The federal government has the right to destroy data collected on long-gun owners in Quebec, the Supreme Court has ruled.
In a split 5-4 decision, the top court found the federal government's law requiring the destruction of gun certificate information is lawful under the Constitution, and the province of Quebec has no right to the data.
The decision marks a victory for the Conservative government on a key hot-button issue on which it has campaigned for years.
The judges went out of their way to say it was not ruling on the policy merits of a long-gun registry or its destruction, only on the legality of the government's latest law.
The majority wrote, "to some, Parliament's choice to destroy this data will undermine public safety and waste enormous amounts of public money" but "to others it will seem to be the dismantling of an ill-advised regime and the overdue restoration of the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners. But these competing views about the merits of Parliament's policy choice are not at issue here."
Quebec had argued the database was a joint effort by both federal and provincial authorities, and therefore Quebec had the right to the information in the spirit "cooperative federalism," a legal concept that ensures flexibility in the separation of powers.
But the majority opinion written by Justices Thomas Cromwell and Andromache Karakatsanis found that principle was not applicable, and the constitutional division of powers authorizes Ottawa to take unilateral action in matters of criminal law.
3 Quebec justices dissent
In a dissenting opinion, Justices Louis LeBel, Richard Wagner, and Clement Gascon wrote that the federal decision to destroy the data was intended to harm the other level of government, namely the province of Quebec.
The ruling applies to the certificate system for long-gun owners in Quebec, which was created by the then-Liberal government in 1998. The Quebec records comprise certificate information for some 500,000 gun owners in that province. All other certificate data on gun owners in the other provinces and territories was destroyed when the Conservative government dismantled the registry three years ago.
The Supreme Court ruled Friday on Quebec's right to preserve and use the federal long-gun registry data it helped collect. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
The provinces still control information on gun licences.
Quebec won its case to obtain the data in Quebec Superior Court in 2012, but that decision was overturned by the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2013.
Today's ruling is expected to anger gun-control advocates and please rural long-gun owners.
The long-gun registry was created by former prime minister Jean Chretien's Liberal government in 1995, partly in response to the mass shootings of female engineering students at Montreal's École Polytechnique in 1989.
'Very bad federalism'
In a statement Friday, the press secretary for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said the Harper government is pleased with the ruling.
"We have a strong system of gun control in Canada, and our government has toughened laws and penalties for those who commit crimes with guns," wrote Jeremy Laurin.
But former Liberal cabinet minister Stéphane Dion said it was a "sad victory" for Stephen Harper's government, and "very bad federalism" not to co-operate with Quebec.
"The court in a majority decision said it's not a constitutional obligation. I would say, though, that it is a political necessity when you want to co-operate with your constitutional partner," Dion told reporters.
The Harper government passed legislation to end the federal long gun registry and destroyed most of its data in 2012. But the Quebec government argued it had a constitutional right to its records, so that province's data was protected until the issue was resolved in the courts. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
If the federal Liberals were in power, they would have respected Quebec's wishes, he said, although the party has no plans to rebuild a national registry should it win power again.
Veteran campaigner Wendy Cukier, the president of the Coalition for Gun Control, said that "in the current context, where people are much more attentive to issues around public security, destroying the data on over a million guns owned in the province of Quebec does seem incredibly punitive and foolish."
Heidi Rathjen, a survivor of the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique shootings in Montreal, said that although she's disappointed, and there will be a large gap in the data, "in the end we will win, because we know the Quebec government is determined to create its own registry."
"Premier Philippe Couillard has promised a registry with or without the data, and I'm sure they will reiterate that today," she said.
Polytechnique victim's brother relieved
Claude Colgan, a pro-gun advocate and brother of Polytechnique shooting victim Hélène Colgan, said he was very pleased with the Supreme Court's decision.
Claude Colgan is a pro-gun advocate and said his sister, Hélène, was too. Hélène was a victim in the Polytechnique shooting. (CBC)
"My first thoughts are for my sister and my parents. It was long, but we got there," he said.
He said his sister would not have wanted to be associated with the gun control movement.
The next step, Colgan said, is to continue lobbying the Quebec government to not create its own registry.
"It's a waste of taxpayers' money, it's as simple as that. There's no point in having data of serial numbers. I would like to know how a serial number can save your life," Colgan said.
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