Several thousand pro-gun protesters gathered Saturday in front of the National Assembly to demand that the Quebec government withdraw from the federal government’s buyback program. Their message: “Our guns are not for sale!”
The protesters accuse Ottawa of unfairly targeting law-abiding gun owners.
“Quebec is the only province that has agreed to participate in this buyback. It’s absurd that for $12.4 million, they are targeting legal gun owners who have done nothing wrong and are not involved in crime,” said Sophie Béland, Quebec director of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, in an interview with La Presse Canadienne on Saturday.
She said she is in contact with Quebec Public Security Minister Ian Lafrenière and feels that he is listening to her. “That’s already a big step for us,” she said.
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The organizer of the demonstration said that people came from all over Quebec and Canada.
“I have people coming from British Columbia, Alberta, Cape Breton,” she said.
Stéphane Bacon is a sport shooter, as is his wife. They came from Montreal to demonstrate.
“The problem is mental health, not firearms,” he said.
Protesters interviewed by La Presse Canadienne did not want to give their names. One of them simply said his name was Pat and did not want to disclose his full name, citing social media and pressure from the “anti-gun lobby.”
“If you look around, it’s full of fathers, hunters, and sport shooters who simply don’t want to be dispossessed of their property,” he said.
The event began in snow, which quickly turned to rain. The bad weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the gun advocates.
Speakers galvanized the crowd with speeches.
“Today, you have shown us one thing: no one is going to divide us anymore. We are gun owners, and the federal government wants to extort us (…) What we’re saying to them is: No!” said Guy Morin, president of the Quebec Shooting Range Association, to the crowd.
The protesters responded with cheers and applause. Many of them had brought signs with slogans such as “My guns are not for sale!” They even sang the Canadian national anthem.
In an interview with La Presse Canadienne, Morin said the buyback program is not generous enough.
“There’s a cap. So there’s a maximum of $250 million allocated for all of Canada, and that represents about 1 per cent of the owners who could be compensated,” he explains.
However, he says he is opposed to the program. “But unfortunately, we can’t really stop it,” he concedes.
“There are people who have decided that their weapons are not for sale or to be given away. No way! They won’t hand them over. But there are others who would like to receive compensation, and those people should receive fair and equitable compensation at market value,” added Morin.
This protest is taking place about six weeks after the start of the registration period allowing gun owners to participate in the federal program. The program offers them financial compensation in exchange for the surrender or permanent deactivation of firearms that Ottawa considers to be reserved for the battlefield.
Since May 2020, the Liberal government has banned approximately 2,500 types of firearms, including the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14. Prohibited firearms and devices must be disposed of—or deactivated—by the end of the amnesty period on Oct. 30, 2026.
Gun control advocates criticized the organization of such a rally just weeks after the shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, which claimed the lives of nine people.
“It is shameful that in the wake of this tragedy, pro-gun groups are choosing this moment to continue their campaign to prevent the removal of assault weapons that are commonly used in mass shootings and have been banned for public safety reasons,” the PolySeSouvient collective said in a statement earlier this week.
The organizers defended themselves by saying that the demonstration had been planned before the tragedy.
“We stand in solidarity with British Columbia. We are all affected, and that is precisely why we are here. Because what happened in British Columbia should never happen again. It is a failure on the part of governments and legislation; it is a mental health issue, not a problem with legal weapons,” said Sophie Béland.
When announcing the program last month, Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the goal was to target only “firearms designed for war, for killing.”
According to federal authorities, some 19,000 makes and models of firearms remain legally available for hunting and sport shooting in Canada.
Nearly $250 million has been allocated to compensate participants in the program. The government estimates that this amount will cover compensation for approximately 136,000 firearms. Owners of prohibited firearms have until the end of March to express their interest.
Quebec supports the federal compensation program, but several other provinces and territories—including Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador—have rejected the plan.
-With files from Jim Bronskill, La Presse Canadienne
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
