broken down by source (domestic or foreign); (e) how many (i) long-guns, (ii) handguns, (iii) restricted firearms, (iv) prohibited firearms were traced by the RCMP, broken down by source (domestic or foreign); (f) how many (i) long-guns (ii) handguns, (iii) restricted firearms, (iv) prohibited firearms' source (domestic or foreign) could not be traced across all police services; and (g) how many of the (i) long-guns, (ii) handguns, (iii) restricted firearms, (iv) prohibited firearms' source could not be traced by the RCMP?

With regard to the Public Safety Minister indicating that the firearms confiscated following the new prohibitions announced on December 5, 2024, are viable "weapons of war" that can be used in the war effort for Ukraine: (a) will the confiscated firearms be sent as-is or would they be modified before being sent to Ukraine; (b) what modifications will be made to these firearms, if any; (c) what is the projected cost to the government to make these modifications; and (d) what are the projected costs to the government to (i) test, (ii) store, (iii) transport to Ukraine, these firearms?

With regard to firearms seized by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), including any instances where the CBSA is working with another Canadian agency or a law enforcement entity: (a) what is the total number, broken down by year from 2009 to the most recently available, of firearms seized (i) at Canadian land borders, (ii) at all ports of entry other than land borders, (iii) by the CBSA as part of an investigation, outside of a port of entry; (b) broken down by each part of (a), how many of the firearms were (i) registered to Canadian firearms owners or Canadian firearms businesses, (ii) registered to American firearms owners or American firearms businesses, (iii) registered to firearms owners or firearms businesses outside of Canada and the United States, (iv) unregistered or untraceable; and (c) of the unregistered or untraceable firearms in (b)(iv), how many originated from (i) inside Canada, (ii) inside the United States, (iii) neither inside Canada nor inside the United States?

With regard to the Order in Council SOR/2020-96, published on May 1, 2020, which states that “the newly prescribed firearms are primarily designed for military or paramilitary purposes”: (a) which specific models that were prohibited on May 1, 2020, and thereafter, have been or are still in use by the Canadian Armed Forces; and (b) for all the specific models prohibited on May 1, 2020 or since then, what were the permitted legal uses of these firearms in Canada prior to their prohibition (i.e. hunting, sport-shooting, collecting), broken down by make and model?