Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 02, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 A 10 SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2020 ? WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMNEWS I CANADA Women's Fashion and Footwear Boutique SIZES 0-14 . SELECTION & SERVICE 918 Grosvenor Ave. . 204.975.4605 www.girlcandyshop.com 30%off Spring Continues BUT HURRY, OUR SALE ENDS MONDAY, MAY 4 STARTING TUES MAY 5TH WE WILL BE OPEN TUESDAY-SATURDAY 11-5 Maximum 4 customers in store at one time, appointments are encouraged. Private appointments may be booked after regular business hours. VISIT INSTAGRAM FOR ONLINE SHOPPING! To follow the latest developments go to ASDowns.com or sign up for our free e-newsletter, The Insider. Hello friends, it's "Double D" Darren Dunn here . . . We as Manitobans are strong but together stronger. We will get through this challenge. Horse racing continues from tracks around the world that are running, safely, without spectators present. You can watch and wager on your mobile device, your computer or on a telephone account. If you don't have an account or have questions, just go to ASDowns.com or call 885-3330 ext. 225. My absolute best to everyone and hopefully sometime soon this year you will be able to once again "Do The Downs." Follow us on O TTAWA - The federal govern-ment has outlawed a wide range of rifles with the aim of making Canada safer, saying the guns were de- signed for the battlefield, not hunting or sport shooting. The ban issued Friday covers some 1,500 models and variants of what the government considers assault-style firearms, meaning they cannot be legally used, sold or imported, starting immediately. The list includes the popular AR-15 rifle and the Ruger Mini-14 used to kill 14 women at Montreal's �cole Polytech- nique in 1989. "Today we are closing the market for military-grade assault weapons in Can- ada," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference. "Every single Canadian wants to see less gun violence and safer commun- ities." There is a two-year amnesty period while the government creates a pro- gram that will allow current owners to receive compensation for turning in the designated firearms, or keep them through a grandfathering process yet to be worked out. Under the amnesty, the newly pro- hibited firearms can only be trans- ferred or transported within Canada for specific purposes. Owners must keep the guns securely stored until there is more information on the buy- back program. Trudeau cited numerous mass shoot- ings, from �cole Polytechnique to the killings in Nova Scotia last month, as the reasons for the move. Some guns have legitimate uses, including recrea- tional shooting, he said, "but you don't need an AR-15 to bring down a deer." A group that arose from the mass shooting on Danforth Avenue in To- ronto's Greektown neighbourhood two years ago applauded the measures. "This is about saving the next per- son," said Ken Price, whose daughter Samantha took a bullet to the hip and survived. "This terrible thing happened to us and we don't want other people to go through it. So let's do things that im- prove our odds." The Liberals promised stricter gun controls in their election campaign platform last fall. Sport-shooting advocates have de- fended the use of semi-automatics like the AR-15 and question whether there is evidence to show the effectiveness of outlawing such firearms. The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights said Friday the new measures would affect hundreds of thousands of Canadians "who have followed every rule and regulation asked of them, and committed no crime." Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief, said ban- ning assault-style firearms will save Canadian lives. "These guns have no legitimate civil- ian purpose," he said. "I want to assure hunters and farmers and target shoot- ers in this country that nothing that we are doing today or we'll do in the future is intended to interfere with this lawful, responsible and legal activity." Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer accused the prime minister of using the COVID-19 pandemic and the immedi- ate emotion of the horrific murders in Nova Scotia to push the Liberals' ideo- logical agenda and make major gun policy changes. "Taking firearms away from law- abiding citizens does nothing to stop dangerous criminals who obtain their guns illegally," Scheer said. Peter MacKay, who is vying to re- place the outgoing Scheer, tweeted that as a Nova Scotian he was outraged over Trudeau "using our tragedy to punish law-abiding firearms owners across Canada." The new ban is comprehensive and the circulation and use of the listed fire- arms will be severely restricted dur- ing the two-year amnesty, said Heidi Rathjen, co-ordinator of the group Poly- SeSouvient, which includes students and graduates of �cole Polytechnique. In their election platform, the Liber- als promised a buyback program for all legally purchased rifles that would fall under the coming ban, with owners of- fered fair market prices for their guns. Rathjen expressed concern that al- lowing grandfathered weapons "would be a huge concession to the gun lobby." "A non-mandatory buyback program could mean that it will take generations to get these weapons off our streets and out of our communities," she said. "Are we going to have to remind politicians that most of the authors of mass shoot- ings in Canada were the legal owners of their assault weapons?" Public Safety Canada said the gov- ernment intends to implement the buy- back program as soon as possible. The Liberals reiterated promises to introduce other gun-control measures, including a plan to empower provinces and cities to manage the storage and use of handguns within their individual jurisdictions. They also signalled intentions to overhaul the oft-criticized gun classi- fication system and introduce stronger means of keeping guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. The group Canadian Doctors for Pro- tection from Guns welcomed the new measures but said it would continue to press the government for additional steps. - The Canadian Press AFTER scouring a littered seascape with its NATO allies, a Canadian Forces warship formally ended its search for survivors Friday after its maritime helicopter crashed off the coast of Greece. The search for five lost crew in the Wednesday Cyclone helicopter crash formally ended after three days, the Canadian Forces said. Six military personnel were aboard the helicopter when it went down in the Mediterranean Sea as it was returning to the Halifax-based frigate, HMCS Fredericton. "This decision was not taken lightly," Rear Admiral Craig Baines, the com- mander of the Navy's maritime com- mand, told reporters on a windswept pier in Halifax. The Fredericton, as well as Turkish, Italian, Greek ships, helicopters and planes, thoroughly searched the area for survivors and came up short, he said. "While searches on the sea are never easy, these units have completely sat- urated the area for the duration of the search over a known crash location," said Baines. "So we are certain that if there were survivors, we would have found them within the past 48 hours." Baines confirmed the search for five Canadian service members had for- mally turned into "search and recovery efforts" instead of a rescue effort. The body of Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough was previously recovered from the wreckage. The Forces said it also recovered the remains believed to be those of people aboard the helicopter but they can't yet be identified. Baines said Italian and Turkish ships are remaining at the scene of the accident to assist with recovery operations for at least the next 48 hours. The helicopter was part of the Frederic- ton's NATO mission when it went down while concluding a training exercise. The Fredericton was bound for an Italian port and was expected to arrive Saturday. The crew planned to hold a vigil for its lost comrades. "Upon arrival in Italy the ship will transfer the remains to our team on the ground who will facilitate their return to Canada via Canadian military air- lift," Baines said. "The remains of our fallen will be brought home next week." Baines said the Fredericton's crew would remain in Italy for several days before returning to resume its role in the NATO mission. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said all Canadians were mourning the loss of six military members. "Every day these brave Canadians in uniform put themselves in harm's way to keep our country and our citizens safe, and together we will honour their service to Canada and our closest al- lies," Trudeau said in a statement. "I also thank our NATO allies who worked side by side with members of our Armed Forces to search for the fallen." Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of the defence staff, said it was a "particularly difficult" situation for the families of those who died. "What makes this all the more dif- ficult to bear is our inability - thus far - to recover all of our fallen com- rades," Vance said Friday in his weekly letter to troops. Vance said an investigation would hopefully find the cause of the crash. The Canadian military also sent a flight investigation team to the region. The Cyclone's flight-data and voice recorders have been recovered after they broke away from the helicopter when it crashed. The missing Canadian servicemen have been identified as Capt. Brenden Ian MacDonald of New Glasgow, N.S.; Capt. Kevin Hagen of Nanaimo, B.C.; Capt. Maxime Miron-Morin from Trois-Rivieres, Que.; Sub-Lt. Matthew Pyke from Truro, N.S.; and Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins from Guelph, Ont. "These proud military members died heroes, and we will always remember them," said Col. James Hawthorne, the commander of 12 Wing Shearwater, the Cyclone's base. "To the families of these members, re- member that we are here to support you - you are part of the military family and now we are in service to you." - The Canadian Press JIM BRONSKILL Trudeau announces ban on 'military-grade' weapons ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listens as a speaker lists Canadian mass shootings during the announcement in Ottawa of a ban on 'military-grade assault weapons' in Canada. 1,500 types of assault-style firearms outlawed Search for survivors of helicopter crash ends MIKE BLANCHFIELD AND KEITH DOUCETTE A memorial at 12 Wing Shearwater in Dartmouth, N.S. A_10_May-02-20_FP_01.indd A10 2020-05-01 9:51 PM ;