Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 15/98) - A new Firearms Act will come into effect in Canada on October 1.

The act, which requires the registration of all firearms, has not met with the greatest amount of support from NWT residents. It is also not being supported by the territorial government.

"This government had opposed the Firearms Act, the universal registrations provisions in it and indicated that it would not be operating the new gun registry, which has left the federal government to operate it itself," said Gary MacDougall, the NWT Justice Department's director of legal registries.

It is the same position the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan are taking.

Nevertheless, the act will still apply in the NWT and the rest of the country.

To repeal the legislation some provinces including the Yukon and Ontario have taken the issue to court. Alberta, in particular, challenged the constitutionality of the legislation in its Court of Appeal. The NWT had joined them in that process.

All appeals have so far proven futile. The federal government is determined in its efforts to implement the legislation with enforcement by RCMP.

The RCMP have also agreed to the federal Department of Justice request to administer the registry.

Though the GNWT doesn't support universal registration, it supports other aspects of the act that ensure gun safety.

"It's certainly not a straight-forward issue and there are certainly opposing view points on it. (And) It's not the safety training aspects of the legislation that this government was opposing," said MacDougall.