First Nations defiant over gun-law deadline

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Thousands of First Nations hunters are preparing for a showdown with the government over the looming deadline for gun owners to get firearms licenses.

The federal Firearms Act imposes harsh penalties for firearm owners who don't have a license by Dec. 31, including fines, criminal charges and confiscation of weapons. The law also requires gun owners to register their firearms by Dec. 31, 2002.

But First Nations officials say the licensing process has been bungled. Thousands of full-time Aboriginal hunters and trappers who rely on guns to feed their families still don't have the new possession license required under the Firearms Act, or the old Firearms Acquisition Certificate, which will remain valid.

And time is running out. It takes three to six months for an application to be processed and mandatory background checks to be done.

That has people alarmed in Chisasibi, a Cree community 1,000 kilometres north of Montreal where a third of the families still live in the bush hunting, trapping and fishing year-round for much of their food.

Edward Tapiatic, a firearms-safety instructor in Chisasibi, said only 20 to 30 per cent of his community have permits.

"A lot of people are concerned about the deadline," he said. "We're in a bind. If they try to enforce the act on that deadline, they are going to be up to their necks with people who do not agree with the legislation."

Tapiatic said some Crees are so upset they are already vowing not to comply with the law.

"People are saying they should not be ramming it down our throats," he said.

Ken Hilt, the Crees' regional police coordinator, estimated that only 30 per cent of people in all nine Cree communities in northern Quebec have permits.

Bill Namagoose, executive director of the Grand Council of the Crees, said his organization will challenge the law in court.

"I think what will happen is someone will be charged, and we will take it to the Supreme Court. Constitutional and treaty rights are much stronger than gun legislation," he said.

Other First Nations are worried, too. Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, which represents the Inuit of Nunavut, sued Ottawa in June to exempt its members from the Firearms Act.

"The indications are lots of Inuit are having a hard time complying with the requirements. The forms are unnecessarily complex, the requirements are confusing, the safety-course requirement is not easily available. The requirements are not available in the (Inuit) language," said Laurie Pelly, a lawyer for the Inuit.

"It violates the Inuit right to hunt, trap and fish without a license or a fee," she said.

Thomas Coon, acting president of the Cree Trappers' Association, said it's clear the federal government needs to extend the deadline.

"In the whole country, there will be a lot of people who will not meet the deadline, not only Crees," he said.

The Firearms Act was passed in 1995 in an effort to crack down on gun-related crimes and improve gun safety.

Dave Austin, deputy director of communications at the Canadian Firearms Centre, said First Nations gun owners will be expected to meet this year's deadline at the same rate as other Canadians.

"I think you're going to find Aboriginal people, like others in the country, will comply," he said. But in many First Nations communities, residents are expressing a mixture of defiance and lack of knowledge about the looming deadline.

"Here in Akwesasne, they haven't moved on that. There is no big rush yet," said Akwesasne trapper Bob Stevenson, who sits on the Assembly of First Nations fur-harvesters' committee. "I'm sure that in Akwesasne, there wouldn't be a big push to enforce it," he added.

One big problem is Ottawa set aside little money to help Native people and other Canadians living in remote areas comply with the new rules. In northern Quebec, that meant the cash-strapped Cree Trappers' Association had to pick up the cost of training instructors and translating government forms.

Making matters wrse, Coon said the forms and mandatory firearms-safety course material are written in technical language not easily translated into Cree, the only language of many Cree trappers. Also, until recently, there weren't enough firearms-safety instructors in the Cree communities authorized to give safety courses.