QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety

Government leader, on December 5, 2023, correspondence from then-minister Dominic LeBlanc was submitted to the Senate Defence Committee. The minister committed to appointing resident chief firearms officers, or CFOs, in the territories, following consultations with territorial governments. On April 21, 2026, during ministerial Question Period, I asked Minister Anandasangaree for an update on the appointments, which he said he didn’t have yet. Yet, on May 4, 2026, the minister’s office advised that the federal government had resources in place to establish a territorial CFO and that the Government of Yukon had already identified an individual to serve for all three territories.

Today I received a copy of the RCMP final report, dated April 16, 2024, that informed that direction. The report raises a fundamental concern — that the government committed that appointments would follow consultations with territorial governments. None of the three territorial premiers or Indigenous organizations were consulted. How does the government reconcile the commitment with the consultation process that was undertaken, and who authorized the subsequent departure from the commitment to appoint CFOs in each territory?

This issue is more than an administrative change. The original commitment to appoint resident CFOs in the territories recognizes the unique realities of the North, including the exercise of constitutionally protected harvesting rights under section 35, the need for equitable access to government services, consistent with section 15, and the federal government’s commitments to reconciliation in the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. If the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are still to be served by a CFO located in another jurisdiction, how does this arrangement fulfill the government’s original commitment to northern residents, Indigenous Peoples and territorial governments?