Ottawa stops short of national crime gun tracing, citing provincial control

Ottawa earmarked $15 million over five years, beginning in 2021-22, and $3.3 million ongoing, to increase the RCMP's ability to trace firearms and identify movement patterns.

Federal agencies are trying to boost efforts to trace the origins of guns used in crimes, but it appears jurisdictional hurdles could prevent the measures from going as far as some would like.

The federal government says the RCMP has introduced a new mandatory tracing policy, meaning that in places where the Mounties are the police of jurisdiction, seized illegal guns will automatically be sent to the force’s national firearms tracing centre.

The House of Commons public safety committee and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police have called on the government to make it a requirement that all crime guns recovered during investigations by police across the country – not just the RCMP – be submitted for tracing.

The most recent figures indicate only a small fraction of the tens of thousands of crime guns recovered each year are being traced.

In a newly issued response to the public safety committee’s April report on reducing gun and gang violence, the government says tracing is a key tool to determine the sources of illicit firearms.

The RCMP’s national tracing centre tracks the movement of a gun from its manufacture or importation into Canada, through the hands of wholesalers and retailers, to pinpoint the last known lawful owner or business. The centre works with partners including the Firearms Analysis Tracing and Enforcement program in Ontario.

Tracing can also help determine whether a gun was smuggled into Canada or came from a domestic source.

Ottawa earmarked $15 million over five years, beginning in 2021-22, and $3.3 million ongoing, to increase the RCMP’s ability to trace firearms and identify movement patterns, as well as support development of a new national tracing database.