The Firearm Violence Prevention Act (FVPA) received Royal Assent on March 25, 2021.Work is currently underway to develop accompanying regulations. Once complete, both the FVPA and its regulations will be brought into force.
The FVPA responds to recommendations made by subject matter experts in the 2017 Illegal Firearms Task Force Report to address gang and gun violence.
The FVPA targets gang and gun violence by:
- Regulating low-velocity firearms that are capable of causing serious bodily injury and imitation firearms that could reasonably be mistaken for actual firearms
- Establishing new offences for unsafe use of firearms, low-velocity firearms and imitation firearms
- Prohibiting firearms, low-velocity firearms, and imitation firearms in designated places, including schools, post-secondary institutions, courts, places of worship, hospitals, and property used to provide child care for which a licence is required under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act
- Authorizing the impoundment of motor vehicles used to illegally transport firearms or flee from police
- Providing civil liability protection to specified professionals who report the potential for firearm violence by an individual to the police
- Strengthening aspects of the Body Armour Control Act and Armoured Vehicle and After-Market Compartment Control Act
