Albertans who declared banned guns under Ottawa’s buyback still can’t get compensation

More than 7,000 banned guns have been declared in Alberta under the federal government’s gun buyback program, but owners in the province can’t collect compensation because of an ongoing dispute between Alberta and Ottawa over how the program is meant to operate.

That’s left firearms owners like James Bachynsky, president of the Calgary Shooting Centre, frustrated and out of pocket. 

“It’ll impact me personally; it’ll impact my business partners, my family,” he said.

He said the government offered $67,700 for his firearms, lower than the roughly $80,000 he believes they’re worth.

But because of the standoff between the two levels of government, he’s not able to collect it.

Meanwhile, the federal government has set an October deadline where prohibited guns must be disposed of or deactivated, whether a gun owner sought compensation or not.

Albertans declare more than 7,300 firearms in federal buyback program

At the centre of the dispute is a disagreement over how the program should function. 

Public Safety Canada says the issue has to do with provincial laws put in place by the Alberta government. The Alberta government, meanwhile, says it’s up to Ottawa to run its own program.

Bachynsky, who has long held frustrations with the program, believes Alberta “absolutely” should be acting on behalf of Albertans to protect property rights. 

It’s also fair to expect some assistance from the province in forcing fair compensation or continued use of personal property, he said.

Under the program, Ottawa banned about 2,500 firearms, arguing that what they call “assault-style” firearms are largely designed for warfare and not hunting or sport shooting.

Individuals had until March 31 to declare eligible prohibited firearms. Owners whose declarations are accepted are then supposed to choose between turning in their firearms or deactivation. Collection appointments are to be made with the RCMP, a mobile collection unit or local police.

But Alberta has directed all provincial entities, including law enforcement agencies, to decline to implement the gun program under its provincial sovereignty legislation.

And the way legislation in Alberta is currently being implemented is preventing residents from receiving compensation, Public Safety Canada says.

“The government of Canada encourages the government of Alberta to provide their residents with the option of seeking compensation for their prohibited firearms through the [program],” reads a statement from Public Safety Canada.

The Alberta government sees it differently.

Heather Jenkins, press secretary to Justice Minister Mickey Amery, wrote in a statement that the federal government has provided “no information to the Alberta government regarding its plans for mobile collection of firearms under the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program, or how it intends to respond to declarations from Albertans.”

“Questions about how this federal program, including compensation, will operate should be directed to the federal government,” Jenkins wrote in an email.

In addition, anyone participating in the delivery of the program must first be licensed as a seizure agent in Alberta, Jenkins wrote. She said the Alberta Chief Firearms Office has received no applications to date from Albertans, the federal government or its employees.

“Anyone who is not licensed as a seizure agent could be arrested,” she said.

Noah Schwartz, an assistant professor in political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, whose research includes a focus on gun policy, previously told CBC News that Canada found itself in “uncharted waters” amid this growing standoff.

“The advocacy groups were pretty effective at getting a large number of gun owners to kind of hold the line and not participate in the program, and try and sort of wait it out and see what happens at the Supreme Court,” he said.

Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada said it would hear arguments against the government’s ban from the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights and others.

Gun control advocacy group PolySeSouvient has long expressed frustration with the “slow pace and extended amnesties” of the program. 

On Wednesday, a spokesperson with the group criticized Alberta’s approach, writing that it was “ironic that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government, which purports to stand for individual autonomy from government intervention, is preventing thousands of Albertans from receiving financial compensation for the prohibited firearms they declared.”

“Gun owners deserve better than to be pawns in the province’s jurisdictional games aimed at blocking federal criminal law from being applied in Alberta,” the statement reads.

“Ms. Smith’s various attempts to block the federal ban on military-style assault weapons will not only deprive law-abiding gun owners from money they are due, it could also undermine the public safety goal of preventing future mass shootings.”

Gun owners, meanwhile, are closely watching that October deadline. 

Those who fail to deactivate or dispose of their guns by then could risk criminal liability for illegal possession, according to Public Safety Canada.

This entire situation is extremely frustrating for people like Bachynsky.

”Legal gun owners, people that have followed the laws, regulations, impediments to ownership scrupulously for decades … now we have legislation that’s saying, ‘we’re just going to seize all your property and we’ll determine if you’ll get fair market value and what that fair market value may be,’” he said. “That’s not fair. It’s not reasonable.”

Quebec supports the federal plan, but other provinces have also resisted. Along with Alberta, Saskatchewan passed legislation aimed at hindering the program.