Canadian Firearms Program

Canadian Firearms Program (CFP; French:Programme canadien des armes à feu), formerlyCanada Firearms Centre is aCanadian government program within theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police Policing Support Services, responsible for licensing and regulatingfirearms inCanada.

Canadian Firearms Program
Agency overview
Programme canadien des armes à feu (French)
Heraldic badge of the RCMP
Formed	2008
Preceding agency	Canada Firearms Centre
Jurisdiction	Firearm Registration and Licensing
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Annual budget	$84 million^[1]
Minister responsible	Dominic LeBlanc,Minister of Public Safety
Agency executives	Michael Duheme,Commissioner of Firearms Bryan Larkin, Deputy Commissioner, Specialized Policing Services
Parent agency	Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Website	Canadian Firearms Program

As of December 31, 2023, the Canadian Firearms Program recorded a total of 2,352,504 valid firearms licences,^[2] which is roughly 5.7% of the Canadian population. The four provinces with the highest number of issued licences are, in order,Ontario,Quebec,Alberta andBritish Columbia. The provinces and territories with the highest rate of licensing areYukon (18.5%),Newfoundland and Labrador (14%),Northwest Territories (12.1%) andNew Brunswick (8.9%).^[3]^[4]

History

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Bill C-68:An Act Respecting Firearms and Other Weapons was assented in 1995, two years after the bill was introduced by the government to the House of Commons in targeting firearms licensing and registration. CFC was officially created and began operation in 1996 to oversee the administration of theFirearms Act and the Canadian Firearms Program.^[5]

On May 17, 2006, responsibility for the Canadian Firearms Program was transferred from the Ministry of Public Safety to the RCMP.

On September 4, 2008, theCanada Firearms Centre and the Firearms Support Services Directorate of RCMP was merged to create the Canadian Firearms Program.

CFP celebrated the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Central Processing Site inMiramichi, New Brunswick, in 2008.^[6]

Organization

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Under theConstitution of Canada, the federal government has the power to regulate firearm ownership under thecriminal law power (SeeSupreme Court of Canada,Reference re Firearms Act). Despite this, each province is free to opt in to operate the program and its regulations –Ontario,Quebec,Prince Edward Island,New Brunswick andNova Scotia have chosen to opt in^[7] andBritish Columbia is contemplating the idea.^[8] However, the CFP continues to be the central data-processing site and is responsible for the physical issuance ofpossession and acquisition licences in all cases.^[9] Those who chose to opt in would have all the administrative fees reimbursed by the federal government per section 95 of theFirearms Act.^[10]

Federal

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CFP is a program within theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police. Thechain of command is as follows:^[11]

TheCommissioner of the RCMP serves as the Commissioner of Firearms, the chief executive of the program. The Commissioner is assisted by Deputy Commissioner, Specialized Policing Services. They are responsible to theMinister of Public Safety Canada and thus accountable to theParliament of Canada.

An RCMP officer of assistant commissioner rank is appointed as the Director General to oversee the day-to-day administration of the CFP.

A Registrar of Firearms is appointed to issue and revoke firearms registration certificates and carriers' licences and maintain the records onCanadian Firearms Registry. The Registrar is also responsible for administering thePublic Agents Firearms Regulations.

There are four major areas within the CFP, which are managed by the Deputy Commissioner, Policing Support Services:

Firearms Administration Centre (for licensing, registration, customer service and operations);
Firearms Investigative and Enforcement Services Directorate (who assist police in countering illegal movement and criminal use of firearms);
Strategic Integration and Program Management Services (program support policy, research and planning, business management);
Partnership and Outreach (communications, client/partner and stakeholder relationship)

The CFP offers a wide variety of investigative support services to police:

Firearms Reference Table (FRT), a comprehensive firearms database with over 130,000 entries, which establishes a systematic, standard method of identifying, describing and classifying firearms.
Firearms Identification, for questionable firearms
Firearms Analysis, for potential evidence in crimes
Tracing of illicit firearms, the CNFTC (Canadian National Firearm Tracing Centre) assists police in tracing illegal firearms
Investigational support and assistance, helps police in preparing, obtaining and executing search warrants, location search and seizure, exhibit identification and organisation and court preparation
Expert firearms advice and witness, provides firearm-related guidance for testimony and court preparation, and act as liaison with partner agencies that can provide these services
Firearm Case Law Database, firearm-related cases can be researched, and are distributed to investigators
Crown Attorney Program, working with crown attorney offices, a network that specializes in firearms investigations
Firearms Operations and Enforcement Support (FOES), intelligence support to firearm investigators and research that identifies trends and patterns in the criminal use of firearms in Canada.
Pricing of illicit firearms, a record of firearm "street prices" is maintained and the information is made available to investigators
Access to specialized firearms information databases, Canadian Firearm Information System (CFIS), Canadian Integrated Ballistic Identification Network (CIBIN) and the Suspect Gun Database
Training, lectures, conferences, outreach and learning material available across Canada are available on a broad range of topics involving firearms
Firearms registration information, querying records contained within the Canadian Firearms Registry Online (CFRO)
Public Agent Firearms Reporting assistance, helping public agents use the Public Agency Web Services (PWS) to report agency and protected firearms and assisting public agents understand their obligations under the (Public Agents Firearms Regulations)

Provincial

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Each province has its ownchief firearms officer (CFO), appointed either by thegovernment of Canada or by theexecutive council of the province. Thethree territories share a CFO with another province (British Columbia withYukon,Alberta with theNorthwest Territories, andManitoba withNunavut). They are responsible for making decisions (grant, deny, revoke or put conditions) on licensing (i.e.possession and acquisition licence),authorization to transport,authorization to carry and transfer of firearms along with all of its administrative work.^[12]

Each province also appoints firearms officers (generally speaking, police officers or RCMP civilian members) to inspect and ensure compliance within the definition of theFirearms Act. They may apply to court for a preventive prohibition order if it is in thepublic's interest that a person should not be in possession of any weapons regulated under theFirearms Act.^[13] In carrying out their duties, they can demand firearms be presented to them and samples to be taken.^[14] Failure to comply is a summary offence which may lead to complications when one is up to renew his or her firearms licence for previous contravention of theFirearms Act.^[15]