Quebec - to create its own long-gun registry despite Supreme

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Quebec vows to create its own long-gun registry despite Supreme Court ruling

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/quebec- ... 11843?cid= ]

Data for other provinces destroyed in 2012, but Quebec went to court to preserve and use records

By By Louise Elliott and Tracey Lindeman, CBC News Posted: Mar 27, 2015 9:47 AM ET| Last Updated: Mar 27, 2015 12:28 PM ET

The Quebec government will build its own long gun registry with or without federal co-operation, the province's public security minister said after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled to destroy Quebec's federal registry data.

“The premier has taken steps to put in place a Quebec gun registry with or without the federal gun registry data. There will be a Quebec registry," said Lise Thériault, Quebec's public security minister.

In a split 5-4 decision, the top court found the federal government’s law requiring the destruction of gun certificate information is lawful under the Constitution, and the province of Quebec has no right to the data.

Thériault said early estimates put the cost of creating a Quebec long gun registry at $30 million.

The Harper government passed legislation to end the federal long gun registry and destroyed most of its data in 2012. But the Quebec government argued it had a constitutional right to its records, so that province's data was protected until the issue was resolved in the courts. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

She reminded reporters that all Quebec MNAs unanimously voiced their dissent after the federal government announced it would destroy its long gun registry in 2012.

The desire for greater gun control is something that unites all Quebecers, Thériault continued, while noting 95 per cent of guns in Quebec are long guns and that the registry is consulted in Quebec 900 times a day by police officers and officers of the court.

Yves Francoeur, the head of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, said on Friday that he was disappointed by the Supreme Court’s ruling and called the registry "an essential tool for police officers."

"We need a Quebec long gun registry," he said in a statement. "The destruction of the data by the Conservative government is the equivalent of punishing Quebec taxpayers for ideological reasons."

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