Canadian Firearms Program (CFP; french: Programme canadien des armes à feu, ''PCAF''), formerly Canada Firearms Centre is a

Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in ...

program within the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

Policing Support Services, responsible for licensing and regulating

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. As of December 31, 2020, the Canadian Firearms Program recorded a total of 2,206,755 valid firearms licences, which is roughly 5.6% of the Canadian population. The four provinces with the highest number of issued licences are, in order,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

. The provinces and territories with the highest rate of licensing are

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

(18.5%),

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

(14%),

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

(12.1%) and

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

(8.9%).

History

Bill C-68: ''An Act Respecting Firearms and Other Weapons'' was assented in 1995, two years after the bill was introduced by the government to the House of Commons in targeting firearms licensing and registration. CFC was officially created and began operation in 1996 to oversee the administration of the ''

Firearms Act, 1995 The ''Firearms Act, 1995'', is the law in Canada that regulates firearms possession, means of transportation, and offenses. It was passed after the École Polytechnique massacre. See also * Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 The Firearms (Am ...

'' and the Canadian Firearms Program. On May 17, 2006, responsibility for the Canadian Firearms Program was transferred from the Ministry of Public Safety to the RCMP. On September 4, 2008, the Canada Firearms Centre and the Firearms Support Services Directorate of RCMP was merged to create the Canadian Firearms Program. CFP celebrated the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Central Processing Site in

Miramichi, New Brunswick Miramichi () is the largest city in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated at the mouth of the Miramichi River where it enters Miramichi Bay. The Miramichi Valley is the second longest valley in New Brunswick, after the Saint John Rive ...

, in 2008.

Organization

Under the

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...

, the federal government has the power to regulate firearm ownership under the

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

power (See

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

Reference re Firearms Act ''Reference Re Firearms Act'' is a leading constitutional decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the division of powers regarding firearms legislation and the Canadian Firearms Registry. A unanimous Court held that the federal '' Firearms Ac ...

). Despite this, each province is free to opt in to operate the program and its regulations –

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

have chosen to opt in and

is contemplating the idea. However, the CFP continues to be the central data-processing site and is responsible for the physical issuance of possession and acquisition licences in all cases. Those who chose to opt in would have all the administrative fees reimbursed by the federal government per section 95 of the ''Firearms Act''.

Federal

CFP is a program within the

. The

chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part. Milit ...

is as follows: The

Commissioner of the RCMP The commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police () is the professional head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The commissioner exercises control and management of the RCMP under the direction of the minister of public safety. Th ...

serves as the Commissioner of Firearms, the chief executive of the program. The Commissioner is assisted by Deputy Commissioner, Specialized Policing Services. They are responsible to the Minister of Public Safety Canada and thus accountable to the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, ...

. An RCMP officer of assistant commissioner rank is appointed as the Director General to oversee the day-to-day administration of the CFP. A Registrar of Firearms is appointed to issue and revoke firearms registration certificates and carriers' licences and maintain the records on

Canadian Firearms Registry , logo = , logo_width = , logo_caption = , preceding1 = , parent_agency = Canadian Firearms Program , formed = 1993 , jurisdiction = Registration of prohibited and restricted firearms , headquarte ...

. The Registrar is also responsible for administering the ''Public Agents Firearms Regulations''. There are four major areas within the CFP, which are managed by the Deputy Commissioner, Policing Support Services: * Firearms Administration Centre (for licensing, registration, customer service and operations); * Firearms Investigative and Enforcement Services Directorate (who assist police in countering illegal movement and criminal use of firearms); * Strategic Integration and Program Management Services (program support policy, research and planning, business management); * Partnership and Outreach (communications, client/partner and stakeholder relationship) The CFP offers a wide variety of investigative support services to police: * Firearms Reference Table (FRT), a comprehensive firearms database with over 130,000 entries, which establishes a systematic, standard method of identifying, describing and classifying firearms. * Firearms Identification, for questionable firearms * Firearms Analysis, for potential evidence in crimes * Tracing of illicit firearms, the CNFTC (Canadian National Firearm Tracing Centre) assists police in tracing illegal firearms * Investigational support and assistance, helps police in preparing, obtaining and executing search warrants, location search and seizure, exhibit identification and organisation and court preparation * Expert firearms advice and witness, provides firearm-related guidance for testimony and court preparation, and act as liaison with partner agencies that can provide these services * Firearm Case Law Database, firearm-related cases can be researched, and are distributed to investigators *

Crown Attorney Crown attorneys or crown counsel (or, in Alberta and New Brunswick, crown prosecutors) are the prosecutors in the legal system of Canada. Crown attorneys represent the Crown and act as prosecutor in proceedings under the Criminal Code and var ...

Program, working with crown attorney offices, a network that specializes in firearms investigations * Firearms Operations and Enforcement Support (FOES), intelligence support to firearm investigators and research that identifies trends and patterns in the criminal use of firearms in Canada. * Pricing of illicit firearms, a record of firearm "street prices" is maintained and the information is made available to investigators * Access to specialized firearms information databases, Canadian Firearm Information System (CFIS), Canadian Integrated Ballistic Identification Network (CIBIN) and the Suspect Gun Database * Training, lectures, conferences, outreach and learning material available across Canada are available on a broad range of topics involving firearms * Firearms registration information, querying records contained within the Canadian Firearms Registry Online (CFRO) * Public Agent Firearms Reporting assistance, helping public agents use the Public Agency Web Services (PWS) to report agency and protected firearms and assisting public agents understand their obligations under the (''Public Agents Firearms Regulations'')

Provincial

Each province has its own

chief firearms officer The chief firearms officer (CFO) is a Canadian official responsible for possession and acquisition licences, authorizations to transport, authorizations to carry, transfers of firearms, and gun show sponsorship approvals. Each CFO oversees a d ...

(CFO), appointed either by the

government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...

or by the executive council of the province. The three territories share a CFO with another province (

with

with the

, and

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

with

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...

). They are responsible for making decisions (grant, deny, revoke or put conditions) on licensing (i.e. possession and acquisition licence), authorization to transport, authorization to carry and transfer of firearms along with all of its administrative work. Each province also appoints firearms officers (generally speaking, police officers or RCMP civilian members) to inspect and ensure compliance within the definition of the ''Firearms Act''. They may apply to court for a preventive prohibition order if it is in the public's interest that a person should not be in possession of any weapons regulated under the ''Firearms Act''. In carrying out their duties, they can demand firearms be presented to them and samples to be taken. Failure to comply is a summary offence which may lead to complications when one is up to renew his or her firearms licence for previous contravention of the ''Firearms Act''.

References

External links

Canadian Firearms Program Official website

Law-abiding Unregistered Firearms Association
advocacy group against the Firearms Act / Canada Firearms Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Firearms Centre Gun politics in Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Police Firearms-related organizations