QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Firearms Control
December 4, 2025
Senator Moreau, on the evening of Saturday, December 6, the skies over Montreal will light up to commemorate the 14 victims of the Polytechnique femicide. As this solemn moment approaches, PolyRemembers is criticizing the fact that there is still no full ban on assault weapons, including the SKS, a Russian semi-automatic military weapon better suited to battlefields than hunting grounds. Why wasn’t this weapon included in the buyback program that’s now getting under way after years of delay, considering that 11 women in Canada have been murdered with a firearm by their partner in the last two years?
Thank you for the question, Senator Miville-Dechêne.
I think the best person to answer that question directly is one of the Polytechnique survivors, Nathalie Provost. The SKS issue is very complex, so I will quote her:
This issue must be resolved before the end of the buyback program because it’s an omission in the program. The minister announced that he would address this, and there are solutions. It’s important to remember that the SKS model is unique. It’s still used for hunting by First Nations people, who have a historic right to hunt and to use this firearm. To truly ban these weapons and get them off our streets, there has to be a program that covers the SKS, but that issue is still under review at this point.
I hope a solution will be found.
That’s not all, though. The federal government just postponed the coming into force of its Firearms Marking Regulations for the twelfth time. It was supposed to happen in 2006, but now it won’t happen until 2027.
This marking would make it possible to identify the origin of firearms manufactured in and, more importantly, imported into Canada, which would be useful at crime scenes or in cases of theft.
Once again, it gives me confidence to know that Ms. Provost is our secretary of state. I believe that there will be a follow-up, not only on the issue of the SKS model, but also on the issue of the publication of the regulations.
According to my information, although the regulations were published in the Canada Gazette, their entry into force has been postponed to give the many companies involved more time to prepare and complete the consultation process.
Once again, I believe that the matter is being followed with great interest in the other place.
