SECU Committee Report

Gun Control, Illegal Arms Trafficking and the Increase in Gun Crimes by Members of Street Gangs Supplementary Report of the New Democratic Party

New Democrats support the recommendations contained in this report and reiterate that the Government of Canada must implement measures for tougher gun control and to curb the flow of illegal arms trafficking to make our communities safe.

We offer the following additional comments and recommendations to supplement the report, to further the goal of tackling gun crime among gangs as it relates to the illicit drug trade, with a specific focus on the opioid epidemic, where stronger action is required. The opioid epidemic must be declared as a national public health emergency, as it has accurately been categorized by the Province of British Columbia.

While the Committee recognized that drug addiction is an important contributor to gun violence, and must be treated as a public health issue, the Government of Canada must go further than this.

The testimony of Vancouver Police Department Staff Sergeant Michael Rowe identified a definite link between gun violence and the popularity, addictive nature, and profitability of fentanyl.[1]

Through his testimony Chief Evan Bray, Chief of Police, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), reiterated the CACP’s 2020 bold call for the decriminalization of simple possession, noting that criminalizing people who use drugs doesn’t work, and adding that providing the support to individuals suffering with addiction can free up police resources to do other work in the community.[2]

Deputy Chief of Police, Myron Demkiw, Toronto Police Service, also testified about the need for “safe supply and wraparound services.”[3]

We must heed the words of our first responders and frontline workers. By moving away from prohibition and punishment and instead adopting a national harm reduction approach, including decriminalization, to substance use and addiction, Canada could ensure access to safe supply, realize a reduction in risk of overdose deaths, and divert encounters with law enforcement. Confronting the highly profitable and highly deadly use of substances like fentanyl with a national harm reduction approach to substance use will significantly impact the firearms violence that is all too often associated with gangs vying for control of the illicit drug trade in our communities.