Canadian Firearms Program (CFP; ), formerly Canada Firearms Centre is a

Canadian government The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes ministers of the Crown ( ...

program within the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

Policing Support Services, responsible for licensing and regulating

firearms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. As of December 31, 2023, the Canadian Firearms Program recorded a total of 2,352,504 valid firearms licences, which is roughly 5.7% of the Canadian population. The four provinces with the highest number of issued licences are, in order,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

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

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

(18.5%),

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

(14%),

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

(12.1%) and

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

(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'' 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 Canadian Firearms Program (CFP; ), formerly Canada Firearms Centre is a Canadian government program within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Policing Support Services, responsible for licensing and regulating firearms in Canada. As of December 3 ...

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 River ...

, in 2008.

Organization

Under the

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of 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 are an amalgamation of various ...

, 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 proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

power (See

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

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

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

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. Military chain of command In a military context, the chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders ...

is as follows: The Commissioner of the RCMP 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 () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...

. 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 The Canadian Firearms Registry () is the gun registry of Canada, requiring the registration of all restricted and prohibited firearms in the country. It is managed by the Canadian Firearms Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as ...

. 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 vario ...

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 (CFO), appointed either by the

government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

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 ...

with

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

). 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