Hon. Lucie Pépin:

Honourable senators, the twentieth anniversary of the massacre at the École Polytechnique was commemorated on Sunday. The firearms registry that was introduced in response to that tragedy was the focus of a great deal of attention on that day in Quebec. I would like to share the concerns many Quebecers have about this issue with you.

There is no miracle solution to the complex problem of violence in our societies. We do know, however, that to eradicate this terrible scourge, we must be persistent.

In the past 20 years, governments have developed policies and taken actions to eliminate violence against women. The firearms registry was one such initiative. Moreover, the families of the victims of the École Polytechnique massacre see this registry as a monument to the young women who were killed by Marc Lépine. For many, this registry is a sign of progress.

The Montreal police force took advantage of the Day of Remembrance on Sunday to call for all parts of the registry to remain in force. Most police associations want the same thing. To the police, gun control is part of any integrated strategy to fight effectively against violent crime. Many Quebecers share this vision.

Many people do not understand why Parliament wants to dramatically scale back the registry and weaken this tool that the police themselves consider important to their work. These people question the advisability of eliminating the requirement to register guns and deleting the eight million gun records already in the registry. Some consider these changes a blow to the memory of the École Polytechnique victims and all other victims of gun violence.

It is illogical to question something that has greatly contributed to reducing the number of shooting victims in Canada. Certainly, there have been administrative problems with this registry, but it can be improved to accommodate farmers and other hunters without becoming dysfunctional. What is important is to have an effective registry in order to try to prevent other tragedies like the one at the École Polytechnique.

That, in a nutshell, is the appeal that the vast majority of Quebecers made to us, as parliamentarians, last Sunday. I hope it will be heard.

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