Ontario Police Chief Tells MPs Nearly All Crime Guns Come From US, Urges Focus on Border Over Buyback

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique speaks to media during a press conference at the Haldimand OPP detachment in Cayuga, Ont., on Dec. 28, 2022. Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) commissioner has told MPs that Ottawa should crack down on illegal guns coming over the U.S. border instead of collecting guns from law-abiding citizens through its buyback program, saying 91 percent of guns used in crime come from the United States.

“We will exceed over 2,000 crime guns this year again—91 percent of them are coming in from the U.S.,” OPP Commissioner and Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police president Thomas Carrique told MPs at a House of Commons justice committee meeting on Oct. 28.

“These are the dangers. These are the strains and drains on our resources, and this is where we need to be spending our time and our attention.”

Carrique told MPs it’s “very rare” that legally owned firearms are used in crimes or in violent acts. He said time and resources should be spent focusing on illegal guns coming to Canada across the U.S. border, instead of focusing on collecting guns from law-abiding firearm owners.

“Our concern as Canadians should be on those crime guns that are primarily coming from the U.S,” Carrique said. “They are illegal from the day they arrive, and we need to focus our attentions on the border to lock that down.”

Carrique was called to testify in committee on Canada’s bail system, sentencing, and handling of repeat violent offenders. He spoke on the issue of gun crime in response to questions from Conservative MPs.

Ottawa launched its gun buyback program on Sept. 23 for individual owners of recently designated prohibited firearms, starting with a six-week pilot program in Cape Breton, N.S., where the local police service has agreed to participate. The OPP has indicated it will not participate in collecting guns from Ontario residents as part of the buyback program.

The Liberal government says the program is needed to curb gun violence. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said “assault-style” weapons need to be removed from the streets to “limit the devastating effects of firearm violence.” He noted these guns are “largely designed to kill people, not for hunting or sport shooting and have no place in Canada.”

Canadian Police Association president Tom Stamatakis told the justice committee on Sept. 25 that police forces already don’t have the resources or capacity to target repeat violent offenders who are released on bail, so they would have challenges enforcing the buyback program.

Enforcing Bail Conditions

Carrique also told the justice committee on Oct. 28 that enforcing bail conditions for repeat violent offenders is “very resource intensive.” He noted police services across the country experience “unprecedented” levels of civil unrest in major urban centres, increasing crime in rural areas, and repeat violent offenders that need to be monitored, on top of the number of illegal guns coming across the border.

The Liberal government introduced Bill C-14, also known as the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, on Oct. 23, which aims to make bail laws stricter for violent and repeat offenders, as well as amendments to sentencing laws.

Among several amendments, the legislation creates new reverse onuses for major crimes, meaning the accused will be required to prove why they should be released from detention, rather than prosecutors needing to prove they should be detained.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the Liberal government heard from police organizations and provincial governments that reverse onuses should be introduced at bail for certain serious crimes. He noted that a few violent offenders can represent a “huge proportion of the criminal activity we actually witness in our communities.”

Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.