“Even witnesses and victims of crime are labeled as ‘potentially
dangerous’ in this huge police database.”
Ottawa
– Garry
Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, released copies of a three-page letter he
received from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that blows a big hole in the
Justice Minister’s claim that the gun registry is a “phenomenal
success.” George
Radwanski’s letter confirms the Firearms Interest Police (FIP) database, which
is only supposed to contain the names of the “potentially dangerous,”
actually contains: “the
names of witnesses and victims”…“unsubstantiated, hearsay and incorrect
information”…and information on “cases where the charges have
been dropped and the individuals have been acquitted.”
Breitkreuz commented, “A year ago the RCMP had 3.5
million citizens in this data bank. The
government told Canadians that they have nothing to worry about if they have
done nothing wrong. The Privacy
Commissioner’s letter proves that everyone has something to worry about.”
Here’s how the questioning went in the House:
Mr.
Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance):
Mr. Speaker, after more than five years the
Justice Minister continues to ignore the recommendations of the privacy
commissioners. Three and a half million Canadians are labeled as potentially
dangerous because their names are contained in a police database.
The minister claims success for her registry because of information in
that database. This turns out to be a bogus claim. The privacy commissioner
revealed the minister's database even contains the names of witnesses and
victims of crime. Why is the
minister ignoring the privacy commissioner and why has she not fixed this mess?
Hon.
Anne McLellan (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, let me reassure the House that we have not ignored the
privacy commissioner. In fact, on a number of occasions over the past seven
years we have consulted with the privacy commissioner. We have laid before the
privacy commissioner questions that we would ask, and in fact the privacy
commissioner and his staff indicated that those questions were appropriate.
Mr.
Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville, Canadian Alliance):
Mr. Speaker, that is not true, according to the privacy commissioner.
Most of these 3.5 million Canadians in the police database do not even
know the police have a file on them. They do not even know that they could
become targets of police action because of the incorrect information the
minister has on them. The privacy
commissioner raises other concerns in his letter that information in the police
database is irrelevant and exceeds the authority granted to the minister in the
Firearms Act. Millions of Canadians have to abide by the Firearms Act. Why not
the minister?
Hon.
Anne McLellan (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, let me reiterate for the hon. member that in fact we have
consulted with the previous privacy commissioner on a number of occasions over
the past seven years. If the hon.
member is referring to the new privacy commissioner and if the new privacy
commissioner wishes to talk to me about concerns he might have, I am certainly
willing to do that and I would expect that he would give me the courtesy of
contacting me directly to discuss any concerns he might have.
“I
don’t believe three and a half million Canadians are a risk to the security of
the country. Let’s turn that
around, I believe the security of the country is at risk because the government
has three and a half million citizens it suspects are the problem,” said
Breitkreuz. “The FIP database is
a good idea as long as it only contains the names of persons who are known
criminals, persons who are prohibited from owning firearms and persons for which
the police have real evidence to prove they are dangerous, violent or mentally
ill. When police are kept busy
chasing down incorrect and unreliable information in this police database,
it’s possible for some real criminals and truly violent individuals to escape
detection. The Minister should
abide by the Privacy Commissioner’s recommendations and fix this mess.”
-30-
By Garry Breitkreuz, MP (Yorkton-Melville)
(1)
The Privacy
Commissioner states that his “review of the Canadian Firearms Program
remains open.”
(2)
FIP database contains names of individuals that should not have been
entered and even “contains the names of witnesses and victims.”
(3)
Police information in the FIP leads to investigations based on
“unsubstantiated, hearsay and incorrect information.”
(4)
Police loaded incidents in the FIP not relevant to sec. 5 of the Firearms
Act.
(5)
Police are conducting unnecessary investigations because the FIP file
contains information on “cases where the charges have been dropped and the
individuals have been acquitted.”
(6)
There is no
process in place to ensure that “improper or duplicate entries in the FIP
files are removed or corrected.”
(7)
The way the FIP database is set up makes it “extraordinarily
difficult for individuals to exercise their access and correction rights.”
(8)
The Privacy Commissioner has decided to re-assess whether the questions
about personal history on the firearms licence application form meet the
requirements of the Privacy Act.
(9)
The Privacy
Commissioner was not consulted about the Justice Minister’s plans to privatize
or outsource the Canadian Firearms Program. He is “deeply concerned” about these plans and
intends to “pursue the matter with the Department.”
(10) The
Privacy Commissioner also urges the Justice Minister to implement his
recommendations.