Quebec court challenge will delay destruction of gun registry record

TOBI COHEN
Postmedia News

OTTAWA — An ongoing court battle in Quebec over the constitutionality of destroying long-gun registry data is the sort of “legal impediment” that will keep the records from being immediately trashed once the controversial Conservative bill receives royal assent Thursday.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews celebrated the passing of Bill C-19 by the Senate, but noted the government would respect the law when it comes to hanging onto data that remains the subject of an injunction.

“We will respect the law in every respect,” he said. “As soon as the legislation is passed, there is a requirement to destroy the data. If there’s no legal impediment to destroying the data, the process continues.”

Quebec Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier indicated Tuesday he would challenge C-19 in Superior Court just as soon as it receives royal assent and becomes law.

The province has asked Ottawa repeatedly to hand over records on the 1,560,359 long guns registered in Quebec so that it could use the information to create its own registry.

The Conservatives have refused.

Quebec MP Maxime Bernier argued Thursday the federal government is well within its jurisdiction to destroy the data and that it will defend its “constitutional competence” in court.

The registry was established in 1995, largely in response to the Dec. 6, 1989, Montreal Massacre at Ecole Polytechnique where gunman Marc Lepine murdered 14 women. As such, Quebec has been one of the most vocal opponents to the bill.

The province believes the registry is an important tool for police officers and that it’s led to a reduction in the number of gun-related suicides, domestic disputes and murders.

The Tories argue the registry has had little impact on crime and merely criminalizes otherwise law-abiding hunters and farmers.