It took more than thirty years for the survivors and relatives of the victims of the Polytechnique tragedy to see in Bill C-21 the hope that a complete and permanent ban on assault weapons will finally be enshrined in law. in Canada. On this day of commemoration dedicated to the memory of the 14 victims of Polytechnique, it is useful to recall the importance of this just and necessary bill, despite all the background noise that buries it.
The promise made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to better control guns has come true this year. Since last August, a freeze on the importation of handguns has been in effect. In October, we continued with a freeze on the sale, purchase and transfer of handguns, all supported by the Liberals’ desire to reduce tragedies involving the use of firearms. Bill C-21, which is now going through clause-by-clause reading in Ottawa, promises even greater scope if it wins Parliament’s approval.
Significant amendments added by the Liberals themselves at the end of November, however, created controversy, inflaming the conservative opposition, the pro-gun lobby and hunters’ rights organizations. Both additions are aimed at banning semi-automatic weapons. One of the amendments targets the definition of “prohibited weapons” in the Criminal Code to include those that can “discharge a projectile with an energy greater than 10,000 joules”. The other amendment presents a list of weapons that could be prohibited.
Since the thing was revealed, the anger grows on the side of the defenders of the weapons, whose lobby laments, inter alia, that the hunting of ducks will not be possible any more. In this technical and polarized debate, it is easy to say one thing and its opposite with the same ardor and the same conviction, depending on which side of the arena you are on. The truth is probably in the nuance: hunters were never targeted by the bill, but if weapons restricting hunting were inadvertently found on the list, they would of course have to be removed. Prime Minister Trudeau said yesterday that respect for hunters was always a crucial principle and that he listened to criticism to ensure that he did not make a mistake.
However, the Liberals could easily have avoided this last tussle if they had not arrived at the last minute with amendments of such importance, a procedure which only served to raise doubt and suspicion of detractors. If the content of the amendments had been submitted for debate earlier, we could have added the analysis of experts and witnesses, as is the tradition.
This failure in the sequence will only have served to create confusion fueled by opinions of all kinds. Like that of the goalkeeper Canadian Carey Price, whose support this weekend on social networks for the Canadian Coalition for Gun Rights ended in the most complete ridicule! Not only is the hunting weapon that Mr. Price was wearing in his photo posted on Instagram not one of the prohibited weapons, but in addition, the hockey player apparently took a stand without having all the elements necessary to understand the issues. Mr. Price would not have been aware of the tragic events of December 6, 1989. Vlan.
The Coalition to which he gave his support also transgressed all the basic rules of decency by recently offering on its online store a 10% discount on certain items of merchandise, inviting consumers to use the code “Poly”. Pointed out for this provocation of total bad taste, the organization defended itself weakly on the pretext that it was responding to attacks by PolySeSouvient. But the damage was done. That these insults color the public space goes beyond all understanding.
More than thirty years after Polytechnique, and while other murderous tragedies have staged weapons that we would benefit from excluding from the public perimeter, C-21 is essential, despite the rumble of opposition specific to the arms lobby which surrounds it.