As you know, Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale introduced Bill C-52 on Friday, June 9, 2017. That bill is, for the most part, designed to give Quebec the all of the long gun registry records it sought in its lawsuit against the federal government.
The question everyone is asking is this:
Why are there any records left to give Quebec?
It’s a valid question.
On March 27, 2015, Quebec LOST the case to retain registry data in Quebec (Attorney General) v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 14, [2015] 1 S.C.R. 693.
Federal information commissioner Suzanne Legault did not file her preservation order for the Quebec long gun registry data until June 3, 2015.
According to Deputy Commissioner Peter Henschel’s testimony before committee on June 4, 2015, the data in question was already deleted.
I would like to now focus on the destruction of the registration records. Contrary to what has been reported, the RCMP did not—and I will repeat—did not destroy any registration data before the coming into force of the Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act on April 5, 2012. Consistent with the government-approved implementation plan, the RCMP destroyed the records between October 26, 2012, and October 31, 2012, with the exception of the Quebec records, which were maintained pending the outcome of a Supreme Court decision.
When that decision was rendered on March 27, 2015, the RCMP deleted the remaining Quebec records from the Canadian firearms information system between April 10 to April 12, 2015, again consistent with the government-approved implementation plan. I should note here that the destruction process was subject to an audit that was externally verified for the October 2012 destruction. The same process is under way to verify the destruction of the Quebec data.
How is it possible for the Liberal government to give Quebec gun registry data deleted by the RCMP no later than April 12, 2015?
Related:
- MP Bob Zimmer discusses Quebec gun registry data supposedly deleted by RCMP
- Did RCMP Deputy Commissioner Peter Henschel Lie? Part 2
[…] Yesterday I asked the question, "Did RCMP Deputy Commissioner Peter Henschel Lie to Committee?" […]