From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #139 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, May 12 2004 Volume 07 : Number 139 In this issue: Bilingualism is a Sham Transfer fee billing B.C. riding executive quits over PM's handpicked candidate Ontario "Fiberal" Campaign Ad When a Government Doesn't Believe in its Own Laws CFC - AMENDMENT TO SEARCH AND SEIZURE RULES CFC - SPECIAL BULLETIN FOR POLICE - No. 58 Editor (A colossal waste of dough.) Editor (A colossal waste of dough.) Editorial: Grits still into cynical politics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 20:20:39 -0600 (CST) From: Christopher di Armani Subject: Bilingualism is a Sham Canadian Bilingualism is a Sham By Christopher di Armani The government's official position? Canada has two official languages, English and French. Now, at first glance, that would appear to be true. All federal government employees are required to speak both official languages. All federal government documents are generated in both English and French. However, what this really translates into is discrimination against the majority of Canadians. After all, studies show the majority of Canadians have no more than a rudimentary understanding of French. Which leaves them unable to apply for any federal government position, no matter how qualified they may be. Viable French language education opportunities do not exist for vast numbers of Canadians. For example, the only way local students at Lytton's Kumsheen Secondary School can take French is if they hire, at their own expense, a French tutor, outside of regular school hours. The school has no French language teacher, much less a French language course. My own high school French is pretty pathetic, I must admit. However, being a bilingual country, I thought it would be easy to find an English copy of Montreal Coroner Teresa Sourour's Inquest report into the Lepine shootings at L'Ecole Polytechnique on December 6, 1989. Wow, was I wrong! It took me over a month just to locate a copy of the report. And, once found, it was only available in French. Now, some might say that because the report was generated by the Montreal Coroner's office, there is no requirement for an English translation. Montreal, is, after all, under Quebec's jurisdiction. That argument might fly if it wasn't for one small yet crucial detail. Every anti-gun politician and anti-gun lobbyist in Canada points to the "Montreal Massacre" as their justification imposing Canada's strict gun control laws. Kim Campbell's response to Lepine's killing spree (with input from a host of anti-firearm activists, most spawned in the aftermath of December 6, 1989) was Bill C-17, which imposed some pretty strict requirements on gun owners. Allan Rock's Bill C-68, Canada's current Firearms Act, simply painted us further down the road Ms. Campbell started. And, as Mr. Rock so notably stated, "I came to Ottawa with the belief that only the police and military should have guns." Pretty open-minded of him, don't you think? That the majority of Canadians are not able to see what Ms. Zourour's report said is a sham. Dennis Young, assistant to Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz, sent a copy of the report to Public Words for translation. He's not heard back from them yet, despite several follow-ups. According to Marie-Pierre Jodoin, Communications Coordinator for the Coalition for Gun Control, even that organization does not have a copy of the report. Which I find is a little odd, given it was the events of December 6, 1989 that spawned the group. At least that's what their website says. Let me get this straight. The single crystallizing event which provides the sparks for the formation of this lobby group NEVER bothers to get a copy of the report on that event? Really. I guess the report doesn't say what they'd like it to. Unfortunately, I don't know. But I'll let you know once I've had the report translated into Canada's OTHER official language. Christopher di Armani is a freelance writer based in Lytton, BC. He can be contacted at christopher@diArmani.com. - --30-- Christopher di Armani christopher@dolphinsoftware.bc.ca ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 20:29:18 -0600 (CST) From: "Todd Birch" Subject: Transfer fee billing I recently had conversation with a retired police officer who is most definitlely on the side of Canadian gun owners. We got on the topic of the need for re-registration of restricted firearms (he did not re-register his) being necessary to retain one's "grandfather" status. He challenged the CFC to do whatever they wished and has not heard back from them. He also does not pay the transfer fee when going a firearms transaction despite their threat to not process the transfer if he does not comply. He is of the opinion that since it is the requirement of the government that all firearms be registered, the law has been complied with if the firearm (rifle/shotgun) was registered by someone during it's history. He feels that if all gun owners did this, we would stop the requirement immediately. Is he on to something here or am I being fed a line? Todd Birch ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 20:30:08 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: B.C. riding executive quits over PM's handpicked candidate http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/05/11/canada/burnaby040511 B.C. riding executive quits over PM's handpicked candidate Last Updated Tue, 11 May 2004 19:07:55 VANCOUVER - The entire executive of a B.C. riding association has resigned to protest against Prime Minister Paul Martin's decision to handpick a candidate. The riding association said there is no democracy in Martin's Liberal party and no respect for the members. "No democracy, no respect – then we all quit," said Sandy King, one of the 15 board members who stormed off the job. Over the weekend, Bill Cunningham, the federal party president in B.C., was appointed by the prime minister to run in the riding. Tony Kuo, who now calls himself "Tony Nobody" after being told he couldn't be a candidate, said he doubts Cunningham can win. "We don't recognize him. We don't recognize appointments," Kuo told CBC News. Executive members have promised they will have nothing to do with Cunningham's campaign, or the federal Liberal party. Cunningham said the mass resignations are unfortunate but are a "great opportunity to bring back some familiar faces as well as some new blood." The riding is currently held by long-time NDP maverick Svend Robinson. In mid-April, Robinson said he was taking leave for health reasons after admitting he stole a ring. Written by CBC News Online staff ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 22:43:04 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Ontario "Fiberal" Campaign Ad http://www.fiberal.ca/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 06:30:15 -0600 (CST) From: Christopher di Armani Subject: When a Government Doesn't Believe in its Own Laws When a Government Doesn't Believe in its Own Laws By Christopher di Armani What happens when the government doesn't believe its own laws? Ask Ed Hudson of the Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association, and he'll tell you. "They're afraid to charge us for fear of what will happen once this hits the courts", says Hudson. What exactly does that mean? Senator-in-Waiting Ted Morton describes in his research paper "How the Firearms Act (Bill C-68) Violates The Charter of Rights and Freedoms" (http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns82.htm): "Bill C-68 (the Firearms Act) contains as many as 28 distinct Charter violations. If the Supreme Court applies the same Charter rules to law-abiding firearm owners as it has to drunk-drivers, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, single parent welfare recipients, abortion providers, murderers, refugee claimants and owners of child pornography, that is if it applies the law of the land with an even hand then it will be forced by its own precedents to declare Bill-68 unconstitutional and thus of no force or effect." Ed Hudson agrees. "The government knows the Firearms Act cannot withstand a constitutional challenge. That's why they refuse to charge us. We traveled to every provincial capital, and to Ottawa twice protesting this law. We've given every Provincial Attorney General evidence that we've broken this law. We gave them videotaped evidence of illegal firearm transfers. We've given the same evidence to the Prime Minister. Nobody will charge us under the Firearms Act". Bruce Montague is furious about the government's refusal to prosecute them. "The only right of redress we have is the courts. The government knows this. So they arrest us, confiscate our firearms, give us an appearance notice, then drop all charges when we show up", says Montague. "This is supposed to be a democracy. We have the right to challenge bad law. The government knows they can't win a case under C-68 (the Firearms Act), so they refuse to give us the only avenue we have for redress our grievances. They refuse to charge us under the Firearms Act." During their cross-Canada protest rally, the CUFOA members ended up in Solicitor General Wayne Easter's home riding. On a whim they telephoned his office to see if he was available. Not only was he in available, he agreed to meet with the group. During that meeting, which was tape-recorded by the group, Wayne Easter told them why they would never be arrested: "You guys are not a threat." "It's a joke", fumed Bruce Montague. "If I don't have to get a license, why should you? If I am not a threat, then how can any other law-abiding firearm owner be a threat? This law has to be repealed." The Liberal government announced recently it wants to make some changes, including reducing or eliminating user fees, extending the renewal period to register guns to 10 years, and handing over management of the registry to the RCMP. How short the memory of a politician is. Until the Firearms Act came into force, the RCMP had been in charge of registering firearms since 1934. That responsibility was taken away from the RCMP in 1995. Anne McLellan (Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), recently stated in the Commons, "a significant part of the cost overruns in this program is due to the enormous problems with the information technology (IT) component, which was supposed to make this efficient and workable in a reasonable way." Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz isn't buying it. "There's only one way to save money with this billion-dollar boondoggle and that's to scrap it altogether, and redirect the money saved to real policing priorities". I couldn't have said it better myself. Christopher di Armani is a freelance writer based in Lytton, BC. He can be contacted at christopher@diArmani.com. - --30-- Christopher di Armani christopher@dolphinsoftware.bc.ca ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 06:37:50 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: CFC - AMENDMENT TO SEARCH AND SEIZURE RULES SPECIAL BULLETIN FOR POLICE - No. 59 AMENDMENT TO SEARCH AND SEIZURE RULES http://www.cfc-ccaf.gc.ca/en/owners_users/bulletins/special/police/bulletin59.asp Snapshot Bill C-14, which includes an amendment to the search and seizure provisions in subsection 117.04(1) of the Criminal Code, has been given Royal Assent. The amendment is in force as of April 22, 2004. In Special Bulletin for Police No. 50, we informed you that the Ontario Court of Appeal had decided in R. v. Hurrell that s. 117.04(1) of the Criminal Code¸ dealing with search and seizure warrants for firearms and other dangerous goods, was unconstitutional. To protect public safety, the Court allowed Parliament time to amend the text to meet constitutional requirements. An amendment to s. 117.04(1) was included in Bill C-14, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and other Acts. Bill C-14 received Royal Assent on April 22, 2004 and the amendment to s. 117.04(1) came into effect immediately. The revised text reads as follows: 117.04 (1) Where, pursuant to an application made by a peace officer with respect to any person, a justice is satisfied by information on oath that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person possesses a weapon, a prohibited device, ammunition, prohibited ammunition or an explosive substance in a building, receptacle or place and that it is not desirable in the interests of the safety of the person, or of any other person, for the person to possess the weapon, prohibited device, ammunition, prohibited ammunition or explosive substance, the justice may issue a warrant authorizing a peace officer to search the building, receptacle or place and seize any such thing, and any authorization, licence or registration certificate relating to any such thing, that is held by or in the possession of the person. What does this amendment mean for police officers? When you apply for a warrant under s. 117.04(1), you must swear under oath that you have reasonable grounds to believe that: - - the person is in possession of a weapon, a prohibited device, ammunition, prohibited ammunition or an explosive device; and - - the item is located at the place to be searched; and - - it is not in the interest of public safety for the person to possess that item. Information for the Police To ensure that you are on our distribution list, or that your contact information is current, you may contact us through any of the means indicated below. Any police officer can use the CAFC Police-Only Information and Referral Line at 1 800 731-4000, ext. 2064 (E) or 2063 (F) (toll-free) to obtain information or to obtain publications that are available. Police Web site Portal Police e-mail: police-info@cfc-cafc.gc.ca Information for the Public Members of the public must not be referred to the Police-Only Line but can be referred to the public lines at 1 800 731-4000 (toll-free) Public e-mail: cfc-cafc@cfc-cafc.gc.ca - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last Updated: 2004-05-07 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 06:42:39 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: CFC - SPECIAL BULLETIN FOR POLICE - No. 58 SPECIAL BULLETIN FOR POLICE - No. 58 AMNESTY FOR OWNERS OF PROHIBITED 12(6) HANDGUNS http://www.cfc-ccaf.gc.ca/en/owners_users/bulletins/special/police/bulletin58.asp Snapshot There is an amnesty until December 31, 2005 to protect certain individuals and businesses from penalties for possessing certain prohibited handguns without a valid firearms licence or registration certificate for those handguns. Affected businesses and individuals still require a valid firearms licence and registration certificate for all other firearms in their possession. Prohibited Handguns The Criminal Code prohibits handguns with a barrel length of 105 mm (about 4.14 inches) or less and handguns that discharge .25 or .32 calibre ammunition, except for a few specific ones used in International Shooting Union competitions. These handguns are commonly referred to as 12(6) handguns, named after the original subsection of the Firearms Act that created grandfathered privileges for certain handgun owners. Owners Protected by the Amnesty As a rule, it is an offence to possess a firearm without a valid firearms licence authorizing its possession and a valid registration certificate for the firearm. However, an amnesty currently protects certain owners from penalties for possessing a prohibited handgun without a licence granting privileges for that class of firearm and a valid registration certificate for the handgun in the following circumstances: The owner is an individual who lawfully acquired and registered the handgun under the former law, but the owner or the handgun is not eligible for grandfathered status under s. 12(6) of the Firearms Act. This affects owners whose only prohibited handguns were registered between February 14, 1995 and December 1, 1998 and handguns that were registered in Canada for the first time between those dates. Without grandfathered status, individuals cannot get a licence authorizing possession of a prohibited handgun, and they cannot re-register the handgun. The owner is a business with an inventory of prohibited handguns that were reported to the Commissioner of the RCMP on December 1, 1998, but the current business activities do not allow the business to be licensed for prohibited firearms. An example would be a retail dealer. Dealers were allowed to sell these handguns to the public when the handguns were still restricted, but retail sales of prohibited firearms are not allowed. The amnesty allows affected owners to retain possession of their 12(6) handguns without penalty pending the coming into force of some legislative changes and the completion of some regulatory changes that will enable some owners to meet the necessary licence and registration requirements. Please note that the protection offered by the amnesty only applies in the circumstances outlined above. In other words, if an individual or business has other firearms, they need a valid firearms licence authorizing them to possess those firearms and the firearms must be registered. If you encounter someone who possesses a prohibited handgun but has no licence or registration certificate, you can check whether the person is protected by the amnesty through the Canada Firearms Centre/Registry (CFR) at 1 800 731-4000, ext. 1055, 1094 or 1095; through the Tracing Unit of the Canadian Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) at (613) 993-7391, (613) 949-0821, or (613) 993-0231; or through the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST) at 1 800 731-4000, ext. 2053. Correction In the "Snapshot" section of "Special Bulletin to Police - No. 57," the expiry date for the amnesty was written as December 31, 2006, as a result of a typographical error. The correct expiry date of December 31, 2005 was provided in body of the text. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The bulletin has been corrected on our web site at www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca. Information for the Police To ensure that you are on our distribution list, or that your contact information is current, you may contact us through any of the means indicated below. Any police officer can use the CAFC Police-Only Information and Referral Line at 1 800 731-4000, ext. 2064 (E) or 2063 (F) (toll-free) to obtain information or to obtain publications that are available. Police Web site Portal: www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/en/portals/default.asp Police e-mail: police-info@cfc-cafc.gc.ca Information for the Public Members of the public must not be referred to the Police-Only Line but can be referred to the public lines at 1 800 731-4000 (toll-free) Public e-mail: cfc-cafc@cfc-cafc.gc.ca This bulletin is intended to provide general information only, and may be copied and distributed within the police community. For legal references, please refer to the Firearms Act and the Firearms Act Regulations. Copies of the Act and Regulations and training material, such as handbooks and videos, were mailed to all police locations in 1998 and 1999. Copies of training materials are available on the CAFC Web site. Contact your chief firearms officer to see if provincial, territorial and municipal laws, regulations and policies also apply. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last Updated: 2004-05-07 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 06:43:12 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editor (A colossal waste of dough.) PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun DATE: 2004.05.12 EDITION: Final SECTION: Editorial/Opinion PAGE: 14 COLUMN: Letters to the Editor RE: OVERHAUL of the gun registry. It has been a boondoggle since its inception. For the $1 billion already spent, we have no proof even a single life was saved. Had the money been spent on Canada's foreign aid, and in particular health-related programs such as immunization and TB and malaria con- trol, that billion would have saved between 2.5 and five million lives. If we're looking for a better bang, the gun registry is not the place. Randy Rudolph Editor (A colossal waste of dough.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 06:43:19 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editor (A colossal waste of dough.) PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun DATE: 2004.05.12 EDITION: Final SECTION: Editorial/Opinion PAGE: 14 COLUMN: Letters to the Editor RE: OVERHAUL of the gun registry. It has been a boondoggle since its inception. For the $1 billion already spent, we have no proof even a single life was saved. Had the money been spent on Canada's foreign aid, and in particular health-related programs such as immunization and TB and malaria con- trol, that billion would have saved between 2.5 and five million lives. If we're looking for a better bang, the gun registry is not the place. Randy Rudolph Editor (A colossal waste of dough.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 06:43:36 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editorial: Grits still into cynical politics PUBLICATION: The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) DATE: 2004.05.12 EDITION: Final SECTION: Forum PAGE: A10 COLUMN: SP Opinions SOURCE: The StarPhoenix - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grits still into cynical politics - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You'd think the last thing a Liberal government embroiled in a hugely damaging scandal over misspent tax dollars would do on the eve of an election is throw around yet more public money on crass politics. Yet that's exactly what Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals are doing, even as a dozen fraud charges against retired bureaucrat Chuck Guite and advertising company owner Jean Brault, resulting from an RCMP probe, again focus public attention on the $250-million sponsorship fiasco. On Tuesday, the Martin government announced it was relaxing the rules on Employment Insurance eligibility for 100,000 to 120,000 seasonal workers. Not coincidentally, those who'll disproportionately benefit from a reduction in hours of work required to qualify for a longer period of benefits -- costing the EI system $230 million to $270 million over two years -- primarily are in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, regions crucial for the Liberals to retain a majority government. The last time Ottawa changed EI rules -- also targeting Atlantic fisheries workers miffed at the Liberals for earlier reforms that cut their benefits -- was in 2000, on the eve of then-PM Jean Chretien dropping the writ. The $200-million-plus EI change comes soon after Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan announced a new-found commitment to protecting Canada's fisheries stocks from international predators and threw $17.5 million at tighter naval enforcement efforts inside the country's 200-mile jurisdictional zone at sea. Apparently, Regan's concern about protecting the fishery extends only to the actions of Euro riff-raff on the high seas. It didn't stop him last week allowing Newfoundland and Quebec fishermen to take 6,500 tonnes of cod from the northern and southern sections of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, despite warnings by some scientists. These would be same cod stocks that Regan's predecessor, Robert Thibault, felt were so in danger of being wiped out that, in April 2003, he ordered an indefinite moratorium on the fishery. Oh well, what's the survival of a few cod in the gulf compared to the electoral success of the natural governing party? However, if the Martin Liberals are hoping that their fishy manoeuvres and Monday's arrest of a couple of high-profile characters in the sponsorship saga by the Mounties calms the electoral waters, they are mistaken. Despite elation in Liberal circles -- and justifiable skepticism by opposition politicians -- about what appears to be fortuitous timing of the RCMP's fraud charges against Guite and Brault, it hardly provides a welcome backdrop for a troubled party headed to the polls. Quite apart from giving opposition members an opportunity to raise the spectre of political interference in the timing of the charges -- the RCMP itself was identified by Auditor General Sheila Fraser as having received sponsorship dollars through questionable transactions -- the charges against Guite and Brault only underline the fact that the public has yet to see any politicians held to account. While Martin will try to portray the arrests and charges as the government acting to get to the bottom of wrongdoing, the reality is that the Liberals on the Commons committee tasked with ascertaining political responsibility for the fiasco have used their majority to halt the proceedings to produce an interim report. But however milquetoast is next week's report -- produced before many important witnesses, including Martin, have testified -- it will keep reminding voters through a campaign that the sponsorship mess hasn't disappeared with the charges and that politicos such as Alfonso Gagliano may be under police scrutiny. Besides, if just one RCMP probe of a dozen underway produced 12 fraud charges against two people, there might well be more involving others with Liberal connections. So much for attempts by the likes of Treasury Board president Reg Alcock to suggest that Fraser was exaggerating minor problems in a $250-million program. As for the charges against Guite and Brault, what the RCMP alleges is misspending involving advertising related to the gun registry comes as a smack between the eyes for Liberals in rural Canada, particularly in the West where Martin wants to make inroads. Sadly, as their actions continue to demonstrate, the Liberals don't yet grasp the disdain Canadians have for cynical politics that foster scandals such as the sponsorship fiasco. - --- "Democracy cannot be maintained without its foundation: free public opinion and free discussion throughout the nation of all matters affecting the state within the limits set by the criminal code and the common law." - -The Supreme Court of Canada, 1938 ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #139 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:moderator@hitchen.org List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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