Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 24, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Read online at: winnipegfreepress.com/fp-features S A V O U R M A N I T O B A M A N I T O B A ’ S P R E M I E R F O O D , D R I N K A N D L I F E S T Y L E M A G A Z I N E F A L L 2 0 2 5 F r e s h h a r v e s t v e g g i e s F R O M F I E L D T O T A B L E L o c a l i n f u s i o n s F L A V O U R E D V O D K A M A K E S A C O M E B A C K I N S I D E WATCH FOR IT AT MANITOBA LIQUOR MARTS! FALL 2025 ISSUE DON’T MISS THE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025 B2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I CANADA / WORLD Ottawa plans to begin gun buyback in Nova Scotia O TTAWA — The federal govern- ment plans to begin a buyback of assault-style firearms from in- dividual owners with a pilot project in Nova Scotia. The pilot will be open to eligible gun owners in select areas of Cape Breton to ensure it runs smoothly before being launched across the country. Firearms owners can access a web portal as of Oct. 1 to file a declaration of interest. Participants may either deactivate their firearm using a licensed gun- smith or return it to police. “You cannot be serious about being tough on crime if you’re not willing to be tough on guns,” Public Safety Min- ister Gary Anandasangaree told media Tuesday on Parliament Hill. “This pro- gram is part of that solution.” Since May 2020, Ottawa has outlawed approximately 2,500 types of guns on the basis they belong on the battlefield, not in the hands of hunters or sport shooters. The government says the buyback program will provide owners fair com- pensation for their outlawed firearms. It has declared an amnesty period to protect owners of banned guns from criminal liability while they turn in or deactivate their firearms. Anandasangaree recently said Ot- tawa has budgeted more than $700 mil- lion for the buyback effort. Firearm rights advocates and the federal Conservatives have described the program as a poor use of taxpay- er dollars targeted at law-abiding gun owners. Chief Robert Walsh of the Cape Bre- ton regional police service said Tues- day the compensation program is a way for gun owners to stay in compliance with the law. “We see this as giving them an oppor- tunity to surrender what they are no longer allowed to possess,” he told the media conference. “Ultimately, this is about public safe- ty and security of our communities and putting the protections in place to pre- vent further victimization and tragedy from gun violence.” More than 12,000 firearms have been collected from businesses already, with approximately $22 million in compen- sation paid out during an initial phase of the program. Gun control group PolySeSouvient says the latest phase of the buyback will be a waste of money unless it includes prohibition of the semi-automatic SKS rifle, which is not among the banned firearms. The SKS is commonly used in In- digenous communities to hunt for food. It has also been used in police killings and other high-profile shootings. Offi- cials are reviewing the firearm’s clas- sification. “We understand the concerns over the SKS,” Anandasangaree said. He added that ongoing consultations in- clude Indigenous Peoples for whom “hunting is very much central to their way of life.” PolySeSouvient, formed in response to the 1989 mass shooting at Montreal’s École Polytechnique, says leaving the SKS in circulation would be “a public safety failure.” PolySeSouvient wants the govern- ment to impose an immediate ban on new sales of the SKS, remove from circulation modern, assault-style ver- sions of the rifle, and implement a vol- untary buyback of older models. Liberal MP Nathalie Provost, who was shot at École Polytechnique 36 years ago, stood alongside Anandasangaree to welcome the buyback announcement Tuesday. Provost, secretary of state for nature, said she has “great confidence” the government will complete the buyback. The federal announcement was overshadowed by questions about An- andasangaree’s candid remarks Sun- day to a gun owner who secretly re- corded their conversation. On the recording, Anandasangaree plays down any suggestion the man would be taken away in handcuffs for failing to turn in a banned firearm, and suggests local police don’t have the re- sources for such enforcement. On Tuesday, Anandasangaree said he has “every confidence” police will be able to do their job. “Canada is a rule of law country,” he said. “So if it is in the Criminal Code, it is imperative that police of jurisdiction are able to implement that law.” The federal Conservatives called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to fire Anandasangaree, calling him a hapless minister “pushing a failed gun buyback program.” Carney told reporters Tuesday that he has confidence in the minister and that he’s “doing important work.” “He’s got a lot of important work this session of Parliament including legis- lation on borders and others,” Carney said. The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights said the Liberals are wasting “a tremendous amount of money at a time when Canada can least afford it.” The government of Alberta was also quick to condemn the new pilot. In a media statement, Alberta’s Minister of Justice Mickey Amery and Minis- ter of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis called it an attack on “law-abiding firearms owners” that “does not address the spike in illegal gun crime under the federal Liberal government.” “Simply put, Alberta’s government will not be enforcing this gun grab, and we will make clear to law enforcement that this is not an enforcement prior- ity,” they wrote. “We expect them to focus their time and resources on real provincial policing priorities — like violent criminals, not hunters and sport shooters.” — The Canadian Press JIM BRONSKILL ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS ‘You cannot be serious about being tough on crime if you’re not willing to be tough on guns,’ Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says. Former Philippine president charged with crimes against humanity FORMER Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been charged with crimes against humanity by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court over ac- cusations that he was involved in the killing of at least 76 people as an elect- ed official. A 15-page charge sheet dated July 4 was made public Monday night. Duterte has been imprisoned in The Hague, where the ICC is headquar- tered, since March. He was detained by Philippine police acting on an ICC warrant. Court documents allege that Duterte is responsible for “instructing and au- thorizing violent acts including mur- der” as part of the nationwide war on drugs that killed thousands of suspect- ed criminals and drug dealers across the Philippines, drawing widespread international condemnation, including from human rights groups, world lead- ers and UN agencies. The majority of the killings were car- ried out by security forces colloquial- ly known as the “Davao Death Squad” — named after Duterte’s hometown Davao City, of which he served as may- or before assuming national office. The charges centre on three periods during Duterte’s eight-year campaign to stamp out drugs, including the mur- ders of 19 people in Davao City from 2013 to 2016; the killing of 14 “high- value targets” in 2016 and 2017; and the murder or attempted murder of 43 “‘lower-level’ criminals” in greater Manila from 2016 to 2018. Prosecutors allege that Duterte re- warded hit men with payments of US$875 to US$17,000 for killing a “high- value” target. Duterte’s next court appearance had been scheduled for Tuesday, but it was postponed while prosecutors consider whether the elderly former statesman is fit to hear the charges. Duterte at- tended his initial hearing over video. Duterte’s lawyer, British Israeli at- torney Nicholas Kaufman, has called for the dismissal of his client’s case, arguing that the court no longer has jurisdiction over the Philippines since the country left the Rome Statute, the legal basis for the court, in March 2019. He has also argued Filipino authorities bypassed due process by arresting Dut- erte without a formal extradition re- quest from the ICC. The international court maintains that Duterte’s arrest was co-ordinated by the court and that it has jurisdiction to prosecute the former president for crimes that took place before the Phil- ippines’ 2019 withdrawal. Kaufman has recently argued that his elderly client is not prepared to stand trial “as a result of cognitive im- pairment in multiple domains.” Sara Duterte, the former president’s daughter, is the current vice-president of the Philippines and has been in- volved in organizing his defence. The ICC investigates and tries in- dividuals charged with major inter- national crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. Legally in- dependent of the United Nations, it is the only permanent international court able to prosecute individuals for such crimes. U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a strong rebuke of the inter- national court since returning to of- fice in January. He imposed sanctions on the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, as well as his two deputies and six judges, and he expanded sanctions on three Palestinian rights groups that supplied evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza to the court. The president has echoed Kaufman’s line of defence to ICC prosecutors, say- ing it has no jurisdiction to pursue the 2024 arrest warrants filed against Is- raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan- yahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant because Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute. — The Washington Post CATE BROWN ;