Audit of the Destruction of Quebec Electronic Records Pertaining to the Transitional Provisions in the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act

Final Report

October 2015

An assessment of this report with respect to provisions in the Access to Information Act produced no exemptions; therefore this report is presented in its entirety.

Table of Contents

Acronyms and abbreviations

CFIS
Canadian Firearms Information System
CFO
Chief Firearms Officer
CFP
Canadian Firearms Program
CIO
Chief Information Officer
IM/IT PROGRAM
Information Management/Information Technology Program
RCMP
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
SPS
Specialized Policing Services

Executive summary

The Ending the Long-gun Registry Act, which came into force on April 5, 2012 removes the requirement for non-restricted firearms to be registered. The Act's Transitional Provisions include the requirement that all records related to the registration of non-restricted firearms under the control of the Commissioner of Firearms and the Chief Firearms Officers be destroyed. The Act does not require the destruction of records related to the reporting of non-restricted firearms held by public agencies (e.g. law enforcement and certain government departments). The reporting of information on these firearms to the Registrar of Firearms is dealt with under the Public Agents Firearms Regulations.

The destruction of all electronic records in the Canadian Firearms Information System (CFIS) identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted firearms, with the exception of those related to Quebec took place in October 2012.

Due to court proceedings that took place between April 5, 2012 and March 27, 2015, the registration of non-restricted firearms in Quebec continued and the destruction of related records was held in abeyance until the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a decision in this regard. On March 27, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that section 29 of the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act was constitutionally valid and that the Province of Quebec did not have a legal right to the non-restricted Quebec firearms registration records.

This audit report focuses on the results of the steps the Canadian Firearms Program undertook to destroy electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms in CFIS.

The results of this audit indicate that, in accordance with the Transitional Provisions in the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act, all electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms were destroyed in CFIS.

Management's response to the audit

An Implementation Plan, specific to the non-restricted firearm registration records for residents of Quebec, was developed by the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program (CFP) and Chief Information Officer (CIO). This plan, to be executed once a decision was rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada, would support the changes to the Firearms Act and associated Regulations introduced by Bill C-19.

The Implementation Plan included the destruction of all data associated with these non-restricted firearm registration records held within the Canadian Firearms Information System (CFIS).

In April 2015, the destruction of the target data within the CFIS application, as per the Transitional Provisions in the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act, was successfully completed.

Peter Henschel, Deputy Commissioner
Specialized Policing Services
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

1. Background

1.1 Canadian Firearms Program

The RCMP's Canadian Firearms Program (CFP) is the service line within the RCMP's Specialized Policing Services (SPS) responsible for the administration of the Firearms Act and its associated regulations that govern possession, licensing, transportation, use, registration and storage of firearms in Canada. As well, the CFP provides operational support to law enforcement agencies in all firearm-related inquiries and investigations.

A Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) is appointed for each province and territory. The CFOs in all but five provinces are federally appointed and report to the CFP's Director of Firearms Regulatory Services. In the remaining provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, the CFOs are provincially appointed. CFOs are responsible for decision-making and administrative work related to licences, authorizations to transport, authorizations to carry, and confirming the purpose of the transfer of restricted and prohibited firearms by individuals and businesses.

The Firearms Act and its regulations establish the basic framework for the Canadian Firearms Information System (CFIS). CFIS is the information system that contains all electronic records related to licences, registrations, transfers of firearms, and authorizations to transport and carry restricted firearms. The CFP is the business owner of the CFIS application and the RCMP's Information Management/Information Technology Program (IM/IT Program) is responsible for the database architecture, and the administration and maintenance of the system. CFIS information provides administrative and enforcement support to all partners involved in licensing of firearms owners/users, registration of firearms and the issuance of authorizations related to restricted firearms.

1.2 Ending the Long-gun Registry Act

On October 25, 2011, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act (Bill C-19), with the intent to remove the requirement for individuals and businesses to register non-restricted firearmsFootnote 1, was introduced in the House of Commons. Bill C-19 (short title - Ending the Long-gun Registry Act) received Royal Assent on April 5, 2012, removing the requirement for non-restricted firearms to be registered. The Ending the Long-gun Registry Act also includes the requirement that all records related to the registration of non-restricted firearms under the control of the Commissioner of FirearmsFootnote 2 and the CFOs be destroyed.

Specifically, the Act's Transitional Provisions require that:

  • " 29.(1) The Commissioner of Firearms shall ensure the destruction as soon as feasible of all records in the Canadian Firearms Registry related to the registration of firearms that are neither prohibited firearms nor restricted firearms and all copies of those records under the Commissioner's control.
  • (2) Each chief firearms officer shall ensure the destruction as soon as feasible of all records under their control related to the registration of firearms that are neither prohibited firearms nor restricted firearms and all copies of those records under their control."

The Act does not require the destruction of records related to the reporting of non-restricted firearms held by public agencies (e.g. law enforcement and certain government departments). The reporting of information on these firearms to the Registrar of Firearms is dealt with under the Public Agents Firearms Regulations.

The Province of Quebec filed an injunction to appeal the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act and to obtain non-restricted Quebec firearms registration records held by the Government of Canada. On April 5, 2012, the Quebec Superior Court issued a court order that required residents and businesses in Quebec to continue to register non-restricted firearms.

The destruction of all CFIS electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted firearms, with the exception of those related to Quebec took place in October 2012, and was the subject of an audit carried out by RCMP Internal Audit. The resulting audit report was approved by the Commissioner of the RCMP in January 2013.Footnote 3

Due to court proceedings that took place between April 5, 2012 and March 27, 2015, the registration of non-restricted firearms in Quebec continued and the destruction of related records was held in abeyance until the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a decision in this regard. On March 27, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that section 29 of the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act was constitutionally valid and that the Province of Quebec did not have a legal right to the non-restricted Quebec firearms registration records. Accordingly, the IM/IT Program commenced the destruction of all electronic records (live data) identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms in CFIS in April 2015.Footnote 4

2. Objective, scope and methodology

2.1 Objective

The objective of this audit was to provide reasonable assurance that the electronic records in CFIS identified as being related to the registration of Quebec firearms that are neither prohibited firearms nor restricted firearms are destroyed as required by the Transitional Provisions in the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act.

2.2 Scope

The scope of this audit included all electronic records in CFIS identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms.

The audit did not include testing for electronic records that should have been retained by the CFP in CFIS to remain compliant with the Firearms Act as this was outside the scope of the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act.

2.3 Methodology

The planning portion of the audit was completed in April 2015 and included documentation review, process walkthroughs, and interviews with CFP and IM/IT Program staff. Sources used to develop audit criteria include COBIT 5: A Business Framework for the Governance and Management of IT. The audit objective and criteria are available in Appendix A.

The examination portion of the audit was completed in May 2015 and included the following techniques:

  • observed on-site the destruction of Quebec electronic records in CFIS;
  • created and ran scripts to determine if electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms still existed in CFIS;
  • analysed, with computer-assisted audit tools, IM/IT Program and CFP reports and counts of key information in CFIS to determine if any electronic records were omitted from destruction;
  • obtained confirmation from the Director General, CFP and the RCMP's CIO that the electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms in CFIS were destroyed.

The methodology used was identical to that which had been developed and executed for the Audit of the Destruction of Electronic Records Pertaining to the Transitional Provisions in the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act.

2.4 Statement of conformance

The audit engagement conforms with the Internal Auditing Standards for the Government of Canada, as supported by the results of the quality assurance and improvement program.

3. Audit finding

3.1 Destruction of Quebec electronic records in CFIS

Electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms were destroyed in CFIS as required by the Transitional Provisions of the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act.

Based on CFP-defined specifications, the IM/IT Program developed a batch process to destroy electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms in CFIS, by overwriting the existing CFIS information. All records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms that could be processed by the initial batch process were destroyed in this manner. Reports were generated before and after the destruction to confirm that the expected number of records had been destroyed. The audit team was on-site to observe key parts of the destruction process and reviewed the generated reports.

These reports and subsequent database queries identified records related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms that were omitted from destruction. These records required further validation from the CFP and IM/IT Program against the requirement for destruction.

The CFP and the IM/IT Program addressed the identified records that had not been captured in the initial overwrite. These related to a minority of electronic records whose characteristics differed from the electronic records that were initially targeted for destruction in CFIS.

Additional queries and confirmation tests using computer-assisted audit tools were performed to ascertain that all targeted electronic records had been destroyed in CFIS. Analysing the results of the confirmation tests confirmed the destruction of these records. The results of the initial queries and confirmation tests validate that all electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms were destroyed in CFIS.

4. Conclusion

In compliance with the Transitional Provisions in the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act, all electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms were destroyed in CFIS.

Appendix A – Audit objective and criteria

Objective:
To provide reasonable assurance that the electronic records in CFIS identified as being related to the registration of Quebec firearms that are neither prohibited firearms nor restricted firearms are destroyed as required by the Transitional Provisions in the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act.

  • Criterion 1:
    A plan was established by the CFP for the destruction of electronic records in CFIS identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms.
  • Criterion 2:
    Electronic records identified as being related to the registration of non-restricted Quebec firearms were appropriately destroyed in CFIS.
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