Gun Buyback to Launch in Cape Breton, Minister Backs Program After Doubting It in Leaked Audio

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree has announced the Liberal government is moving forward with its gun buyback initiative by launching a pilot program in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

The minister expressed his support for the program at a Sept. 23 press conference after expressing doubt for it in a private Sept. 21 conversation with an individual the minister said he has known for “many years.” The conversation was recorded without his knowledge and leaked.

“I have absolute confidence in this program,” Anandasangaree told reporters when asked to explain the discrepancy between his private and public remarks.

Anandasangaree said the program to turn-in firearms that fall under the new prohibitions is “voluntary.” However, once the amnesty expires, those who are still in possession of the prohibited firearms will be committing a criminal offence and, according to provisions in the Criminal Code, could be imprisoned for up to five years.

“It is strictly voluntary,” Anandasangaree said when pressed by reporters on the matter. “Nobody is being forced to undertake the buyback program. The expectation is that they will comply.”

The government put an amnesty in place in May 2020 to protect licensed gun owners and businesses from criminal liability and to allow them to comply with the law by turning in their prohibited firearms by April 30, 2022. The amnesty was extended to Oct. 30, 2023, and then was extended again, to Oct. 30, 2025.

Anandasangaree told reporters at the Sept. 23 press conference that the amnesty would once again be extended, to next October.

The minister told the individual in the recorded private conversation that he shouldn’t worry about being arrested for not complying with the program because police likely don’t have enough resources to enforce it. He also said that if the individual is arrested for not turning in his firearms, then he would bail him out of jail and “personally offset” his losses, because the compensation won’t cover the full costs for firearm owners.

Anandasangaree also told the individual that the federal government intends to cap funding for the program at its projected budget of $742 million, which would mean Canadians who turn in their firearms after the budget is spent wouldn’t receive compensation.

When asked about this by reporters at the press conference, Anandasangaree said his comments were “being misinterpreted.”

“It was a bad attempt at humour on my part,” he said.

Pilot Program

The pilot in Cape Breton, with Sept. 23 as the start date, marks the beginning of the compensation program for individual firearm owners. Anandasangaree said the program will be launched nationwide later this fall and will be open to all eligible firearm owners. The minister said there are approximately 180,000 registered firearms that are subject to the prohibition. A collection and compensation period will follow in 2026, Public Safety Canada has said.

Approximately 1,500 makes and models of so-called “assault-style” firearms were first banned under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020, which involved stolen and smuggled weapons. The prohibited firearms list was expanded to more than 2,000 in March this year.

The buyback program opened earlier this year for firearms businesses across Canada and collected more than 12,000 prohibited firearms. April 30 was the deadline for businesses to submit claims for the firearms that were prohibited in 2020. The program will reopen for businesses to submit claims for the most recently prohibited firearms “in the coming weeks,” Public Safety Canada said.

The pilot program is expected to run for roughly six weeks and aims to test the program’s online portal, the collection and destruction process, and the compensation system. The government intends to collect 200 guns from licensed owners in Cape Breton, where the local police force has agreed to participate in the program.

“Police see first-hand the devastating impacts of gun violence, and we know the importance of removing these dangerous firearms from our communities,” Cape Breton Regional Police Service Chief Robert Walsh said at the press conference.

“We have the capacity and the expertise to safely collect, verify, and secure prohibited firearms identified in our area so that the government can test the elements of this program. We are a large enough organization to facilitate with no impact to our frontline service delivery.”

‘Resolved and Confident’

Anandasangaree was asked by reporters whether the government will still go through with the buyback program if the pilot program is unsuccessful. He said that the pilot will gauge any glitches in the system but that the government is “resolved and confident” the program will go ahead.

Liberal MP Nathalie Provost, a victim of the 1989 École Polytechnique shooting, told reporters at the press conference she is “proud” to be part of the government that’s moving the program forward. When asked if she still has confidence in the program in light of Anandasangaree’s comments in the recorded private conversation, she said that “a program like that needs a team, needs a group, not just one person.”

During question period in the House of Commons on Sept. 22, Tory public safety critic Frank Caputo called the buyback program “an incredible boondoggle.” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the Liberal government for “freeing rampant gun criminals and wasting billions of dollars” on the gun buyback program instead of going after the criminals.

The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights said in a Sept. 23 media advisory emailed to The Epoch Times that Ottawa is “confiscating” guns from licensed owners who “receive a criminal background check” and “do not represent a disproportionate risk to public safety.” The coalition called the buyback a “politically motivated program.”

Coversely, Gun control group PolyRemembers is urging Ottawa to include the semi-automatic SKS rifle to its list of more than 2,000 makes and models of prohibited firearms. The rifle is commonly used in indigenous communities to hunt for food. PolyRemembers says the buyback program will be “a waste of taxpayers’ money” and a “public safety failure” unless the SKS is included.

Matthew Horwood and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.