Sask. gov’t says it will intervene in challenges to Trudeau gun ban

The Government of Saskatchewan is applying to make its voice heard during legal challenges being brought against a federal gun ban.

The challenges against the ban are before the Federal Court of Appeal after they were dismissed on Oct. 30 by the Federal Court of Canada. Appeals were filed in November by four separate applicants.

The ban, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau through an order in council in May of 2020, banned more than 1,000 types of firearms, including the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14.

The Mini-14 was one of several guns used by Gabriel Wortman to kill 22 people in Nova Scotia in April of 2020, a month before the ban was introduced. It was also used by Marc Lépine during his mass shooting at École Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989, which left 15 people dead, including himself.

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A number of gun organizations challenged the order in council in court, saying the government lacked the authority to enact it. In her decision released in October, Justice Catherine Kane said the order did not exceed Trudeau’s authority, and said it didn’t infringe on the Charter or Rights and Freedoms.

Paul Merriman, Saskatchewan’s minister of corrections, policing and public safety, said the bill only goes after lawful gun owners rather than criminals.

“Saskatchewan is firm in its opposition to the federal firearms ban, which unfairly targets law-abiding firearms owners and will have little impact on firearms-related crime,” Merriman said in a statement.

Merriman pointed to The Saskatchewan Firearms Act – which was brought into force last spring – as an example of tangible action designed to increase safety around firearms.

The provincial government noted that its 2023-24 budget dedicated nearly $9 million to the Saskatchewan Firearms Office, which administers the provincial act and supports police firearm investigations, training and education.

Bronwyn Eyre, Saskatchewan’s justice minister, said the federal government’s ban is in conflict with the Criminal Code.

“We believe in the merits of this case on administrative and constitutional grounds,” Eyre said in a statement. “The federal ban already includes up to 1,800 ‘variants,’ will cost billions of dollars, and directly conflicts with sections of the Criminal Code which state that firearms that can reasonably be used for hunting or sporting purposes cannot be banned.”

No date has yet been set for the appeal hearing.

— With files from The Canadian Press