The Court of Appeal in the province of Quebec has sided with the federal government’s argument that national long-gun registry information shouldn’t be handed over to the province to create its own database, in a ruling released Thursday (June 27).
The court has however instructed the Attorney General of Canada not to destroy the data for two weeks, allowing the government of Quebec a chance to appeal the decision to a higher court.
When the federal government decided to end the long-gun registry in April 2012, Quebec went to court and won the right to preserve its share of the long-gun data.
The federal government has since destroyed most of the remaining records of registered long guns and appealed the Quebec Superior Court ruling blocking it from destroying the Quebec data.
In the explanation of the decision the court wrote this about the Canadian Firearm Registry (CFR): “Quebec has no property right in the data in the CFR. The data does not belong to Quebec, and the provinces have no control over it. From the moment the data is entered in the registry to the moment of its destruction, the Registrar of Firearms – a federal public servant – has sole responsibility for it. The Parliament of Canada, which considers the data at issue to be pointless and inefficient and believes that its existence in a registry infringes the right to privacy, can certainly decide to stop compiling and preserving that information. In addition, the fact that administrative functions were delegated to provincial public servants in exchange for compensation by the federal government does not confer on the province any right of property in or control over the CFR.”
Quebec’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General Bertrand St-Arnaud issued a statement saying he was disappointed with the ruling, and would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“There is a consensus in Quebec concerning the registration of firearms,” St-Arnaud said in the statement.
“All political parties represented in the national assembly defend this position and strongly oppose the federal government’s decision to abolish the firearms registry.”
Canada’s Federal Public Security Minister Vic Toews said he was “pleased” with the ruling.
“Our Conservative government is committed to stand up for the rights of law-abiding hunters, farmers, and sport shooters in all regions of the country, including Quebec,” he said in a release.
More information:
Quebec Court of Appeal decision (Word document, English translation) – here
CBC News – Quebec appeal court sides with Ottawa on long-gun records – here
Quebec Minister Bertrand St-Arnaud statement (in French) – here
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