The federal government has not yet made good on its commitment to send banned guns collected through the federal buyback program to Ukraine.
So far, no firearms have been donated to the war effort, despite a pledge made by the Trudeau government in December.
One day before the 35th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre, hundreds of models were added to the federal government’s list of banned firearms.
Federal ministers at the same time made a commitment to donate a portion of the firearms collected through the government’s first phase of its firearm buyback program to Ukraine, in a bid to support its fight against the Russian invasion.
The announcement was made by then defence minister Bill Blair. He was joined by former public services minister Jean-Yves Duclos and former public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc. Of the three, only LeBlanc remains in cabinet.
Some experts expressed concerns about this plan, warning it seemed haphazard and intended to generate support for the Trudeau government’s controversial gun policies.
More than six months later, that hasn’t happened. A statement from Public Safety Canada says more than 12,000 guns have been bought back from businesses in the first phase of the program, but said it is still working to identify which, if any, will go to Ukraine.
“The Government of Canada continues to work with businesses to identify prohibited firearms in their inventory of NATO calibre that could be donated to Ukraine,” said Max Watson, a spokesperson for Public Safety Canada, in a statement.
In December, Blair said the government had been working with Ukraine since October to see whether any of the banned firearms could be used in the war.
“Every bit of assistance we can offer to the Ukrainians is one step towards their victory and a worthwhile investment of our collective time and efforts,” he said at the time.
Days after the announcement, the department confirmed that 23 makes and models of “assault-style firearms” were identified to be sent to Ukraine by the country’s Defence Ministry.
“I’m not sure anyone, at any point, believed that the Canadian government was going to pay to confiscate sporting rifles from civilians and send them to a war zone in Eastern Europe,” said Rod Giltaca, the CEO of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, in a statement.
"In reality, after over five years, they haven’t managed to roll out their buyback in the first place.
Oh, ffs, did anyone think they would be sent? They’re fucking useless in a combat zone.
Just because shit looks all military doesn’t mean it is. If they got shipped to Ukraine, they’d sit somewhere unused unless they could manage to throw gunsmiths at the problem, and then they’d run into the usual problems with modified rifles like that and still sit somewhere until there was nothing better available.
Maybe, maybe a few were solid enough to be put to use by snipers; some hunting rifles can get the job done that way. But still wouldn’t be first choices in that setting.
