After what happened at the Polytechnique in 1989, the first thing we did was to ask for a ban on this type of weapon in Canada. We were students at the time. There are photographs of me, Heidi and other classmates. We were between 22 and 24 years old.
We made the request to the government of Canada and we were not the only ones. At that time, there was no Internet, and there weren't any e‑petitions. We had a very long petition that was signed by Canadians from all regions. The request didn't just come from Quebec or Montreal: it was a Canada-wide request.
That was when the Canadian Coalition for Gun Control was set up, which led to the enactment, in 1995, of The Firearms Act. However, because a firearms registry was seen as a useful tool at the time, the government didn't follow through with a blanket ban on assault-style firearms.
The market has changed and evolved. Today, we are seeing a firearms epidemic, actually it's more of a pandemic, because all the countries of the world are suffering from this epidemic. Firearms have become ordinary toys that people want to get. If you want our support for this bill, you absolutely have to bring in a robust amendment that would completely ban assault-style firearms and set out a mandatory buyback program for all these firearms.
In our opinion, these measures are glaringly obvious and more than necessary. The parents of the victims of the massacre at the Polytechnique are dying now. They fought for 33 years for such a ban, and they might not see their efforts succeed. We have to act now. The more time passes, the harder it will be for the government to enact strong legislation at a reasonable cost. We need a bill that clearly defines what an assault-style firearm is and completely bans this type of firearm, and we have to do so in 2022. Those are the conditions of our support for the government's bill.