Ottawa Police Service says it will not take part in federal gun buyback program

A police vehicle sits outside the Ottawa Police headquarters on Elgin St. in this undated photo. (CTV News Ottawa)

The Ottawa Police Service says it will not be participating in the federal Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program.

The federal buyback program opened in mid-January, giving owners of banned firearms the option to declare interest in receiving compensation for turning over eligible guns to police or deactivating them. The declaration period is open until March 31.

Participation by municipal and provincial police services is voluntary.

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The decision comes as many other police services in Ontario declined to participate, including the Ontario Provincial Police, the Kingston Police Service, and the Toronto Police Service, among others.

“It is the (Ottawa Police Service) Board’s responsibility to ensure that our city receives adequate and effective policing as set out in the Community Safety and Policing Act. After careful review, the Board and the Service agree that participating would place undue strain on the police resources dedicated to core policing duties,” said Coun. Marty Carr, Vice Chair of the Ottawa Police Service Board, in a news release on Monday. “Preventing and reducing violent crime continues to be an ongoing strategic and operational priority, and this includes a focus on gang activity and seizing illegal firearms in our 2024-2027 Strategic Plan.”

The federal buyback is administered by Public Safety Canada. Compensation will be determined primarily on a first-come, first-served basis. Approximately $250 million has been set aside to pay gun owners who participate in the program. The government estimates this will cover about 136,000 guns.

The program, however, has faced criticism from the federal Conservatives, the premiers of several provinces, and from gun rights groups. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has criticized the plan, saying it unfairly targets responsible, legal gun owners instead of criminals. The Canadian Coalition of Firearms Rights has called the program “wasteful, ineffective, and divisive.”

The Ottawa Police Service says it does not have the resources to manage the program.

“An operational assessment of the program’s requirements, including appointment-based collection, verification, secure handling, short-term storage, administration, and system access, found that OPS cannot sustain the level of resourcing needed to participate while maintaining capacity for core policing priorities,” a news release said. “Ongoing staffing pressures and competing operational demands were key factors. The assessment also identified significant implementation requirements related to systems access, workflow integration, training, and administration.”

More than 2,500 firearms have been outlawed in Canada since 2020.

The government says participation in the buyback program is voluntary, but the requirement to get rid of banned weapons by the fall is not.

“Individual firearm owners must safely dispose of or permanently deactivate their assault-style firearms before the amnesty period ends on October 30, 2026, or risk criminal liability for the illegal possession of a prohibited firearm,” the federal government says.

The amnesty period has been in effect since May 1, 2020.

The list of declarable firearms is on Public Safety Canada’s website.

The federal government says more than 32,000 firearms have been declared for compensation as of Feb. 20, including more than 13,000 in Ontario.

Ottawa police say while the service is not participating in the federal buyback program, it will still support the safe surrender and disposal of unwanted firearms through existing processes that do not provide compensation.

“We support efforts to reduce firearm-related harm, and we recognize the objectives of the federal program,” said Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs. “At the same time, decisions like this have to be grounded in what can be delivered safely and consistently. Based on the assessment of the program’s requirements, OPS is not in a position to take on the additional responsibilities without impacting core policing priorities.”

For individuals in Ottawa looking to arrange to surrender a firearm to the Ottawa Police Service, they should:

• Call the Ottawa Police non-emergency line at 613-236-1222 (option 1, then option 2) to speak to someone to have the firearm picked up.
• Follow the instructions Police will provide on how to safely surrender the firearm, including whether an officer pickup or another coordinated process is required.
• Never bring a firearm to a police facility without prior instructions.

Rally against buyback program held in Quebec

Gun rights groups and gun owners held a rally on Saturday in Quebec City, where the provincial government has endorsed the plan. Quebec’s provincial police service, the Sûreté du Québec, is participating in the program and will collect firearms from owners who wish to turn them over for compensation.

“It’s absurd that for $12.4 million, they’re targeting legal gun owners who have done nothing wrong and who are not represented in crime,” said Sophie Béland, Quebec director of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, in an interview with The Canadian Press on Saturday.

The gun control advocacy group PolySeSouvient called the rally insensitive in the wake of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in which nine people were killed.

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“The rally comes a mere 18 days following the worst school mass shooting in Canada involving children. Six children and two women were murdered by an assailant who had access to multiple firearms,” PolySeSouvient said.

The organization says the goal of banning assault weapons is to prevent mass shootings. Addressing other kinds of gun crime requires different measures, PolySeSouvient says.

“One mass shooting is one too many. No matter the tools given to police and the courts to remove guns from potentially dangerous individuals, there will always be a risk some bad apples fall through the cracks, as all humans and all systems are fallible. That is why, in addition to striving to improve these tools, we also need to remove guns designed for mass casualties from circulation,” the group said in a statement on Friday.

With files from the Canadian Press