NOTE:  Versions of this article also appeared in: The Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, and the Edmonton Journal.

 

PUBLICATION:              National Post

DATE:                         2003.07.23

EDITION:                    National

SECTION:                  Canada

PAGE:                         A7

BYLINE:                     Tim Naumetz

SOURCE:                   CanWest News Service

DATELINE:                 OTTAWA

ILLUSTRATION:             Black & White Photo: Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz applied for documents. 

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Natives refusing to register guns, documents show: First Nations admit firearms safety a problem, but want their own laws

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OTTAWA - Thousands of aboriginals across Canada are refusing to obtain gun licences and register their rifles and shotguns under the federal Firearms Act, government documents reveal. Justice Department surveys and briefing papers show that, despite widespread concern in First Nations communities about gun safety, most aboriginal gun owners and their leaders oppose participation in federal licensing and registration because they want their own gun regulations and laws as a treaty right.

The documents, obtained by Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz under the Access to Information Act, also reveal widespread refusal by First Nations communities to take part in a 2002 government effort to help native communities comply with the Firearms Act.

In the Mohawk community of Akwesasne, on the U.S. border between Cornwall, Ont., and the state of New York, one study found only 1% of gun owners had complied with the Firearms Act by last year.

Despite the refusal of Akwesasne gun owners to license and register, 80% of respondents in a May, 2001, survey of public opinion reported gun safety problems in the community. Most of the respondents said the problems were serious, and nearly all respondents reported at least one gun-related incident or issue. Akwesasne was the site of violent internal feuding in the early 1990s over smuggling and gambling, when at least two men died in gun battles between the opposing sides. The survey, sponsored by the Akwesasne Justice Department and the Canadian Firearms Centre, found a majority of gun owners in the community support licensing but, like the majority in the wider community, want it done under Mohawk law.

Similar joint surveys were done at the Tyendinaga Mohawk First Nation near Belleville, Ont., and Wahta Mohawk First Nation in the Muskoka district north of Toronto, with similar findings. At the Tyendinaga Mohawk community, 71% of respondents reported gun safety problems and virtually all respondents supported firearms legislation, but nearly all respondents wanted a Mohawk Firearms Agency, with about 25% agreeing to join federal involvement.

A 2002 sample of gun licence applications from 67 First Nations communities in Ontario, Quebec, the northern territories and the western provinces showed licences were sought by only a fraction of the expected number of gun owners in each community. In northern Manitoba, only 847 gun licence applications were received from 12 First Nations communities with a total population of 17,129. In Saskatchewan, 1,054 licences were sought from eight northern communities whose populations totalled 13,419.

Mr. Breitkreuz said the studies show non-compliance by aboriginal gun owners and hunters undermines the integrity of the Firearms Act and Criminal Code provisions that cover the firearms registry. "If you have criminal law that a certain segment of society does not comply with and you don't do anything about it, that makes a mockery of the Criminal Code. I believe that this is the beginning of the end [of the registry]," Mr. Breitkreuz said.

The 2002 sample of compliance concluded that failure to take action or come up with a policy could be damaging to native hunters as well as relations between the aboriginal communities and law enforcement agencies. It said field reports showed aboriginal hunters and gun owners were being increasingly charged for gun possession without licences. "This not only damages already sensitive police/aboriginal relations in many parts of the country but risks fines [which many aboriginal people are unlikely to have a capacity to pay] and the possibility of incarceration, which can only serve to further increase aboriginal over-representation in the criminal justice system," the study said.

Wayne Easter, the Solicitor-General, said the government cannot exempt aboriginals from the Firearms Act. "Whether you are aboriginal, whether you are French, whether you are English, whether you are Scottish, or any culture or nationality, on this law we believe the same rules should apply to all people," he said in an interview. Mr. Easter added that compliance rates are likely higher now because of the time that has passed since the surveys and studies were done.