Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 29/01) - If you paid to have your gun registered under the federal law, you'll get your money back.

Last month, the Canadian Firearms Centre announced the $18 registration fee will be refunded on a region-by-region basis, but news of the decision got lost in the deluge of coverage of the terrorists attacks on the United States.

David Austin, a spokesperson for the Firearms Centre, said the refunds are being processed in Ontario now. The prairies and the North, including Nunavut, will start receiving refunds on Dec. 7.

People seeking to register their firearms will also be able to do so free of charge until Jan. 6.

"You won't have to renew your guns, you'll only have to re-register if you inherit," a firearm, or it otherwise changes ownership.

The refund program began last September in the Atlantic region. However, the formal announcements and advertisements rolled out on Sept. 11, the day terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.

The timing of the ann-ouncement led to complaints from some critics that the government was trying to bury it beneath the tragedy, a charge Austin disputed.

"The regional press releases went out several days after mailing out cheques, so any suggestion we were trying to hide something is absolutely ludicrous," he said.

A spokesperson Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. said Thursday that the changes will have no impact on NTI's court challenge of the federal firearms law.