The Act amending certain laws and other texts accordingly (firearms), approved last December by the Senate, represents an important step forward for women victims of domestic violence, but there is still a long way to go to prohibit all assault weapons, PolySeSouvient recalled on Thursday. While at Montreal City Hall on Thursday, the organization called on the mayors of major Canadian cities to mobilize to put pressure on the federal government and encourage it to ban problematic weapons.
In 2022, the City of Montreal Police Service recorded 13,472 calls for service related to domestic violence, or 23.3% of all crimes against the person recorded in the territory, indicated the councilor ‘Together Montreal Abdelhaq Sari. “In other words, a quarter of crimes against the person are crimes of domestic violence. These figures show that despite the efforts made, a lot of work remains to be done,” declared the elected official, who, on the eve of International Women’s Rights Day, was accompanied by representatives of organizations including PolySeSouvient and Halte-Femmes Montreal North. And in many cases, he added, firearms rank first or second — depending on the year — of weapons used in a context of domestic violence.
In the spring of 2023, the House of Commons adopted Bill C-21 aimed at strengthening the ban on assault weapons and the freeze on handguns by 207 votes to 113, with the support of Liberal and NDP MPs, of the Bloc Québécois and the Greens. The Conservatives voted against. In December, it was the Senate’s turn to give its approval to the bill.
“It’s enormous progress, but for us, it’s fundamental that other actions be taken, and all support is important,” says Nathalie Provost, survivor of the shooting that occurred at Polytechnique in 1989. .
At his side, Heidi Rathjen, coordinator of the PolySeSouvient collective, insists: Bill C-21 prohibits several models of assault weapons, but not all, and the weapons already in circulation escape the law. Mme Rathjen believes that Justin Trudeau’s government must go further to ban all assault weapons before the election that could bring the Conservatives to power. “It’s a race against time. We believe that the minister [de la Sécurité publique, Dominic LeBlanc,] has the sincere intention of moving forward, but we see time slipping away without action. The buyback program, announced in May 2020, was to be completed in May 2022. It is 2024 and the program has not yet been deployed. So we are very worried. »
The electoral deadline
PolySeSouvient was at Montreal city hall to ask Mayor Valérie Plante to put pressure on the Trudeau government for a complete ban on assault weapons. “Valérie Plante’s interventions were decisive for the freezing of handguns. She even created a coalition of mayors,” recalled the coordinator, referring to the joint outing of the mayors of several large Quebec cities in favor of a nationwide ban on assault and handguns in September 2021, in the middle of the federal election campaign.
If the collective has certain apprehensions regarding the possible election of a conservative government, Heidi Rathjen tempers things. “There is one good thing in C-21: once a weapon is prohibited, it cannot be legalized. So, it protects decrees that can be undone,” she explained. “With 80% of Canadians supporting the ban on assault weapons, if we have a real solid measure and we eliminate weapons from circulation, it will be very difficult – but not impossible – for a government to undo this measure . »
The fact remains that this battle is not won in advance. “If we don’t succeed now, we won’t continue to fight forever. It’s not physically possible,” admitted Mme Rathjen.
Support organizations
For his part, Abdelhaq Sari is demanding that the City of Montreal make free space in its buildings available to organizations working with victims of domestic violence. Ensemble Montréal also wants the City to launch two communication campaigns, one to disseminate contact details for resources intended for victims of domestic violence and the other for resources targeting people with violent behavior.
In Mayor Plante’s office, we are calling for an end to all forms of violence against girls and women. “The mayor is continuing her representations to higher governments to achieve a complete ban on assault weapons across the country,” said Marikym Gaudreault, press secretary in the mayor’s office. “We welcome the mobilization of the opposition, which stands behind our efforts to stop violence against women, and we remain attentive to requests from the community to transmit them to higher levels. »