Nunavut gov’t says no police resources will be used on federal gun buyback program

The Nunavut government says it will not be using police resources on the federal gun buyback program, and solutions proposed by Ottawa do not apply to the territory. 

More than 2,500 types of so-called “assault-style” weapons have been illegal in Canada since 2020. The federal government has an amnesty order in place for the guns and is offering to buy them back from businesses and individual owners.

Andrew Blackadar, Nunavut’s assistant deputy minister for public safety, believes the administration of that program could be a strain on police – especially given the remoteness of Nunavut’s communities. 

“We don’t want to divert policing resources towards this and take them away from the much more important public safety needs that we have here in the territory,” he said. 

In 2023, there were 140 officers across Nunavut