Guns and white supremacists don't mix - 2019-11-12
Guns and white supremacists don't mix November 12, 2019,
When Justin Trudeau was first elected as Liberal Prime Minister, he promised a new Canada—one based on a commitment to feminism and Indigenous rights. He also promised to address the loopholes in the gun laws created by the former Conservative government under Stephen Harper. Bill C-71, which was intended to strengthen rules around access to firearms especially for those with a history of violence, provided some improvements but fell short of what most Canadians wanted. Canadians want to feel safe. That cannot happen if hate groups are allowed to buy hand guns and assault weapons.
The Government's defence of Bill C-71 was framed almost entirely with verbiage like "gangs and guns" and "gender neutral," ignoring the bulk of the statistical evidence about gun violence in Canada. Women in Canada represent a higher proportion of victims of firearms violence than their male perpetrators. It is not "gender neutral" to worry more about the interests of the primarily male gun lobby and concerns of rural men than the voices of female victims. Further, the voices of Indigenous women were excluded despite the ongoing genocide of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.
The rise of white nationalism has happened so quickly in Canada that governments do not have a handle on the serious threat it poses to public safety and national security. The white nationalist movement (often referred to as the populist movement), has seen far-right Conservatives take increasingly more radical positions that are often racist, sexist and anti-human rights, often aligning themselves with the gun lobby.