Details coming soon on gun buyback program: minister

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree arrives to a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Details of the Liberal government’s gun buyback program will be released over the next few weeks, the public safety minister said Wednesday.

Gary Anandasangaree said the government will provide information on next steps and the mechanics of the program very soon.

Anandasangaree told reporters he is confident collection facilities will be available in Ontario, even though the Ontario Provincial Police service has said it won’t directly participate in the program.

“They represent 26 per cent of the overall policing in Ontario. This doesn’t mean that we can’t continue with the gun buyback program,” Anandasangaree said.

He added other police services have signed on, though he did not say which ones.

During the spring federal election campaign, the Liberals promised to implement an efficient buyback program for banned guns.

“This is very much something that we committed to and we will follow through on,” Anandasangaree said.

The grace period granting amnesty for possession of thousands of prohibited firearms is set to end on Oct. 30.

The Liberal government under then-prime minister Justin Trudeau first announced a ban on more than 1,500 models and variants of “assault-style” firearms in 2020.

It promised to compensate those who owned such weapons through a buyback program and gave firearms owners a two-year amnesty under the Criminal Code, which was later extended.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press