38th Parliament, 1st Session

[Parliamentary Coat-of-Arms]

Edited Hansard • Number 034

Monday, November 29, 2004

 

Questions on the Order Paper

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

 

   Hon. Raymond Simard (Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Minister responsible for Official Languages and Minister responsible for Democratic Reform, Lib.): If questions Nos. 15, 16 and 19 could be made orders for return, the return would be tabled immediately.

[English]

    The Speaker: Is that agreed?

    Some hon. members: Agreed.

Question No. 19--

Mr. Garry Breitkreuz:

    Since 1995, what have been the actual public safety improvements achieved as a direct result of the Canadian Firearms Program and Firearms Registry including: (a) the number of violent crimes solved; (b) the number and type of violent and non-violent charges laid; (c) the number and type of convictions obtained; (d) the number and type of firearms seized from criminals; (e) the reduction in the total number of homicides; (f) the reduction in the total number of domestic homicides; (g) the reduction in the total number of suicides; (h) the number of lives saved; (i) the respective reduction in violent crime; and (j) the number of firearms returned to their rightful owners?

    (Return tabled) 

 

BREITKREUZ NOTE:  The following was only available in hard copy and had to be re-typed from the original.

STATISTICS CANADA RESPONSE TABLED WITH JOURNALS BRANCH

Statistics Canada’s Uniform Crime Reporting Survey and Homicide Survey collect data from administrative records of police-reported criminal incidents.  The Youth and Adult Court surveys collect data from administrative records of cases appearing before criminal courts.  Trends in crime statistics can be influenced by many factors including socio-demographic and economic changes, legislative and program changes and changes in police practices.  The specific impact of the firearms program or the firearms registry cannot be isolated from that of other factors. [Statistics Canada emphasis]

 

Statistics Canada has provided the following information from 1995 to the most recent year available:

Q-19(a) the number of violent crimes solved – See Table 1

Q-19(b) the number and type of violent and non-violent charges – See Table 2

Q-19(c) the number and type of convictions obtained – see Table 3(a) and 3(b)

Q-19(f) the reduction in the total number of domestic homicides – See Table 4

Q-19(i) the reduction in violent crime – see Table 5

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE TABLES NOTED ABOVE

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/StatisticsCanadaQ19.xls

 

Statistics Canada does not collect the information requested for Q-19(d) the number and type of firearms seized from criminals and Q-19(j) the number of firearms returned to their rightful owners.  This information may be available from individual police services.

 

 

REPLY BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER AND MINISTER OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS CANADA

 

The Firearms Program contributes to the reduction of crime and promotes public safety through the continuous screening process for all new licence applicants and existing licensed firearm owners.

 

Some of the requested statistics are available through Statistics Canada.  The Canada Firearms Centre is not an enforcement agency and does not collect data regarding (a) the number of violent crimes solved; (b) the number and type of violent and non-violent charges laid; (c) the number and type of convictions obtained; (d) the number and type of firearms seized from criminals (h) the number of lives saved; (i) the respective reduction in violent crime and (j) the number of firearms returned to their rightful owners.

 

Having said this, according to information obtained from Statistics Canada and the RCMP: (j) since 1995 more than 11,000 firearms have been reported in the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) as recovered.  While the majority of the firearms that are recovered are returned to the original owners, any records concerning to whom the recovered firearms were returned would have to come from police agencies.  There is still a small percentage of cases where the original owner is deceased, or the original owner was paid out by insurance.

 

Similarly, with respect to questions (e) the reduction in the total number of homicides; (f) the reduction in the total number of domestic homicides; and (g) the reduction in the total number of suicides, CAFC does not keep records on the reduction of homicides, domestic homicides, or suicides in Canada.  Again, the primary source for this data is Statistics Canada.  However, it is notable that:

 

·        Since 1995, there have been decreases in the number of homicides, ‘domestic’ homicides, robberies, and suicides in Canada.  Between 1995 and 2003, the total number of homicides in Canada decreased 6.5% from 586 in 1995 to 548 in 2003 [1].  Firearms-related homicides have shown an even greater increase of 8.5%, from 176 in 1995 to 161 in 2003.

 

·        Statistics for spousal [2] homicides and family [3] homicides show decreases since 1995.  Spousal homicides have decreased 8.7% [4] from 92 in 1995 to 84 in 2002 [5].  The number of firearms-related spousal homicides shows a significant 36% decrease since 1995, from 25 incidents in 1995 to 16 in 2002.  While there has been a slight 2.7% increase in the number of family homicides incidents between 1995 and 2002 (from 177 to 182 respectively), firearms-related family homicides declined 20.9%, from 43 in 1995 to 33 in 2002.

 

·        Similar trends appear in the suicide statistics (question g) for the period 1995-2001 [6].  Since 1995, there has been a 7.1% decrease I the number of suicides in Canada, from 3,970 in 1995 to 3,688 in 2001 [7].  The number of firearms suicides since 1995 shows an even larger decrease of 28.5%, from 911 in 1995 to 651 in 2001.

 

As for questions (h) and (i), as noted in the Department of Justice Canada Technical Report (April 2003), entitled Canadian Firearms Program Implementation Evaluation, “outcomes and impacts associated with the Canadian Firearms Program will not be possible to determine until a) sufficient time has elapsed since its full implementation; and b) the associated databases and surveys have captured sufficient amount of longitudinal data post-implementation”.

 

It is anticipated that all components of the Firearms Program now planned or under development will be fully implemented by December 31, 2007.

 

Police have direct online access to the licensing and registration database of the Canadian Firearms Registry called the Canadian Firearms Information System.  They use it daily through the Canadian Firearms Registry Online (CFRO) service.  With the help of this essential tool, police and other public safety officials make approximately 14,000 queries to the on-line system each week to support their efforts to prevent and investigate crime.  Over three million queries have been made on the CFRO since the Program was first implemented in December 1998.  In addition, more than 1,000 affidavits are produced each year by the CAFC to support prosecutions of gun-related crimes across the country.  With more than 12,000 firearms licence applications refused or revoked on public safety grounds since December 1, 1998, when the Firearms Act came into effect, it is clear that the Firearms Program has contributed, and will continue to contribute, to safe communities.

 

[1] Statistics Canada: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Homicide Survey.

[2] ‘Spousal’ refers to current, separated, former, common-law and same-sex spouses.

[3] ‘Family homicides’ refer to the number of victims who were killed by a spouse, parent, child sibling or other members related by blood, marriage (including common-law) or adoption.

[4] Statistics Canada: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Homicide Survey.

[5] 2002 is the last year for which spousal and family homicide data are available.

[6] 2001 is the last year for which suicide data are available.

[7] Statistics Canada: Causes of Death.

 

 

MORE RECENT STATISTICS CANADA TABLES NOT INCLUDED IN THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE TO Q-19

 

 

STATISTICS CANADA: UPDATED DOMESTIC HOMICIDE TABLES, 1995-2003

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/DomesticHomicides-1995-2003-2004-10-07.xls

 

STATISTICS CANADA: FIREARM HOMICIDES, BY TYPE OF FIREARM AND REGISTRATION STATUS, 1997-2003

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/FirearmHomicidesbyRegistrationStatus,1997-2003.xls

NOTE: In 2003, 71% of the 548 victims were murdered using something other than a firearm.

 

STATISTICS CANADA: ROBBERIES BY WEAPON PRESENT & LEVEL OF INJURY, 2003

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/RobberiesbyWeaponandInjury-2003.xls