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Massacre vigil focuses on long gun registry

By: Bill Redekop

7/12/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 13

Monika Duggal holds a candle the during vigil to honour the 14 women killed in 1989 Montreal massacre.

BORIS.MINKEVICH@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

Monika Duggal holds a candle the during vigil to honour the 14 women killed in 1989 Montreal massacre.

PEOPLE remembering the massacre of 14 young women in Montreal 20 years ago fear that no political party will ever attempt to license rifles again if the Harper government succeeds in eliminating the long gun registry.

They rallied Sunday outside the St. Boniface office of Conservative MP Shelly Glover.

"I believe it would be virtually impossible to bring back" because it is a divisive issue within parties, said Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour.

That would be a shame, he said, since gun-related domestic violence has dropped 50 per cent since the Canadian Firearms Act was passed in 1995.

Sunday's rally was to remember the 14 women who were shot dead at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal two decades ago by a deranged man. The rally was held in front of Glover's constituency office to protest the Conservative government's actions to end the registry. The Conservative bill cleared second reading in the House of Commons recently.

About 25 people turned out Sunday, mostly women. They questioned why rifle owners feel burdened at having to register weapons when everything from pets to cars require licences. Among those who feel that way is Alisha Bigelow, a hunter and rifle owner.

"There is no harm in having a registry," Bigelow said. "I'm ultimately responsible for my gun. If it goes into someone else's hands, I'm responsible."

The protestors say gun-related domestic violence is especially an issue for women in rural Canada. Canadian police access the gun registry an average of 92 times a day, and say they find it helpful on domestic violence cases.

People at the rally lit white candles and placed roses at the entrance to Glover's office. Glover is a former Winnipeg police officer.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 7, 2009 A5

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13 Commentscomment icon

Registration of firearms after 75 years has yet to solve a crime or prevent one for that matter. More of an expensive failed program is not an option. Emotion, personal bias, propaganda, political opportunism and false science are the basis of the present Firearms Act and that is why it is devisive and ineffective. There is no downside with the ending of the long gun registry. We will still license gun owners, vet them and have a national training standard. That is reasonable and a real contribution to a safer society.

We have to change the culture in Canada that holds women to be less than men including banning female circumcision, arranged marriages, Sharia Law, honour killings, etc. The new immigration book is a step in telling foreigners what Canadian values are and what will be treated as criminal actions in Canada. Only then will women be safer. Crime cannot be excused by the defence of cultural expression or religious practice.

I guess we don't all use the same dictionary when defining a vigil. these are women who died merely because they were women. To remember their lives includes, in a case like this, has to include remembering the horrible way they died and to try to do something to try to make sure it doesn't happen again. It is worthy to help the women around you who need help but we need more than that. Not all women have access to someone like that when they are in need.
and by the way, the author got the focus correct.
To put the possible value of a women's life against the inconvenience of filling out some paperwork and paying a fee is insulting. It seems that there are plenty of people who will criticize this program but the only solution they can come up with is to dismantle it. What takes its place? why is there never any discussion about how to make women and their families safer? Just oh, those stats aren't true. If they are true, then we still aren't done protecting families. if they are false, then that is appalling.
If this is really so disagreeable,then come up with another solution,instead of spending your time finding ways to disagree with stats.
having an unlicensed car in your yard is not the same as driving one down a highway. let's see what the police will do with that car if they catch you doing that.
as for the police not coming quickly in an emergency, not sure of the relevance to this discussion. However, if you don't like it, try changing it.

First of all, I would like to know where Mr. Rebek got his information ( since gun-related domestic violence has dropped 50 per cent since the Canadian Firearms Act was passed in 1995.)
This is just another example of misinformation that is being circulated to cast a bad light on legitimate long gun owners.
Go to stats Canada or any reputable site that keeps accurate stats on these things and you will see statements like Mr. Rebeks' for what they are. Misinformation.
The arguement that we have to register our cars so why not our firearms is also invalid. I have an unlicensed car sitting in my yard. It hasn't been licenced for a couple of years as I am restoring it. I very much doubt that the police will come and remove it and fine me for having a an unlicenced vehicle.
Living in a rural area, the police don't work at night but have a member on call who will get out of bed, get dressed, and drive to a location where a complaint is. In some parts of this area, that process could take 40-445 minutes or longer during winter. When seconds count the police are only minutes away isn't good enough.

@shelag:

I'm not attacking their motivation. Those people's hearts are in the right place and so is mine. I'll never forget and I'll never let a sexist or bigoted comment go unanswered. I've supported several women in my life as they went through their fights against bullies, cowards, assaults and sexual abuse. We want the same thing: the end of sexism and the end of violence promulgated by it. We sometimes disagree on the means to achieve this end.

Sometimes bad laws are passed for all the right reasons. This doesn't mean those bad laws must stand as a monument to an atrocity for all time. Being realistic, admitting policy failures and changing course would be a far more productive monument because it would actually prevent more women from becoming victims of violence. A firearms registry, by real and hard evidence, hasn't and won't make a significant dent in stopping violence against women. We need realism about sexism.

The author penned the story to the political bent of current discussion on C-391. If the memorial was about deranged sexism and mental illness, perhaps he should have focused on it instead.

Political motives are exactly that, which makes them especially disturbing when exercising them at a VIGIL. The purpose of a vigil is to participate in ritual devotions observed on the eve of a holy day or memorable event, not to propagandize a political point of view.

I seriously don't understand the attitude of people who think that attacking people's motives at a VIGIL remembering the 14 women killed by a long gun makes their point against the registry. If you watch the two links below, you will see that survivors of the massacre also cannot believe that this registry would be dismantled. If you don't think that talking about the weapons that are most commonly used to kill women at a vigil where women were killed is a perfect forum, then when?
If, as a gun owner, you are willing to be "licensed with all the attendant criminal and psychological background checks, as well as safety courses", then register the damn thing and be done with it. If you are worried about prosecution over lapsed paperwork, then don't let it lapse! Do you drive an unregistered car?

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/mtl-massacre/#clip243333
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/mtl-massacre/#clip243215

This article does the victims of the Montreal massacre a great disservice by supporting one ineffective aspect of a misguided and expensive Federal firearms policy as a monument to them, distorting a problem of thought and attitude into one of steel and wood.

Do the victims justice by focusing on the roots of sexism and misogyny. A better monument would be a change in Canadian zeitgeist about sexism, and preventive techniques for domestic and public violence of all kinds. This is something 90% of Canadians will support with all our hearts and our wallets.

The article errs in several key areas:
1. Long after the long gun registry is gone, owners will have to be licensed with all the attendant criminal and psychological background checks, as well as safety courses.

2. Stats Canada homicide stats show a steady decline beginning in 1977. The long gun registry, 20 years later, had no impact on this trend.

3. Cars and pets aren't registered in Criminal Code, and expired licenses don't result in search, seizure and criminal prosecution of people for lapsed paperwork.

4. Vehicle and pet registration doesn't claim to prevent drunk driving or dog bites.

5. Governments don't use vehicle and pet registries to seize and destroy peoples cars and pets when they decide Pintos or Pit Bulls aren't allowed. The Liberal Party announced just that last election for millions of Canadians who had committed no crimes.

6.There is no Federal car or cat registry so far as I know.





Sorry I’m not trying to be insensitive, but the though of some using others as martyrs to further their agendas whether in Feminism, hoopla phobic (fear of arm men), misandry (hatred of men), for political gain or any other reason, is a little disturbing in itself.
Some individuals here don’t want to hear or understand the root cause of violent behavior or admit their subject knowledge may be bias.
Also being Canadian, doesn’t have to mean only deciding what desk to hide under, blaming or labeling others when dealing with acts of criminal insanity.
We as Canadians need to solve problems without putting our backs up against the wall and analyzed solutions respectively. I do sympathize with the violence against women objective but don’t agree on some of solutions brought forward over the last two decades. The redundancy of long gun registry hasn’t solved or deterred, with any measurable amount of success and is seems to be always confused with National testing, screening and licensing individuals.

hagar: Mark Lepine specifically targeted women to kill. Your analogy is not only pointless but really stupid.

The violence you are referring to does not even remotely compare to what Lepine did, nor the reasons behind his actions. He hated WOMEN. ALL WOMEN, not specific ones targeted for retribution. Something you seem to be exhibiting your own self.

Please, at the very least, attempt to educate yourself [edited].

Gun owners/users should be scrutinized/registered... not the rifles themselves.

The proponents of the registry have yet to explain how a policeman can "relax" when called to an "incident," simply because there is no gun registered at that address. [Seems to me he/she wants to be on high-alert regardless of what a computer generated report re. registered guns might say.]

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