Mayor denies endorsing gun program

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham is distancing himself and city council from a decision by the Winnipeg Police Service to implement the federal government’s controversial gun buyback program.

“City council did not direct the WPS to participate in this program,” the mayor writes in a form letter that’s been sent to those raising concerns about the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program launched Jan. 19.

Since 2020, the federal government has banned 2,500 types of guns, saying they only belong on the battlefield.

The voluntary buyback program was developed to provide compensation to owners of the prohibited firearms who must dispose of them before the amnesty period ends on Oct. 30. If not, they risk criminal liability for illegal possession of a prohibited firearm.

Last year, city council approved a financial agreement that ensures the federal government will cover 100 per cent of any administrative costs to the WPS associated with the program.

“To be clear: my vote was not an endorsement of a federal firearms policy,” Gillingham says in the letter provided by the mayor’s office. “It was a decision to support our police service’s request to protect the city budget.”

Under the Police Services Act, decisions about police operations are made independently by the WPS, the mayor said. “Council is not permitted to direct the operations of the police, including whether to participate in a federal or provincial initiative.”

The mayor’s letter says he understands where those opposed to the program are coming from.

“I grew up on a farm in rural Manitoba and have been a licensed gun owner for nearly 40 years. Please be assured that I respect the rights of legal, responsible gun owners.”

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, a hunter and firearm owner, has criticized the program for being inefficient and misguided and refused to have the province play any role in administering it. The RCMP and mobile collection units will collect the banned firearms for the program outside of Winnipeg, Public Safety Canada spokesperson Max Watson said Friday.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police issued a statement Jan. 26 noting the lack of national consensus among provinces and territories or police services regarding the role of police personnel in supporting the program.

The chiefs say they’re committed to reducing firearm-related harm across the country and while the program may help reduce the availability of domestically sourced prohibited firearms, it doesn’t address current policing priorities, including the illegal importation, trafficking, smuggling, and criminal use of firearms.

Winnipeg’s $2.8-million contribution agreement with the federal government covers the cost of planning, co-ordination and administration of the project to securely remove the prohibited firearms from individual owners, as well as the collection, verification, transportation and storage of the firearms.

Disposal will be performed by a third party designated by the federal government.

Owners of the outlawed guns have until March 31 to submit a declaration to be eligible for compensation. Winnipeg police won’t begin collecting the weapons until this spring, after the declarations are received, Const. Pat Saydak said.

The work will involve special duty police officers on voluntary overtime to mitigate negative impacts on police resources and responses to calls for service, according to the terms of the agreement.

It won’t be the first time police have been involved in a gun buyback plan in Manitoba.

The province collected nearly 200 firearms and 74 boxes of ammunition during a Manitoba-wide program in 2010.

Pixels for Pistols, a Winnipeg Police Service gun amnesty program involving a camera store, offered digital cameras for weapons in 2012. Police collected more than 1,700 firearms and 13,000 rounds of ammunition.

In 2018, nearly 700 firearms were collected by 13 police agencies across the province during the a month-long gun amnesty. More than 22,000 rounds of ammunition were also turned over to law enforcement.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca