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Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns is calling on the Liberal government to take bold action – and we need your help.
Please send your message to The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, right away. Canada needs, urgently: • a national handgun ban • a “Red Flag” law • a national firearms research centre • community directed investments • the assault weapons ban enshrined in legislation You may read our recommendations below and our full brief here:
https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/SECU/Brief/BR11628358/br-external/CanadianDoctorsForProtectionFromGuns-e.pdf Open letter to Erin O’Toole from Conservative partisans of Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns9/10/2021
Mr. Erin O’Toole
Leader, Conservative Party of Canada info@conservative.ca Dear Mr. O’Toole, We are writing to you as traditional supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada. We are also physicians and members of the non-partisan organization Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns (CDPG). Each of us has experience in treating some aspect of gun injury and have witnessed the toll this takes on victims, their families and communities, and our public health system. Mr. O’Toole, we are deeply troubled by your policy approach to addressing gun injury and death in Canada and feel compelled to speak out. Far from being reassured by Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole’s statement yesterday regarding the ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, our organizations – representing physicians, scientists, survivors of gun violence, and anti-hate researchers – are further alarmed.
Mr. O’Toole has not committed to maintaining the assault weapons ban, nor has he committed to enshrining the ban in legislation and preparing to buyback the now-prohibited guns. The scientific literature from around the world is very clear: removing semi-automatic assault weapons from society and reducing access to guns generally is proven to save lives. Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns welcomes Liberal Party commitments on gun control9/1/2021
Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns (CDPG) welcomes the Liberal Party of Canada’s commitments on gun control in its election platform released today. Among the commitments are a plan to strengthen the May, 2020 assault weapons ban to make it mandatory for owners of these guns to sell them back to the government or render them permanently inoperable.
“Assault weapons have the capacity to injure and kill many people in a very short period of time,” said Dr. Najma Ahmed, co-founder of CDPG. “Ensuring these guns are permanently out of our communities or rendered inoperable is an important, evidence-based measure to protect public health and safety.” Doctors want comprehensive policy commitments on reducing gun violence from all political parties8/17/2021
Tougher gun control measures, as well as education and investments in communities are among the key priorities for Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns this federal election. Underlining the organization’s call for reform is the Canadian Medical Association’s recent release of its updated firearms policy, which states, “Canada should strive to have among the lowest rates of firearm related injury and mortality worldwide.”
Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns (CDPG) is very pleased with today’s announcement by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair regarding the implementation of key aspects of Bill C-71 (An Act to amend certain Acts and Regulations in relation to firearms), including the improving of background checks on new gun purchasers from only five years to a lifetime to take affect July 7th.
"Expanding background checks is a critically important strategy in reducing gun violence. Like all preventative public health measures, better screening will save lives,” said Dr. Najma Ahmed, Co-Chair, Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns. It is smart, evidence-informed policy." Members of Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns share in the sorrow over the shooting of two teenage girls, a 15-year-old Montreal girl shot and killed in a vehicle, and a 14-year-old girl shot last night in her apartment in Toronto and in critical condition. We extend our sympathies.
Our communities must be safe – especially for our children. These latest examples – and they are only the latest – of gun violence involving children must be a wake-up call to all Canadians. As physicians, we see these tragedies up close. It is devastating for everyone involved. No doctor wants to have to take a parent into the “quiet room” to explain to them their child has not survived the brutality of a bullet. No doctor wants to meet another parent who will never be themselves again because we as a society have failed their child. The Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality
maryam.monsef@parl.gc.ca Dear Minister Monsef, With Canada set to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women December 6th – an event created to recognize the victims of the École Polytechnique mass shooting – I am writing to urge you and your government to take action on stronger gun laws. As we know, gun violence prevention is a gender issue. Consider the following: the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability notes that in 2019, guns were the most common reported means of the killing of women and girls; and the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime has specifically urged policy makers to take into consideration the link between firearms and gender-based violence.
Concerned about the epidemic of gun violence in Canada and the added risks created by the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns (CDPG) planned a 2nd National Day of Action on October 20th 2020. The centerpiece of the virtual event was this one-hour video featuring the latest Canadian and international research on gun violence prevention, powerful stories from survivors and families of victims along with health workers on the frontlines treating the injured, and inspiring calls to implement detailed policy proposals.
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