Feds deny RCMP broke law
Information commissioner says Mounties violated the Access to Information Act by destroying long-gun registry records
The federal government insists the RCMP did not break the law by destroying long-gun registry records, directly contradicting the findings of Canada’s information commissioner.
In a report submitted to Parliament Thursday, Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault said the RCMP violated the Access to Information Act by destroying electronic records of non- restricted firearms in October 2012, despite the fact someone had submitted a formal request to see them in March 2012 — before the gun registry was abolished.
Legault also said the government was setting “a perilous precedent against Canadians’ quasi- constitutional right to know” by proposing legislation that would retroactively exempt the long-gun registry from the Access to Information law.
That legislation is contained in two sections out of hundreds in the Conservatives’ omnibus Bill C- 59, which also includes the government’s Economic Action Plan proposals.
In question period on Thursday, Liberal MP Wayne Easter accused the government of trying to “cover up” the illegal destruction of information by putting the exemption legislation in their budget bill.
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, who oversees the RCMP, denied the police force broke any laws. The RCMP was “respecting the will of Parliament,” he said, because the long- gun registry had been abolished and the records only continued to exist because of a “loophole.”
Blaney said the government would “not apologize” for getting rid of the “wasteful and ineffective long gun registry” and expected the RCMP to uphold that.
In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Legault said she would take the matter to federal court and hoped that “parliamentarians will carefully consider the implications of Bill C-59.”