THE NEW ANTI-TERRORISM LAWS:

SHOULD WE SIMPLY TRUST ANNE McLELLAN?

By Garry Breitkreuz, MP – October 22, 2001

Justice Minister Anne McLellan introduced the government’s Anti-Terrorism bill last Monday and told the national media: "Our legislation is fair in that we are not unwittingly and unintentionally, perhaps, involving those who are completely innocent either as individuals or organizations.”  But should Canadians trust her or should we ask for better legislative safeguards?

Below are twelve ways your federal government has intruded into the rights of millions of “completely innocent individuals” in the false hope of curtailing the criminal use of firearms.  As of April of this year, the useless gun registry had a staff of more that 1,800 (including 400 RCMP personnel) and had already wasted more than half a billion dollars.

These intrusions into our fundamental rights and freedoms should serve as a warning that we cannot simply accept the Minister’s public assurances as legal commitments.  After all, the Minister of Justice made similar assurances when the Liberals used time-allocation to ram Bill C-68 through Parliament in 1995.

If you are a “completely innocent” firearms owner:

1.  The government will issue you with a photo-ID and charge you a “user-fee” for the privilege. And, oh yes, you must provide your own photo (to the government’s specifications) and have a “guarantor” sign the back of it.  Reference: Application for a Licence under the Firearms Act – Form # JUS888E.

2.  The government will not issue you with a photo-ID unless you answer questions the Privacy Commissioner has recommended be “eliminated” because they are “highly intrusive” and there is “no demonstrable need” for the government to ask the questions.  Questions such as: Have you threatened or attempted suicide, or have you been diagnosed or treated by a medical practitioner for: depression; alcohol, drug or substance abuse; behavioural problems; or emotional problems; have you been reported to the police or social services for violence, threatened or attempted violence, or other conflict in your home or elsewhere; have you experienced a divorce, a separation, a breakdown of a significant relationship, job loss or bankruptcy?"  Reference: Pages 4, 5 & 48 - Privacy Commissioner’s Report: Review of the Personal Information Handling Practices of the Canadian Firearms Program. 

3.  The government will require you to provide two references (other than your spouse) that have known you for at least three years.  You will also have to have your current spouse, former spouses and common-law partners sign your application form. Reference: Application for a Licence under the Firearms Act – Form # JUS888E.

4.  The government will require you to report any change in your address or face criminal penalties of up to two years in jail. (Note: Oddly, this is not a requirement for convicted sex offenders, violent criminals, or the more than 70,000 persons prohibited from owning firearms in Canada).  Reference: Firearms Act section 110 and Firearms Licence Regulation 15.

5.  The government may require you to open your home and business to “inspection” with or without your consent.  If you don’t consent to have your home “inspected” by federal agents, the government can obtain a search warrant without providing any reasonable or probable grounds that a crime has been or is about to be committed. Reference: Firearms Act section 104.

6.  The government can send you to jail for up to two years if you don’t help them conduct their search – I should say “inspection” - and answer all their questions.  So much for your right to remain silent.  Reference: Firearms Act section 103.

7.  The government will force you to register any legally owned property they think is a threat to public safety despite the fact they have no evidence to prove that you or the property you own is a threat to yourself, your family or your neighbours.  Oh, they’ll charge you a “user fee” and they can send you to jail for up to 10 years if you fail to register your property.  Reference: Bill C-68 or Chapter 39, Statutes of Canada, An Act respecting firearms and other weapons.  Criminal Code section 91.

8.  The government will ban any property they think you shouldn’t own (for public safety reasons of course).  Then they will exercise their right to confiscate your now “illegal” property without compensation.  Remember there is no protection of your property rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Reference: Criminal Code section 84(1).

9.  The government will put the onus on you to prove that you have the proper Photo-ID or that your property is properly registered.  So much for your right to presumed innocent until proven guilty. Reference: Criminal Code section 117.11 and Firearms Act section 112(4)

Government bypassing Parliament to make Criminal Law:

10. The government will even pass regulations without going to all the trouble of getting the approval of Parliament.  Democracy is avoided when the federal Minister “forms the opinion” that the need for the regulation is “so urgent” allowing the government to bypass the normal “laying provisions” required by law or is changing a regulation that has already been made.  This is no way to amend our criminal laws.  Reference: Firearms Act, section 119(1)(3)&(4).

Privacy rights are being violated:

11. The government violates the Privacy Act and exceeds the authority granted in the Firearms Act to collect and maintain a database of 3.5 million Canadians.  The database is called Firearms Interest Police (FIP) and the Privacy Commissioner found that this file contained “…unsubstantiated and derogatory information, unproven charges or allegations, hearsay, records that are older than 5 years, incidents and charges that have been cleared or acquitted, duplicate entries as well as information about witnesses, victims of crime and various other associated subjects.  People are unaware that they are being flagged in FIP as possible risks to public safety.”  Reference: Page 28 - Privacy Commissioner’s Report: Review of the Personal Information Handling Practices of the Canadian Firearms Program. 

12. These 3.5 million Canadians cannot easily obtain access to the information collected on them and citizens may have to go to as many as 4 or 5 places to obtain access to their personal information.  Reference: Pages 19, 20 & 22 - Privacy Commissioner’s Report: Review of the Personal Information Handling Practices of the Canadian Firearms Program. 

During the debate of Bill C-68 in 1995, the Liberals defeated my sunset clause amendment that would have automatically repealed sections of the Firearms Act that the Auditor General had proven to be ineffective five years after coming into force.  Now taxpayers, law abiding gun owners and police are paying a steep price for defeating this sensible safeguard.

It would be far easier to accept the government’s assurances that our rights were adequately protected in Bill C-36 if the Anti-Terrorism bill came with an automatic sunset clause for those more contentious provisions.  If the rights violating provisions are working, Parliament can pass a new law reinstating the provision.  If they were not working, a sunset clause would guarantee the measures do not become a permanent intrusion into our fundamental rights and freedoms.

If you would like more information, visit Garry’s web site at: www.garrybreitkreuz.com or please call, write, fax or e-mail:  Garry Breitkreuz, MP (Yorkton-Melville) House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 Phone: (613) 992-4394  Fax: (613) 992-8676 e-mail: breitg@parl.gc.ca