Nunavut Tunngavik may drop gun registry lawsuit
Last Updated: Friday, November 6, 2009 | 12:41 PM CT
CBC News
Nunavut's Inuit land-claims organization will likely drop its lawsuit against the federal government over the controversial long-gun registry if politicians get rid of the controversial registry.
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. launched the lawsuit against the federal government in 2002, claiming that the long-gun registry violated their aboriginal rights to hunt, trap and fish without requiring firearms licences or fees.
But earlier this week, a Manitoba Conservative MP's private member's bill to abolish the decade-old long-gun registry passed second reading in the House of Commons.
With support from 18 Liberals and New Democrats — including Yukon Liberal MP Larry Bagnell and Western Arctic NDP MP Dennis Bevington — Bill C-391 passed by a count of 164-137.
Both Bagnell and Bevington said they voted in favour of scrapping the long-gun registry because the majority of their constituents do not support it.
Bill C-391 now goes to committee. It must pass third reading and be approved by the Senate before any changes take effect.
'One less obstacle'
If the bill becomes law, it would destroy existing data within the long-gun registry system on about seven million shotguns and rifles.
"Many will be much happier and it'll be one less obstacle for us, for the elders and the Inuit that go harvesting wildlife in Nunavut or elsewhere," Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Paul Kaludjak told CBC News on Thursday.
Inuit have been exempt from the registry until the lawsuit is heard, but Kaludjak said NTI will likely drop the case if the registry is eliminated.
"That probably would be the case, because we've opposed the licensing process and the registration process all along," he said.
Registry helped solve cases: RCMP
But Supt. Steve McVarnock, commanding officer of the RCMP in Nunavut, said getting rid of the long-gun registry would kill a helpful resource for thousands of police officers.
"You could argue that the administration or getting the registry in place, how it was done, could have been done better. I don't think anyone will disagree with that," McVarnock said.
"But at the end of the day, you have a product, a product that over 10,000 officers every day tap into when they go to a call … and there have been cases proven where the registry has saved lives and solved cases."
Women's groups in the northern territories are also opposed to scrapping the long-gun registry, which was set up following the 1989 shooting deaths of 14 women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
"It is true that 88 per cent of deaths of women in domestic violence situations were with long guns, were with rifles and shotguns," said Juliana Scramstad, program co-ordinator with the Victoria Faulkner Women's Centre in Whitehorse.
Culture of respect?
Lyda Fuller of the Yellowknife YWCA said the number of Canadian women killed by guns has gone down in the years since the gun registry was implemented, from 85 deaths in 1991 to 32 in 2004.
But Bevington said there could be other reasons why gun-related deaths of women are down.
"We are building a culture of respect for women that wasn't there when I was a young person. We are giving women the opportunities to escape from bad situations in their homes," Bevington said.
"I think efforts in that regard to change society's attitudes [and] to enforce the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — as that becomes a more integral part of our society, I think those numbers will continue to go down."
While Fuller said she hopes there is a growing "culture of respect" for women, she disputed popular claims that registering long guns should not be necessary for those who use them only for hunting.
"Sure, they're used for hunting. But cars are used for driving, and we register cars," she said in an interview. "Why not have the guns registered and go the extra mile to protect women?"
Scramstad said she hopes the money that would be saved on the registry will be given to women's groups and education programs that aim to reduce violence, which Bagnell said he would lobby for.
