Canada marks first National Day Against Gun Violence

TRENTON, Canada

Calling increased criminal firearms use a “real and serious threat” to Canadians, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced June 2 as the first annual National Day Against Gun Violence.

“(It) will serve as a solemn reminder of the lives lost, of the families who live with the ongoing pain, and of our collective responsibility to do everything we can to prevent these senseless tragedies by putting an end to gun violence.”

In response to the violence, the government has introduced several measures, including tougher gun legislation and penalties, a freeze on the sale, purchase and transfer of handguns, and it has cracked down on gun smugglers bringing firearms into Canada from the US.

While gun violence in Canada – about 1,300 deaths a year over the past 25 years, Statistics Canada reported in 2022 – is not anywhere near the problem in the neighboring United States, death by firearms is on the rise, said a release from the prime minister’s office.

One in three homicides is attributable to guns, while violent crime involving firearms is up 80% since 2009. In Toronto, Canada’s largest city with a population of 2.5 million, there were 428 shooting incidents in 2018, nearly two-and-a-half times the number in 2014, according to Toronto Police Service figures.

Particularly worrying is the dramatic incidents that have involved firearms, including police officers and the horrific mass murders in the small east coast province of Nova Scotia.

Since September 2022 to date, a record number of 10 police officers were killed in the line of duty, “nine of which were murdered,” Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique said in May.

On April 18-19, a man went on a shooting rampage in a quiet area of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people and injuring three more before being killed by police.

In Vaughn, a city just north of Toronto, five fell victim in a condominium shooting by another tenant on Dec. 19, 2022. The suspect, in his 70s, was also killed by police.Most recently, on May 27 a couple in their 20’s who were renting a home in Hamilton, just west of Toronto, were shot to death by their landlord over a dispute about mould in the basement of the house. The landlord, 57, was killed by police.

Trudeau acknowledged the contribution of the Toronto Raptors National Basketball Association team in helping raise support for the National Day Against Gun Violence, which will be observed on the first Friday in June each year.

“The Raptors played a critical role in rallying nearly 30,000 Canadians to sign a petition to observe this day,” Trudeau said in a statement.