Simply days earlier than the fifth anniversary of the 2017 Quebec Metropolis mosque taking pictures, the management of the Islamic centre the place the tragedy occurred known as for a Canada-wide ban on handguns.
They despatched letters to the federal and Quebec governments, urging all sides to be sure that any new gun management laws is utilized throughout the nation. Ottawa has signalled it wished to provide particular person provinces the power to enact handgun bans, however the mosque leaders say the issue of gun violence is nationwide.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino, management of the Islamic Cultural Centre requested the federal government to desert its concept of placing a handgun ban within the fingers of the provinces.
"If we're writing to you in the present day, it's to beg you to cease your efforts to absolve the federal authorities of accountability for the handgun subject," wrote Boufeldja Benabdallah and Mohamed Khabar, reminding the Trudeau authorities that it's the "accountability of the federal authorities to legislate on this course in order that the method is carried out by you from coast to coast."
In a separate letter to Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Public Safety Minister Genevieve Guilbault, mosque representatives mentioned the province ought to "to not enable the federal authorities to shirk accountability for the handgun subject."
The federal Liberal authorities had initially deliberate to provide municipalities the power to ban weapons on their territories, however that invoice by no means handed.
In November, the federal authorities mentioned in its throne speech it might "help … the provinces and territories that wish to ban handguns of their jurisdictions."
No province, together with Quebec, has expressed an curiosity in overseeing a handgun ban, the letter famous.
"Even when the Authorities of Quebec determined to ban handguns on its territory, their proliferation in the remainder of Canada would proceed: it might, in any case, be a ban on solely one of many 13 Canadian jurisdictions," the letter to the province learn.
The Legault authorities has beforehand been urged to indicate help for a nationwide handgun ban, notably by mates of Thomas Trudel, a young person shot lifeless final yr in Montreal.
The letters have been made public throughout a gun management webinar held Wednesday night. The occasion was one in all a collection of ceremonies organized by the Islamic Cultural Centre and neighborhood teams forward of Saturday's anniversary.
Mamadou Tanou Barry, Ibrahima Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Azzeddine Soufiane and Aboubaker Thabti have been killed by a gunman shortly after concluding night prayers on Jan. 29, 2017. 5 others have been wounded.
They have been shot with a 9mm Glock pistol throughout a interval of about two minutes. The shooter had at the least 5 different weapons, together with three assault rifles. All of the weapons in his possession have been acquired legally.
"It's completely dangerous and shameful to notice that in 5 years, nothing has been executed to vary the circumstances that allowed this particular person to accumulate or hold such an arsenal," mosque leaders wrote.
"In different phrases, a person with the identical profile might in the present day personal the identical weapons and equipment."
Whereas assault weapons have been banned federally as of Might 2020, people who have been in circulation earlier than that date stay within the fingers of homeowners whereas they await particulars of a federal buyback program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 26, 2022.
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