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Discovering Canada
30 years after Polytechnique massacre Canada's gun debate rages on
By Levon Sevunts |
english@rcinet.ca
Posted: Friday, February 15, 2019 11:00
Last Updated: Friday, December 6, 2019 13:51
20 Comments ↓
Photo: Radio-Canada
On a quiet afternoon on Dec. 6, 1989, a young man armed with a semi-automatic rifle hidden in a plastic garbage bag walked into the hilltop campus of the Université de Montréal's engineering school with vengeance in his heart.
After lingering at the registrar's office of Ecole Polytechnique for about an hour, Marc Lépine (born Gamil Gharbi) entered a second floor classroom.
Lépine ordered male and female students to separate, sending the men to the right and the women to the left.
He then ordered about 50 men to leave.
"I hate feminists!" Lépine shouted as he opened fire at the nine women still in the room, killing six of them and wounding three others.
Lépine then left the classroom, B-311, to continue his carnage in other parts of the building.
By the time he turned the gun on himself, seconds after he killed off his final victim with a hunting knife, Lépine had shot 28 people, killing 14 young women.
The Montreal Massacre, as it is now known, sent shockwaves across Canada and sparked an enduring political debate that reverberates to this day.
On one side of this debate are people like Heidi Rathjen, who was at the Polytechnic that day and has devoted her life to tighter gun control in Canada ever since.
"In our reactions, we knew that many things contributed to this tragedy – things like violence, sexism and so on – but one thing that we could wrap our heads around as engineering students was the fact that he was able to carry out all this violence rapidly and effectively because he had legal access to a firearm. And he shouldn't have had," says Rathjen, coordinator of PolySeSouvient, or PolyRemembers, a gun control citizens advocacy group.
On the other side of Canada's gun debate are people like Dr. Caillin Langmann, an emergency room physician and professor of medicine, who argues that gun control measures championed by Rathjen and other gun control activists have done nothing to reduce gun violence in Canada and may have even taken much needed resources from programs that are known to be much more effective in reducing gun-related carnage.
The long-simmering 30-year-old discussion is again back in the news as the government in the province of Quebec launches a new gun registry for hunting and sporting rifles and shotguns and the federal government in Ottawa continues to push proposed legislation that would further tighten Canada's gun laws.
A brief history of gun control in Canada
A man is seen reflected in the commemorative plaque during a ceremony marking the 28th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre when a gunman shot 14 women to death and injured 14 other people Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
The current debate reaches back a long way.
Almost immediately after the Polytechnique massacre, the Progressive-Conservative government of then prime minister Brian Mulroney introduced tighter gun control legislation.
Bill C-17 banned large-capacity magazines and semiautomatic military-style rifles, introduced new regulations on safe storage of firearms and stricter screening and safety training for prospective firearms buyers.
The bill also tightened up the firearms licencing system, requiring applicants to provide references, complete a safety-training course and pass an examination, and introduced a mandatory 28-day waiting period before new licence holders were allowed to acquire a firearm.
In addition, the application form for the firearms acquisition certificate was expanded to screen applicants' marital and medical status as well as performing criminal background checks. If the applicant was married or divorced, one of the references was required to be from a spouse or former partner.
But, according to Rathjen, the efforts of gun control activists, who had collected over half-a-million signatures, to pass even tougher legislation ran into strong opposition.
"Another thing we didn't know about gun control in Canada is we do have a very strong gun lobby," Rathjen told Radio Canada International in a telephone interview.
"It might not be as visible as the NRA (National Rifle Association) in the United States, but we have many-many different groups – hunters and collectors, and merchants and gun clubs, and so on – that opposed stricter controls, so the minister couldn't pass gun control legislation after the worst shooting massacre in recent Canadian history."
That prompted Rathjen and Wendy Cukier, a professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, to set up the Coalition for Gun Control.
Cukier became the president of the organization, which she heads to this day, while Rathjen took a break from her engineering career to become the coalition's only paid employee.
When the Liberal Party led by Jean Chrétien trounced the Progressive Conservatives in the 1993 federal election, gun control activists won a powerful ally in the federal legislature.
"We worked six years until we – with all kinds of groups, police groups, women's groups – passed comprehensive gun control in December 1995," Rathjen says.
"At the time we achieved legislatively everything we asked for."
Bill C-68 made it a criminal offence to own a firearm without a licence, including a hunting rifle or shotgun. However, the key aspect of the Liberal legislation was the creation of the Long Gun Registry.
All long guns – hunting rifles, shotguns, sports rifles like the once used in biathlon – now had to be registered (handguns in Canada had to be registered since 1934).
With her mission accomplished, Rathjen left the coalition to once again focus on her career.
Long gun registry fight
Poly Remembers co-ordinator Heidi Rathjen speaks during a news conference calling on the government for increased gun control in Ottawa, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Quebec's attempt to establish a provincial firearms registry is facing resistance. Less than 20 per cent of the long guns believed to be in circulation have been declared. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Things went well for a while, except for the fact that federal Long Gun Registry was way over budget for various reasons, Rathjen says.
In fact, the Long Gun Registry had surpassed its initial budget estimate by more than $1 billion, sparking outrage and adding much-needed ammunition to the opponents of the registry.
The political winds in Ottawa started to change.
Wounded by a damaging patronage scandal and internal squabbling, the Liberals lost power to the Conservatives in 2006,
The Conservatives were born in 2003 out of a shotgun marriage between the remnants of the Progressive Conservative Party and the ascendant Canadian Alliance, a populist right-of-centre party with strong roots in Western and rural Canada, where the long gun registry was despised.
The minority Conservative government under the leadership of then prime minister Stephen Harper attempted to dismantle the Long Gun Registry in 2010, but a private member's bill was defeated in the House of Commons.
In 2012, after having secured a parliamentary majority a year earlier, the Conservatives finally kept their electoral promise to kill the federal gun registry.
"So we did good five steps forward and four steps backwards," Rathjen says.
Quebec opts for its own solution
Quebec Interim Public Security Minister Pierre Moreau speaks at a news conference after he tabled a legislation creating a gun registry, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 at the legislature in Quebec City. Moreau, centre, is accompanied by Polytechnique victim Helene Thibault, from the left, Quebec Solidaire MNA Manon Masse, Polytechnique victim Nathalie Provost, Opposition MNA Stephane Bergeron, Polytechnique victim Heidi Rathjen, and CAQ MNA Andre Spenard. (Jacques Boissinot/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
But in Quebec, scarred by the memory of the Polytechnique massacre, the 2006 mass shooting at Montreal's Dawson College, and the 2012 election night attempt on the life of sovereignist premier-elect Pauline Marois at the Metropolis nightclub in Montreal – all committed with legally obtained firearms – the idea of abolishing the registry was not politically palatable.
The province fought hard, going all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, to preserve the Quebec portion of the registry.
However, on March 27, 2015, Canada's highest court dismissed Quebec's appeal challenging the constitutionality of destruction of long gun registry records, and refused to order the transfer of these records to the province.
On June 9, 2016, with cross-party support, Quebec's National Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation (99 for, 8 against, 0 abstentions) that created a provincial long gun registry.
But the law, which came into effect on Jan. 29, 2019, has run into fierce opposition from many Quebec gun owners and Indigenous groups, who argue it unfairly targets law-abiding gun owners for crimes committed by "a couple of lunatics."
Quebec Indigenous and Inuit groups say the law interferes with their traditional lifestyle, which depends to large degree on sharing resources and equipment for hunting and fishing, including firearms. They also argue the provincial legislation runs counter to land claim and self-government agreements signed by the province with Quebec's Inuit and Cree communities.
They also point to technical difficulties of online registration of firearms in remote communities without access to high speed Internet and filling out forms that are available only in French and English.
As of Feb. 4, only 397,898 non-restricted firearms were registered in Quebec, compared to 1.6 million guns that were registered in the province in 2012 just before the federal gun registry was terminated.
Guy Lavergne, a Quebec-based attorney who represents the National Firearms Association, one of the most vocal gun owner associations in Canada, says, based on his experience, even the 1.6 million figure in the old federal registry was not complete.
There was a large number of non-restricted firearms that were not registered in the federal registry because of resistance to the registration system, he adds.
Lavergne estimates there are about two million long guns in Quebec, which means only about of one-fifth of long guns in the province have been registered so far.
As an avid sports shooter and hunter, Lavergne says he understands the concerns of ordinary gun owners who feel ostracized and marginalized by the prevailing anti-gun political discourse in Quebec and Canada.
Legal and political arguments against Quebec gun registry
There is a revolt brewing in small towns across Quebec against a new law forcing long-gun owners to register their non-restricted firearms with the government. Hunting rifles are seen on display in a glass case at a gun and rifle store in downtown Vancouver, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010. (Jonathan Hayward/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Lavergne says the NFA's opposition to the Quebec gun registry has both a legal and a political perspective.
"The legal aspect is that in the current state of the law the government of Quebec has no business creating a provincial gun registry because that falls within the federal constitutional powers and that's what the Supreme Court of Canada decided in 2000 when a similar gun registry was created by the federal parliament through the Firearms Act," he says.
Lavergne says the NFA filed a constitutional challenge to the provincial legislation in 2016.
The case is currently before the Quebec Court of Appeal and will be heard on Feb. 26.
The NFA lost in the lower courts, which accepted the Quebec government's argument that the legislation is within provincial jurisdiction.
The NFA argues that the legislation does not deal with the property aspect of the firearms and it's not about the administration of justice, which puts it outside provincial jurisdiction.
But, Lavergne says, there is also a political and ideological aspect to the NFA's opposition to certain gun control measures advocated by the province and the Liberal government in Ottawa.
"I think the main problem is that gun control in general instead of addressing the criminal use of firearms, makes criminals out of honest people," he says.
"The gun registry – whether it was the old one or the current provincial long gun registry – only targets law-abiding gun owners, it only targets people who are licenced to own firearms and it doesn't address the criminal use of firearms whatsoever."
The legislation creates a series of infractions where no harm has occurred, he adds.
Lavergne says gun control is a political response to what happened at Ecole Polytechnique and other high profile mass shooting incidents.
"It is a way for the government to basically hold all gun owners, a whole class of people, responsible for the actions of a couple of lunatics.
"I think that is the main reason that gun owners are so vehemently opposed to the Quebec gun registry."
Lavergne says gun owners feel that they've already been checked by police and by government authorities through the licencing process and yet they are viewed as would-be criminals with their every action, movement and purchase being monitored by police.
'A fact of life'
Guy Morin, vice-president of a Quebec group opposed to the provincial long-gun registry, is shown at his home, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Not surprisingly, Rathjen sees the matter differently.
"It was very predictable that the gun lobby would organize campaigns and boycotts and petitions. Their boycott was very effective" she says.
The boycott was aimed at putting so much pressure on the provincial government that it would back down on the day that the law would come fully into effect on Jan. 29.
"Happily the government held firm, said that it would not back down in front of the pressures of the minority of gun owners that are against the law, and that fines will apply," says Rathjen.
Gun control advocates are confident that most gun owners, even if they oppose registration, are law-abiding citizens and will eventually comply, especially since most of them are not willing to pay $500 to $5,000 in fines if they don't comply, she adds.
"Registration was a fact of life for 12 years while the federal long gun registry was in effect, hunting and target shooting continued, it wasn't the end of the world, businesses continued, sports continued," she says. "So the only objection now is in principle, it's ideological."
Rathjen says the legislation enjoys wide-ranging support of every political party in the National Assembly, she said.
"It was passed fair and square after eight years of judicial procedures, legislative procedures, regulatory procedures," says Rathjen. "Every step of the democratic process was respected in adopting this law."
To give in to the demands of a vocal minority of gun owners would be absurd, she argues.
"It would be like saying the majority of smokers are against banning smoking in the workplace and so they're going to decide not to respect the law.
"The registry bill was passed not to please the gun owners, it was passed as a public safety measure."
She says it is now up to the provincial government to come up with strategies to ensure higher compliance with the law.
"The government could be aggressive with fines or it could be softer with a combination of fines and more education and reach-out, but either way the law is staying and eventually it will be respected, we're confident."
Rathjen rejects the idea that the legislation unfairly targets law-abiding gun owners.
"The authors of all the mass shootings that we've seen in Canada over the past few years have been legal gun owners, [these mass shootings were] committed with legal guns that the system allowed these people to have and they shouldn't have had," Rathjen says.
Registration is just one component of gun control, a tool that helps police to remove guns from people who shouldn't have them, she argued.
"At some point the system did not work in terms of alerting the police of authors of these tragedies, that they had mental health issues for example, all of them did," Rathjen says..
"These tragedies could've been averted if the different components of gun control worked together properly, if people would have alerted the police about the mosque shooter's mental health problems, then the police might have determined there was a risk and decided to remove the guns from this individual."
Useful tool for law enforcement?
Montreal police officers look at a weapon seized from a house in Montreal, Wednesday, July 31, 2013, following a standoff with an armed man. (Graham Hughes/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Clément Robitaille, head of prevention and fight against criminality at the Quebec Ministry of Public Security, and the man responsible for managing the newly created provincial firearms registry, says it creates a database that is very useful for police work.
"It allows us to answer three very important questions: who has firearms? What kind of firearms? And where are they being stored?"
Robitaille says there are several situations where this information could be of great use for law enforcement, including when the permit holder presents a danger to himself or others.
"This kind of information at the fingertips of police officers could help prevent family dramas and make life safer for all Quebecers," he says.
Lavergne, the NFA lawyer, dismisses the arguments by police that they need the registry to be able to trace guns and solve crimes as bunch of baloney.
"The police have been asked, 'How many crimes have you been able to elucidate through the long gun registry?'" he says. "And the answer was, 'We don't have the statistics or data on that.'"
Even in the cases such as the Polytechnique massacre, the Metropolis and the Quebec mosque shooting – all of which were carried out with legally purchased guns – having a registry would have played no role in preventing these tragedies or even solving these crimes."
Metropolis shooter Richard Bain was caught on the scene and Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette called the police and turned himself in, Lavergne says.
Lavergne notes that both men had mental health problems and Bissonnette admitted to lying on his firearms licence application form about his mental health history,
While proponents of stricter gun control point to these facts as further proof for the need for much tougher and more in-depth background checks, Lavergne says the resources spent on keeping another layer of bureaucracy would be better spent on funding mental health initiatives.
Rathjen differs, saying one can't measure whether a law is effective or not by looking at anecdotes or individual incidents, because when something is prevented, there is no trace of it.
"Because we have much tougher gun control than in the United States, we have much less gun-related crime, gun-related murders, but you still can't name the people that were saved by having tougher gun control, in the same way that you can't name the people that were saved for having speed limits on highways," she says.
"We still have accidents but it doesn't mean that the speed limits are no good and we should get rid of them. It just means we could do better."
Gun control measures work on the populational level, Rathjen argues.
"We have seen with the federal law, which was in effect from about 2000 to 2012, that during that time there was constant reduction in gun-related homicides to a point when in the last years of the registry, the rates of gun homicides were at the lowest ever recorded in 40 years."
"And since the federal gun registry was abolished, all we've seen is year after year, four years in a row of increase in gun-related homicides to a point now that the rate is at its highest point in 25 years."
What's behind the numbers?
(Source: Statistics Canada)
But for Dr. Langmann, the emergency room physician and professor, the statistics often cited by gun control advocates tell a completely different story.
He has published peer-reviewed statistical analysis of Canada's gun related homicides in scientific journals and has been called to testify in front of a parliamentary committee looking into federal gun control legislation.
Langmann's research has found "no significant beneficial association" between various gun control laws introduced since the late 1970s and gun-related homicide rates in Canada over the last 40 years.
"It's actually not an unusual finding at all," Langmann said in a phone interview with RCI from Hamilton, Ontario, where he is based.
"There is a number of studies that have demonstrated that most of these laws had no effect on homicides."
Langmann says the problem with gun control as a tool for preventing gun related violence and suicides is that substitutes for legal guns are easily available.
He adds that someone who intends to commit a crime using a gun can relatively easily obtain an illegal firearm on the black market and most spousal homicides are committed through beatings, stabbing or strangulation.
And, he says, someone intent on committing suicide can turn to hanging instead, which is as deadly as a firearm.
"If you look at actual legal gun owners, very few of them commit homicide a year," Langmann says. "We know that there are at least two million licenced gun owners in Canada and there is maybe 10 – and it fluctuates wildly – sometimes 17, sometimes much less than 10 homicides a year by those people. So registering a firearm is not going to affect that."
He says what can change Canada's gun related crime statistics are measures aimed at affecting the demand side of the equation.
"It's becoming more clear that quite a large number of homicides in Canada are due to gang violence or crime-associated violence," Langmann says.
The factors that drive this kind of gun violence are related to protection and self-defence, revenge, theft, a vacuum in hierarchy such as imprisonment or loss of leadership, and the age of the participants, as well as social cohesion of the community, Langmann says.
And most of these homicides are committed by younger men, who are most at risk of both becoming a victim or perpetrator of homicides, he says.
"What we've found through studies is that if we try to divert those youth at risk, to capture them committing petty crime before they get involved in significant criminality, or we discover children, who are at risk due to poverty, family and home factors, and we divert them away from belonging to gangs into better education and diversion away from violence, cognitive behavioural therapy, which involves understanding their emotions and behaviour, modifying behaviour, we can actually significantly reduce homicide rates and we can reduce rates of membership in gangs," Langmann says.
"Those are hard things to do, they require more long-term approach, they're not politically exciting and therefore most politicians just aren't interested."
Firearms Bulletin 2016 by Statistics Canada on Scribd
Langmann says mass shootings such as the Polytechnique massacre or the more recent Quebec mosque shooting are a statistical anomaly and are exceedingly rare.
While for obvious reasons they galvanize public attention, he says they are very hard to prevent.
Langmann adds that there are other substitutes to guns, as shown by last April's van attack in Toronto, which killed 10 people and injured 16.
"I think what you're looking at is trying to stop something like a shark attack," he says.
"They are extremely rare and we don't really understand all that is involved in contributing to this."
Banning firearms is not a solution in a country like Canada where a lot of people are involved in hunting, he adds.
"And hunting rifles are probably the most dangerous of all firearms in terms of a trauma from the medical perspective," Langmann says.
"They can cause significant amount of damage, their cartridges are large and high-powered."
In a brief submitted to Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in April of 2018, Langmann even suggested doing away with Canada's current system of firearms classification.
"What is becoming clear from current research is that the type of firearm, and control of certain types of firearms or magazine size restrictions results in no reduction in firearm homicide or suicide," Langmann wrote.
"Extensive analysis of mass homicide events demonstrates that mass killers can use a wide variety of firearm types, even firearms with small magazine capacities, to cause a significant number of deaths. There does not appear to be an association with magazine capacity and death as the shooter often appears to have enough time between shots to reload."
Statements like this are an anathema for gun control advocates in Canada.
"No matter what you call them, when a weapon allows you to kill dozens and dozens of people in a matter of minutes, because you have rapid fire accessories, like large capacity magazines or you have these killer bullets that explode on contact, or sniper rifles that could shoot at up to two kilometres, these are weapons that are much too risky, their risk for public safety far outweighs any benefit that you can get from hobbies or sports purposes," Rathjen says.
"These are the weapons designed to kill in military contexts that should be banned. So I don't care what you call them but these weapons shouldn't be allowed in the hands of civilians."
Gun control activist Heidi Rathjen speaks during a news conference in Montreal, Friday, Nov. 28, 2014. (Graham Hughes/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
But it is precisely this kind of language that gets gun owners riled up.
They point out that exploding projectiles are illegal for sale to civilians not only in Canada but in most countries around the world and are reserved for military use, and even then usually against material targets such as enemy vehicles and aircraft.
Some hunting bullets – hollow point and soft-point bullets – are designed to mushroom or expand upon impact to cause maximum damage in the prey to incapacitate it and ensure its quick death but such bullets were banned from the military use in international conflicts by the 1899 Hague Convention.
In fact, many military-grade bullets cannot be used for hunting because they are designed to penetrate their target through body armour or other obstacles and do not provide enough stopping power for large game.
Large capacity magazines have been illegal in Canada since 1990 as the result of legislation that followed the Polytechnique massacre. To be legally sold in Canada, all semi-automatic rifle and shotgun magazines are limited to five rounds. Modifying magazines to increase their capacity is also a crime in Canada.
"If somebody is willing to commit a crime in order to commit another crime, I don't think that's a gun problem, I think it's a criminality problem," says the NFA's Lavergne.
Nevertheless, says Rathjen, that didn't stop the Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette and the Metropolis shooter Richard Henry Bain from tampering with the magazines of their Czech-produced semi-automatic rifles to remove the pins that limited them to accepting only five rounds and to increase their capacity to up to 30 rounds.
Fortunately, in both cases the rifles jammed, preventing both Bain and Bissonnette from unleashing their full fire power.
"Just the fact that these weapons are out there and they are able to accept large capacity magazines, and these large capacity magazines are easily modifiable to the full capacity, to us that's the risk," Rathjen says.
"We've had many instances of these shooters tinkering with their magazines that are legal in order them to allow to contain all the bullets that they are designed for originally."
And as far as sniper rifles that can shoot up to two kilometres, Lavergne says that's another example of gun control activists using scare tactics on a population that knows little or nothing about firearms.
He points out that such sniper rifles are very expensive, costing up to several thousand dollars not counting the cost of optical sights, which could easily double the price of the weapon. These rifles weigh anywhere from 12kg to 18kg (a typical hunting rifle or a semi-automatic carbine weighs between 3kg and 4kg).
It takes tremendous skill to operate such rifles and even the Canadian military, which is internationally renown for its snipers, has only a few dozen people at most who can engage targets at distances beyond 2,000 metres.
New federal legislation in the works
Recreational shooter Pat Eyre fires a round from her 9mm Glock handgun at the United Shooting Range in Gormley, Ont., north of Toronto, Friday, Jan. 3, 2003. (Kevin FrayerCP PHOTO)
The Liberal government is currently poised to pass new federal firearms legislation that Ottawa says is necessary to reduce the frequency of violent gun crime.
In the last election, the Liberal Party ran on the promise of reversing a decade's worth of Conservative changes to gun rules that were introduced by the previous Liberal government.
Liberals argue that Bill C-71, introduced by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, fulfils that commitment through an overhaul of the background check system, new record-keeping requirements for retailers and further restrictions on transporting restricted firearms.
"The provisions in Bill C-71 are modest and reasonable, and they do not entail a significant new cost," Goodale said in introducing the bill.
"Bill C-71 an important piece of legislation in support of public safety and the ability of law enforcement to investigate gun crimes, while at the same time being reasonable and respectful toward law-abiding firearms owners and businesses."
Rathjen says even though her group is disappointed with Bill C-71, it supports the legislation, which is currently moving through the Senate, because it's "a step forward."
"It brings in some measures that are absolutely critical, for example, the obligation to make sure that the person you're selling your gun to has a valid possession permit, which is not the case now," Rathjen said.
"But to us it's a very disappointing piece of legislation because it's so weak compared to what the Liberals could have done within the scope of their election promises."
Rathjen has sharp words for the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying it is "terrified of the gun lobby" and doing too little too late with legislation on gun control.
"It's very disingenuous that they're looking into it at a time when it's probably too late to get anything done concretely, which is terrible because the Liberal Party actually ran on getting handguns and assault weapons off our streets, and yet there is nothing about that in the bill they did table, which still hasn't been passed," she says.
"And if they say they are going to anything about it, they won't have time."
The Liberal bill brings back the legislative requirement for keeping commercial sales records of all gun purchases, which was eliminated by the Conservative government in 2012.
"The problem is they [the Liberals] are bringing it back in a way that makes it extremely difficult for authorities to access this data," Rathjen says.
"Police need a search warrant in order to trace one gun… there is no way to pool the data, there is no way for authorities to do quality checks to see if the law is being applied."
Lavergne, meanwhile, says for gun owners the proposed federal legislation raises many of the same objections as the provincial gun registry in Quebec.
"Again it is targeting law-abiding gun owners," he says
"It is creating additional bureaucracy where none is required and it doesn't do anything to address the real problems of gun violence."
One of the gun owners' biggest objections to the proposed legislation has to do with something called Authorisation to Transport (ATT).
There are three classes of firearms in Canada: non-restricted firearms (shotguns, hunting and sporting rifles); restricted firearms (which includes handguns, some more compact semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15) and prohibited firearms (fully automatic guns and assault rifles, sawed-off shotguns and rifles, and smaller handguns that are easier to conceal).
Under the current rules, restricted firearms can only be legally possessed at authorised locations such as the owner's residence or a certified shooting range.
In addition, all restricted firearms owners require an ATT from a provincial or territorial Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) in order to transport a restricted firearm from one authorised location to another.
"For example, I'm a member of a gun club in Ontario and I have an authorization to transport handguns between my house and that gun club," Lavergne says. "I'm not allowed to make a detour, I'm not allowed to stop along the way and I have to take the most reasonably direct route, and while I do so, I have to transport these handguns under lock, in a locked case in the trunk of my car."
Under legislation that was passed by the Conservative government in the last months of their tenure, this process of authorizations had been simplified, Lavergne says.
Instead of seeking a separate authorization every time a gun owner wanted to go to a shooting club or a gunsmith, an ATT was issued for a number of pre-approved locations.
"Those would be, for example, to take your firearm to a gun show or to an appraiser, or to a gunsmith for a repair, or to any shooting range in the province," Lavergne says
"Basically instead of filling out an application, faxing it to the Chief Firearms Officer and getting a piece of paper in return every time you wanted to go to one of these places with a handgun, you had one that was issued to you at large but only for those locations. It doesn't allow you to take your handgun to the mall or to a wedding."
The new Bill C-71 reinstates the requirement for separate ATTs for all authorised locations except for gun ranges. In other words, if Bill C-71 becomes law, a gun owner is only authorised to transport his restricted firearms between his residence and his gun club.
Lavergne says that if the firearm malfunctions or needs some repairs, the gun owner cannot simply drive from the gun range to see his authorised gunsmith, but has to return home file a separate ATT, wait for it to arrive to be able to legally transport it for repairs.
Another aspect of Bill C-71 that is vehemently opposed to by many gun owners has to do with rules governing the purchase or transfer non-restricted firearms – hunting rifles and shotguns – between two licence holders.
Under the current legislation, a gun owner who wants to sell or transfer his or her firearm to another person has to check whether the buyer has a valid firearm Possession and Acquisition Licence (selling or transferring a firearm to someone who doesn't have a licence is illegal).
Under the proposed legislation, the seller would not only have to see the licence but also call it into the Canada Firearms Centre (CFC) operated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and verify whether the licence is a valid one.
The seller then has to obtain a reference number to show that the transaction has been authorised by the CFC.
"Basically, the firearms licence is no longer a valid document to purchase firearms because every transaction has to be vetted by the RCMP," Lavergne said. "Again it's adding a layer of bureaucracy and it creates a crime when no harm occurred."
Lavergne says that because the government keeps a record of each transaction, Bill C-71 in effect recreates the federal long gun registry.
"The Trudeau government is saying, 'We're not reinstating the long gun registry,' but the reality is they're recreating the process and they're keeping the records of transaction, so in essence once every single long gun would have changed hands one time, you will have a long gun registry," says Lavergne.
Keeping guns out of the hands of criminals
A plain clothes officer carries a firearm to display on a table which contains guns, drugs, and money as Ontario Provincial Police host a news conference in Vaughan, Ont., on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, detailing an investigation into illegal firearms and trafficking of illegal drugs in Ontario, Quebec and the United States. (Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
When asked whether there are gun control measures he would support, Lavergne says that measures that make sense to him are the ones that target criminal activity and prevent people with criminal intent or criminal behaviour from having access to firearms.
The NFA would have no problem with legislation that prevents people who have been convicted of violent crime or have exhibited violent behaviour from purchasing or possessing firearms, he adds.
"But by and large the problem with gun control as it has been applied in Canada is that most of the resources are put to target non-criminal behaviour and just creating layer upon layer of bureaucracy," Lavergne says.
"That's not a good use of resources but it allows politicians to say, 'We've addressed the problem,' but no, they're not addressing the problem."
'It's not my thing but it was fun'
Despite her advocacy for stricter gun control, Rathjen says she doesn't hate guns as is often claimed by her opponents.
"Wendy and I, when we worked early on to get the laws passed in the 1990s we met with friendly gun owners, we went to shooting ranges and shot," Rathjen says. "I don't know, maybe I enjoyed it a bit, it's not my thing but it was fun. I could see how people can enjoy it."
But that's not the point, she argues.
"I like driving my car, it doesn't mean I'm against licencing and registration," Rathjen says.
"You can enjoy guns but you can also recognize that these are dangerous objects when they fall into the wrong hands and it's to everyone's benefit to make sure they're strictly controlled."
Categories: Politics, Society
Tags: Bill C-71, Canada, gun control, long-gun registry, Quebec
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20 comments on "30 years after Polytechnique massacre Canada's gun debate rages on"
Callie McHardy says:
Monday, June 24, 2019 at 21:20
Ms. Rathjen needs to look up facts before speaking. When I was reading this article I noticed a lot of misinformation expressed by her. That's not going to impress people who have knowledge of and have researched this topic. As well, she still didn't clarify how her ideas will impact criminals. Criminals don't care what the laws are.
Frank Guptell says:
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 at 12:21
You know , it's not so much people with guns that scare me, it is those who drive while wrapped up in conversation on cell phones.
that is one major problem as well as all illegal firearms . Go after the real problems , not those who go by the rules .
Fred Leard says:
Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 14:23
Given all the horrible knife slayings in the news lately (2 in yesterday's news with five victims in BC that I know of) i think that if we're going to have a registry it should include all knives, including kitchen knifes which are being used more and more frequently due to the crack down on firearms. Worth looking into.
Larry A McKain says:
In regards to the Marc Lepine shooting, why did all the young men act like sheep and leave the young women to face a lunatic? Also no one seems to remember the police force that waited outside of the school until they deemed it was safe to enter.
Tim Tanner says:
As many have stated before, The proposed legislation (C-71) and Heidi's rhetoric do nothing to address crime. Imposing further restrictions on law abiding gun owners and claiming that you have dealt a blow to "gun crime" is a scam designed to play upon the emotions of the uninformed.
Spend your time and money on police officers to monitor those who have been banned from owning firearms (not done now) and for police to combat gang violence. He who sacrifices freedom for security diserves neither.
Marc Jampolsky says:
Did anyone else notice that only one side actually had statistical evidence to back them up?
The anti-firearm side had no evidence to support their views .. Why didn't you did your job and challenge them on it… A simply freaking question like WHY? Why do you want this when there's no evidence to support it?
*why didn't you do…
Fred Albertan says:
Friday, February 15, 2019 at 23:29
Why are gun crime victims considered an authority on guns and laws? Should traffic accident victims be consulted when we design intersections? Should the victim of impaired drivers tell us when liquor stores open and close? Why not? If being a gun crime victim gives a person special expertise in guns, why not do the same with every other type of crime?
How would this have turned out with a few armed guards at the college? How would it have turned out if law-abiding students and teachers had been allowed to take training and carry a concealed pistol…and some of them had chosen to do so?
Why are there no school shootings in Israel? Is it because Jews are lived on the ME or is it because Israeli teachers are armed?
The answers are visible but Liberals prefer to divide-and-conquer with more moronic gun laws that never worked and won't work.
Politicians and polysouvient keep saying that the Quebec gun registry passed 99to 8 at the Quebec parliament the one thing they never mention is that the liberals were in majority and that their chief Philip Couillard said it clearly on the news that his members had no choice but to vote party line which to me should not exist not democratic vote like me or lose your job
Wayne Woodford says:
Rathjen likes driving her car, well does she consume alcohol , does she have a cell phone; if she does then maybe we should monitor her very closely in case she attempts to drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol while texting on her phone! & that goes for the rest of the gun control fanatics! How many people are killed every year because alcohol, drugs & the use cell phones are readily available & people drink & text while driving; the registration of cars does nothing to stop this from happening. The good guys with guns need to go after the bad guys with guns; good should triumph EVIL! OUR RIGHTS IN THIS COUNTRY WERE PAID FOR IN FLESH & BLOOD!!! LEST WE FORGET! Why did 50 so called men leave the room with an armed mad man & do nothing to intervene?! SHAMEFULL!!!!!
Carmen Wallace says:
Restricting guns is not the answer. Restricting people is. Every person should have to do a mental examination before owning a gun.
T. Smith says:
Interesting article that attempts to be fair but still shows the fatalistic loyalty of the CBC to their Liberal overlords. There's a massive amount of factual information which is readily available supporting firearms owners and dispelling the speaking lines uttered by Blair and Goodale but RCI conveniently left out.
Enacting stricter firearms legislation against legitimate law abiding owners will not affect the illegal underground market in any fashion. Criminals by their very definition do not comply with social norms nor legislation. They don't give a damn about the safety and security of others unless they're facing charges for breaking those laws. They don't care who they hurt while engaged in their criminal pursuits. They play the system against itself and are frequently repeat offenders.
Goodale has set aside $431 million to support Bill C71. That money could be far better spent putting more boots on the ground by funding gang task forces and increased border security. The vast number of weapons used on the street are smuggled in from other countries. The number of firearms crimes involving actual law abiding firearms owners is extremely small. The number of deaths directly attributable to licensed owners in 2016 (according to the last STATSCAN figures) was four. The number of deaths in a month caused by criminals using illegal weapons in the GTA alone far exceeds that.
Let's place the effort where it needs to be focused: at criminals – not 2.2 million legal owners. Increase police funding and revamp the laws to stop the revolving door letting these thugs out on the street hours after they are charged.
Trevor R Smith says:
What an obviously slanted piece of "journalism". CBC is certainly earning their Liberal compliance money.
John Chapman says:
The fact based articles that this is supposed to replace are still available on Google's web cache and very much worth reading to give an idea of what the CBC does not consider acceptable.
This article begins with a long inflammatory passage, gives the first and last comments to gun control advocates and gives over most of the text to gun control advocates. Gee just a little bit of bias. I expect better from the CBC.
Guy Lapierre says:
Leave licenced gun owner alone and put your effort and focus on mental sickness and street gang .
Scott Rivers says:
Nice to see a fairly balanced article by RCI. Balanced in the sense that it was fairly even between Heidi and the progun side. But in terms of Logic there is no Logic in Heidi's responses, everything she is fighting for is based on emotion not fact. As the article clearly states a number of times a gun is a tool and focusing on the tool not the cause will change nothing. Contrary to what Heidi says in this article she wants all guns gone, she is not looking for concessions and once the target shooters are gone the will go after hunting firearms. This is quite obvious
The first nine paragraphs are inflammatory rhetoric about Marc Lepine. How is that balanced?
Alison de Groot says:
Still missing from the conversation are the 4,500 small businesses and the 25,000+ people employed in the Canadian sporting arms industry, the bulk of these businesses are in non-urban and rural communities.
The media is all over the loss of 2500 automotive jobs in Oshawa or the threat to 10,000 defence industry jobs in London, but has shown no effort to examine the economic issues at stake in the gun debate.
Alison de Groot
Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA)
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A few Yankee pitchers are in a zone that mixes pride with frustration. They had distinguished careers, of which they should be proud, ending up tantalizingly close to Hall of Fame consideration.
But they have no shot at Cooperstown.
David Wells, Carl Mays, Sad Sam Jones, Kenny Rogers, Kevin Brown, Joe Niekro, Bobo Newsom, Rick Reuschel and George Uhle all passed 200 wins but didn't reach 250, where you get serious Hall of Fame consideration, or 300, where entry is nearly automatic.
With some exceptions, you need special achievements to push you into the Hall of Fame from the low 200s in wins. And these pitchers didn't have them. They were good and pitched a long time. But not quite long enough or good enough. Most had their best seasons for other teams. I'll address them in the order of their contributions to the Yankees.
Boomer spent four seasons with the Yankees, 1997-98 and 2002-3. His only 20-win season came as a Blue Jay, but his Yankee records were solid: 16-10, 18-4, 19-7 and 15-7. That 1998 season placed him third in the Cy Young Award vote.
He was 6-2 in post-season games for Yankees, and undefeated 4-0 for the 1998 team, including two wins and an MVP Award in the American League Championship Series.
Plus he pitched a perfect game:
Mays had more 20-win seasons than Wells, including 26- and 27-win seasons for the Yankees in 1920-21. He pitched for the Yankees from 1919-23. I gave the edge to Wells based on post-season performance. Mays was only 1-3 in the 1921-22 World Series. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bobo Newsom, Carl Mays, David Wells, George Uhle, Joe Niekro, Kenny Rogers, Kevin Brown, Rick Reuschel, Sad Sam Jones

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Moonthrone
Lane Dungeon Master last edited by Lane
The Spire Lords
The Council of Mourn, 7 Houses—currently House Mourn, House Zrrkun, House Dufray, House Thray, House Gnarloch, House Kurn.
The ultimate rulers of Moonthrone, the Council of Mourn is the ultimate ruling body of the Spired City. It consists of representatives from the seven highest ranking houses of Moonthrone's nobility. Positions are hard fought and difficult to keep, with lower houses constantly vying to usurp one of the ruling seven's power to take over a seat on the Council.
The City Watch
Primarily made up of dogmen, the Moonthrone City Watch is tasked with general peacekeeping and order within the City Below. They are willing to turn a blind eye towards most crime in the City Below as long as no one generates enough unrest to get the attention of the nobility in the City Above. Much of their attention is focused on rooting out instances of warlockery, or hunting down and foiling activities of The Folk.
The Church of Asmodeus
Around 133 years ago Hell established an embassy in Moonthrone, and enacted a treaty which provided for an exclusion to the general laws outlawing warlock pacts. Warlocks with documentation of approved devilish patrons, certified and administered by the Church of Asmodeus, may practice openly. The Church of Asmodeus primarily operates out of the district commonly referred to as Devil Town, with its headquarters being the Temple of Asmodeus, modeled after Asmodeus's citadel-spire of Malsheem. The Church also operates the Hellish Embassy and Hellish Archives, which flank the Temple to the east and west at the center of Devil Town.
The Folk
Based primarily out of the Pelt District, often called the Fur Grounds due to the area's large were-creature population, the Folk are the descendants of escaped lycanthropes used in the breeding experiments that resulted in dogmen. They operate as an underground insurgent group (some would say terrorists) to undermine the power of the Spire Lords. Factions within the Folk vary, with the most altruistic wanting to establish a democratic society for the fair representation of the common man, and the most vicious wanting to plunge the city into anarchic chaos where the double-skinned (as some call themselves) can feast and rule over all the single-skins (non-lycanthropes).
The Beggars' Guild
Moonthrone's City Below is full of beggars. Conspiracy theorists say the majority of them are regulated by a vast criminal organization with connections that go all the way to the City Above. Rumors also say they have been known to kidnap children or mutilate the desperate to increase begging income. Most people know better to give any of those rumors credence, at least in public (though if real, the rumors have likely worked in the Guild's favor, as not a few people have been known to throw a blind man a coin they wouldn't generally spare, just to be sure to keep the Guild happy and away from their doorstep).
There are innumerable gangs throughout Moonthrone, of various hierarchies and organizational structures, as varied as small groups of thugs to neighborhood militias to city-spanning crime organizations. Some noteworthy gangs follow:
The Dead Crows—a local gang of mid-to large size, originally controlling small territory in the northwest portion of the Moth District, near Rustgate, though dangerously growing. They are especially racist and violent towards the city's marcrow. Their name comes from their practice of tying heavy wooden wings to the diminutive bird-men (or anyone else that gets on their bad side) and throwing them off city roofs or other high places, a practice they heard of second hand and stole from kenku ostracization rituals (not that the average Dead Crow would be aware of the practice's origin).
The Anklers—One of the largest, most free-ranging, and most feared gangs of Moonthrone, the Anklers are predominantly Halflings. Their name comes from their practice of cutting the Achilles tendon of, or "ankling," those known to be racist or violent towards Halflings. They are a sharp exception of the general rule in Moonthrone that Halflings tend to try their best to go unseen so as to not be mistaken for a gnome, or easy gnome ringer. They tend to travel in groups; if you see a crowd parting for unknown reasons, it is not uncommon to see a group of red-garbed Halflings emerge, once the taller folk move to give you a view. Only the unwise would dare threaten, or be seen as anything but obsequious toward, a Halfling in the unmistakable dark-red colored clothing of an ankler, lest he be awoken in the middle of the night by the pain of his tendon shooting up his calf. They have a collegial alliance with the Tusk Boys, another racial based gang, but of half-orcs.
The Tusk Boys—Despite their name, not all Tusk Boys are male, though they do tend to all be half-orcs (with the exception of a few half-orc wannabe humans, who it is hard to be sure are genuinely liked by the gang, or just pitied and tolerated). They are a fairly jovial and easy-going gang, and tend to get along with most everyone, especially the more dour Anklers. Few are dumb enough to take their easy-going style as a weakness though, as a Tusk Boy turned angry is a dangerous thing, and few survive the wrath of a single Tusk Boy turned enemy, as the gang is known to be quite protective of its own, its territory, and its allies. Though seen all around the city, their base territory is a neighborhood in the South Gutters, near the border with the Southspire district. Their leader is a hefty transgender half-orc named Grummshaw. The Tusk Boys have no problem with their leader's gender preference and are quick to take out anyone who might have a problem with, or feel the need to comment upon, it. It is said the Tusk Boy's unique camaraderie with the Ankler's came about when the Ankler's took out their last leader, a much more gruff and grumpy orc with more militant sensibilities at odds with the group's current lackadaisical demeanor.
Rustgutters—What started as a local militia in Rustgate, is now the leading crime organization of the Rustgate district. Originally formed as the Rustgate Regulars to protect the citizens of Rustgate from the depredations of the innumerable local gangs that always ebb and flow in Moonthrone, the Regulars soon found that the Spirelords, and thus the City Watch, did not take kindly to an autonomous, semi-militaristic militia group literally under their noses. The militia went figuratively underground to survive, and soon found itself partaking in many of the same criminal endeavors as their enemies, the gangs, just to survive. Now led by the charismatic dwarf Orondus Dwarftoss, they still watch out for the common man when able, and do their best to keep to operations that won't damage the community.
The Guttersnipes—The Guttersnipes are the preeminent gang of all three Gutters districts, with satellite gangs that seem to drop in and out of control of Gutters neighborhoods as often as the river-adjacent districts flood (which is often, hence the name).
The Blue Stripes--A neighborhood gang in Northgutter, identifiable by the strips of blue cloth they wear pinned to their right shoulders. Currently in a turf battle with another small-time neighborhood gang, the Grey Faces.
The Grey Faces--Another neighborhood gang in Northgutter, identifiable by their grey bandanas, generally covering their faces, bandit-style. Opposed to the Blue Stripes.
The Widowers--A new criminal organization that has recently taken over much of the illicit activity around the docks of Northgutter. They don't have much of a visible street presence, but their mysterious leader, The Widow, has abounded in recent rumors regarding back-alley dealings.
Cultists of the Ones Below
Obnoxiously vague on who or what exactly they worship, the Cultists of the Ones Below, or Those Who Sleep, or the Dreamers in the Dark, or whatever else seems to come into their heads, recently revealed themselves to the public when, around midnight of the last full moon, a good portion of the City Below found themselves uncannily drawn to the Heartspire, just before massive torrents of fleshy pseudopods erupted through the inside of the tower. The cultists were those weird guys who started wrangling people and throwing them into the the stuff.
Lane Dungeon Master last edited by
Updated gangs listing
The Cog
Many adventurers have been hired and brought into the city by a shadowy organization, who initially refused to identify themselves. Eventually the black leather armor clad contacts reveal themselves as operatives of the Cog, usually after a mission or two of less than "legal' missions have been accomplished.
The Cog seems to have connections to half the factions in Moonthrone. They've recently made outreach to the Folk, and have implied they have ties even as high as the Spire Lords. Some new recruits believe they are working for the Beggar's Guild, as the Beggars are the most notorious criminal organization in the city, and the Cog's "aren't we mysterious" style of hiring is in line with the illuminati style rumors that surround the Beggar's Guild. However, whether the Cog is actually part of the Beggar's Guild, secretly in charge of the Beggar's Guild, or merely have contacts to them is unclear.
multiverse 25 moonthrone 17


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A web page filled with information on things I like from Films, to Games, Books, Music and Godzilla.
In early 2012, an advert began to appear on TV's across the UK, advertising the opening of a new Roller Coaster at Thorpe Park. The advert was pretty good and featured a rather eye catching display of Rollercoaster animations; plus an ear catching theme tune produced by You Me At Six. It was quite easily one of my favourite adverts at the time, and the rollercoaster it was advertising was one that I wanted to ride at some point. That rollercoaster being The Swarm.
I'd never been to Thorpe park before, I had been to Blackpool Pleasure Beach (also my favourite Theme Park) a couple of times, and had visited Alton Towers twice many years previously. Thorpe Park was a park though that had caught my eyes a few times, as this was certainly not the first time that I had seen an advert for a new ride there. In the past they had advertised both Saw – The Ride, and Stealth too.
Just over a year later after seeing the first advert for The Swarm; during a mini Family Holiday, I got the chance to visit Thorpe Park. I was rather excited, and when I got there I sort of slipped into my thought processes into which rollercoasters were best to ride first just so I could build my adrenaline up. There was also the case of how long queues were for the rides. Anyway, I didn't go on the Swarm first, I went on Nemesis Inferno. The queue was quite long and it took nearly an hour to get on the ride, but it was pretty fun. There was however a problem, and one that would provide a constant pain throughout my entire day there.
The queues provided information about the rides, and one piece of information they displayed was the handy suggestion of trying the example seat at the start of the queue to see if you were able to fit in the safety seat on the actual ride. So, I did, and I was able to get in ok and was comfortable, so then I rejoined the queue for Nemesis Inferno. When I got on the ride, one of the attendants showed me to a row of seats on the ride specially built for much larger people (like myself), and he helped get into it ok, and then I was able to enjoy the ride. So no problem right? Maybe in theory!
After Nemesis Inferno, I went off to The Swarm to take a look, and like before there was a seat outside to try out. But this time I was very unsure! You see the problem with this system is that while it is helpful to see if you can actually fit in the seat, there is no attendant there, so it's entirely guess work. The theory is that if you can fit into the seat, and have the safety bar tested to your size, it means that when you reach the front of the queue, you won't have wasted so much time and will be able to join the ride. But it's not that simple! Whilst you may be able to fit the test seat, the park has regulations on how well you can fit in it. Alongside the seat, there are holes which the seat's safety bar fits into, and from memories of that day, the bar must go in by at least two of these holes. Now this is for safety reasons of course, but there is nothing to indicate this piece of information; at the seat at the start of the queue. So you could get in and think that simply getting into one set of holes was enough; and then be told something else entirely when getting onto the ride! What would have been helpful was if there was an attendant at that queue test seat, who could have told you right there and then if you would have been ok to ride, maybe even give you a little ticket to prove this!
So anyway, there I was at the start of the queue, trying to think if I was ok to ride the ride. In my mind I was worried that I wouldn't be able to. One thought that was going through my mind was the thought that perhaps The Swarm, like Nemesis Inferno, may have seats on it for larger people, but this was entirely guess work and hopeful thinking! The test seat at the start of the queue was a standard seat, and there was not a larger seat to test on, nor anything to suggest those seats may be on the ride itself. So, after a head scratching and worrying time, I had to sadly decide not to ride The Swarm, which was the one Rollercoaster I wanted to ride; and that became something of a theme for the rest of the day.
I went over to Saw – The Ride. The test seat did have some indication on it, in the form of a automatic system which read how far the seat safety bar would get into your waist, and then make a sound if it got in far enough to ride. Well, on a couple of occasions when I tested it, it would make the sound, however when I was testing it I was giving the chair a real good slam into my waist, and I was not convinced when the sound went off to say 'Yes'. Later in the day, I was actually let straight through passed the queues onto Detonator (not a rollercoaster), where some helpful attendants tried hard to get me on the ride, but due to regulations, one set of holes plus the seat belt strap still wasn't enough to give me a green tick to ride it. But at least this time I knew that I wouldn't be able to ride Colossus, as the seats on Detonator were supposedly the same size as the ones on Colossus.
It did put a grim note on my day really; but I was still able to ride other stuff! I rode on X (now known as The Walking Dead: The Ride) quite a few times as the safety bar on this ride was just a simple knee bar (probably because this rollercoaster didn't involve going upside down), plus I went on the water rides like Tidal Wave and Loggers Leap quite a few times. So; whilst I didn't get to go on what I wanted to go on, at least I didn't have an entirely wasted day, by the end of it; I still had some fun.
Recently I did sort of get to ride The Swarm, whilst playing Planet Coaster on my PC.
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← Health and Safety Signage – What's right for you?
Emergency Lighting – Can You See Through the Smoke?
Safety legislation in the UK states that people in business premises must be able to find their way to a place of total safety by using escape routes that have adequate lighting in the event of an emergency. The comprehensive regulations, standards and guidance about this are designed to make sure that the particular needs of each building are looked at individually and addressed.
The code of practice for emergency lighting, BS 5266, offers guidance on where emergency lights should be positioned, minimum light levels, and how often routine tests should be performed. It states that areas of more than 60 square metres must have emergency lighting and signs installed.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRFSO) 2005, which came into force in October 2006, charges the responsible person in control of non-domestic premises with the safety of everyone in the building, whether working, visiting or living there. This duty of care includes the provision of emergency lighting.
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Non-maintained emergency lighting is designed to turn on in the event of a power failure. It is wired into the buildings lighting circuitry and kicks in when there is a power failure making sure emergency exits are still lit. This type of emergency lighting usually chosen in offices and factories, where people are usually familiar with the escape routes.
Maintained lighting is designed to provide continuous illumination and will continue to work even if there is a power failure. This type of emergency lighting is most commonly used in public places such as theatres, shopping malls and cinemas.
If you are unsure as to which type of emergency lighting would best suit your needs, give us a call at FTS Safety Solutions, and we will be happy to provide any help and advice that you may need.


Our team has been selling homes since 2006- See Red Sign Team's Past Sales. More and more families continue to refer their friends and family to us because of the success they had when selling their home with us. We have found that every home is different. No home is alike. Knowing this, we follow proven steps (see below) yet customize a unique marketing plan around each home we sell. Need to Short Sale? No problem. We'll review your options. Just say "List my Utah home" and we guarantee we will sell your home or we will buy it.
By using recent home sales, pending sales, and the current inventory of homes for sale, we can counsel with you regarding accurately pricing your home. Your listing price plays the most critical role in the home selling process. We are thorough in our price analysis and will take the time to share the numbers and statistics so you can choose the price of your home and not just take our word for it.
We break down this information so it is easy for you to see. We include graphs of the homes in the area and what they sold for, a map to show you where they are, and a break down of each property. This will be our guide as we set the price. We compare your home directly to these other sales and from this we can see how we should price to help you sell your home for the most money in the least amount of time.
With this we can even find the price we would need to list your home at to get multiple offers to get your home sold in a weekend, to get an offer for market value a little slower, or search for the "needle in the haystack" or that one buyer that is willing to go up where you need. Depending on your needs we will come up with a marketing plan to get that done.
We will walk through your home with you and share staging tips and strategies for each room in your house. The key here is to keep with the 3 D's – De-personalize, Deep clean, and De-clutter We will let you know if there is anything else that should be done.
The agent and the potential buyer should be the only ones home at a real estate showing.
Accessibility of the home is critical in getting buyers through your home. We also know that the process of showing your home can be inconvenient if not done right. We are committed to scheduling each appointment in a way that gives you as much notice as possible.
This way you don't have just our opinion, you get feedback from the agents and buyers walking through the home too.
In many circumstances we have found that using the service Centralized Showing Service has been a huge asset in streamlining the process. Whether the appointments are set up direct with us or with CCS, we are committed to showing your home to qualified buyers who are all accompanied by a licensed realtor.
Our professional photographers are award winning real estate photographers! We have partnered with Spotlight Home Tours to provide our clients the best in their home photography. In a recent study, the National Association of Realtors found that the number one sought after piece of data in regards to searching for their home were the photos! Photos do sell houses! We understand this and are committed to letting your home shine with the best photos possible.
If you are like most people, you will spend hours browsing photos of homes online. As you imagine, the better the photos the more people want to go look at the home in person.
The photos will be edited as well. Some things that make a big difference are windows. Normal photos you can't see anything outside. With our photos the brighten and edit the photos so you can see the views.
Did you know that Utah's Multiple Listings Service (MLS) is nationally recognized as one of the most exclusive and effective in the country? In fact, according the Utah Association of Realtors, nearly 97% of all residential real estate sales are facilitated through Utah's MLS service. We go the extra mile when it comes to the accuracy and quality of your homes MLS listing. The information will be in depth, descriptive and accurate.
We ensure your home has maximum exposure. Through syndication as well as manually inputting your homes listing, your home is sure to be on virtually every site advertising homes for sale in your neighborhood.
We want to make sure if you (or anyone) google's looking for homes, or your address, that your home is found all over the place. we have spent lots of time setting up our systems and relationships with companies so you are found online.
Most buyers spend their time online searching for homes for sale, but not all of them on the same sites. So we make sure you are on all of them. And that your home looks amazing on each site.
Our cutting edge technology also ensures your home is accessible on mobile apps as well. We understand that a lot of buyers are on the go so we make sure our site and your home looks great and is mobile friendly.
Our yard signs are sharp with instant info hotlines and the ability for potential buyers to have info texted to their phone. Our signs are professional, technology focused and easy to get information from. This encourages buyers to contact us in a way that is comfortable for them, while also keeping your for sale sign classy in front of your house.
To the right is an example of one of our signs. If you were to call or text the number listed there you would hear options to talk to the agent directly or to be sent a link of information about your home. Either way we capture the caller's info using the caller ID. We then have contact information to follow up with them. Our first question is if they want to walk through the home with one of our buyer's agents. We call them at least 6 times to try to get a hold of them.
Some other agents talk about flyers they put on the signs, we do not do this because there is no way for us to follow up with the people grabbing the flyers. We want to be able to ask each person that is interested if they want to be shown the house. With flyers you have to hope they call. From our experience, very few people call off the flyers.
These key boxes make it super easy to have your home shown if you live there or not. We put a spare key inside. Licensed real estate agents have a device to open it up to get the key out. You don't even have to be there to have your home be shown.
The best part is we get notified every time it is opened. So we can tell who came and where. You won't ever have wonder if your house was shown because we know right away. Its the best way to key your home safe and keep you in the loop.
We have set up these key boxes not to work at night. So agents won't be able to get in after 9:00PM or before 7:00AM. Usually no on wants to show homes at these hours but it is just an added security measure.
The key box is also a way we verify showings have come. Because we track showings through the showing service, we know when people want to go but we only know if they go by if they have opened the key box. Also most agents will leave a card on the kitchen table so you know they came through.
This key box also works for our photographers, inspectors, and appraisers. So during the whole process you don't have to be home.
The majority of real estate transactions in Utah have both a listing agent and a buyers agent involved. Networking among agents is a proven way to get homes in front of several buyers fast. As associates at Keller Williams Realty, we present our new listing at our weekly sales meeting. This means, your home is presented to nearly 100 agents who on average are all working with a dozen potential buyers. Many agents have chosen to hang their license at Keller Williams Utah Real Estate because as the largest real estate office in Utah county, and largest Franchise in the country, Keller Williams provides a vast opportunity to network with other real estate professionals.
Our goal is for you to enjoy the experience of selling your home. Therefore, we coordinate every aspect of the sale which gives you the ability to simply relax knowing that we are covering each component of the sale.
We communicate regularly regarding the sale of your home. Whether you prefer, phone call, emails, texts, we make sure you are constantly in the loop with what's happening with the sale of your home.
As you see, we won't tie you up if we are not preforming to the standards we set. If you are not happy with how things are going, you can sign the Easy-Exit Agreement and we will cancel the listing.
If we are not preforming like you want, we do not want to keep you unhappy with us. It would not be a win-win, so we will cancel the agreement without argument.
This is our way of taking the pressure off of you. You don't have to decide today if you like and trust us enough to market your home for a long period. You can try and if it is working, great, we will continue, if we aren't meeting or exceeding your expectations you can cancel.
When you list your home with us, there is no upfront fee. We cover all the costs to market your home. That way if you are not happy you are not out a dime in letting us market your home.
To the left is our actual Easy Exit Agreement. If it is too small to read, click on it to see a larger copy to read. It is simple. If you aren't happy – for any reason – you have the right to fire us.
When you decide to sell your home with us, we will send a copy of this along with the other paperwork that needs to be signed. That way you have a copy to read through and you can choose to sign at any time.
If you need to use this, it is as easy as calling us, explaining why (so we can better our processes so your problem will never happen anyone else), and we will send you a copy of this to sign. No fighting, no difficulties. We want selling your house to be as easy as possible and can nearly guarantee you will love working with the Red Sign Team.
Our home marketing team consists of an entire group of experts each specializing in different aspects of the home selling process. From the very beginning of the process we will keep you informed on a weekly basis of all showings and offers that come in so you have all the facts of how your home is being marketed and how well the market is responding. Our team of professional marketers have sold over 800 homes and have the right tools to experience to spin the marketing out to the world to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar. We take the time to get to know each seller we work with to ensure we communicate and interact in a way that is comfortable and convenient to meet your needs and hopefully exceed your expectations.
We would love to earn your business as you make the decision to sell your home.


text:
Cyril Mandouki (born 21 August 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 2 club Paris FC. Born in metropolitan France, he plays for the Martinique national team.

Club career
Mandouki signed with Paris FC on 22 June 2017, after successful seasons in the lower divisions with Créteil and Dunkerque. He made his professional debut with Paris FC in a Ligue 2 0–0 tie with Clermont Foot on 28 August 2017.

International career
Mandouki is of Martiniquais descent. In May 2019, he was named to the Martinique national team provisional team for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He debuted for Martinique in a 1–1 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League A tie with Trinidad and Tobago on 6 September 2019, scoring his side's only goal on his debut.

International goals
Scores and results list Martinique's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mandouki goal.

References

External links

 Paris FC Profile

1991 births
Living people
Footballers from Paris
Association football midfielders
Martiniquais footballers
Martinique international footballers
French footballers
French people of Martiniquais descent
USL Dunkerque players
US Créteil-Lusitanos players
Paris FC players
Ligue 2 players
Championnat National players
Championnat National 2 players

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Customers and staff at Surrey Choices walked away with four YES! (Youth Empowered Surrey) Awards this week in celebration of their achievements in the workplace.
The YES! Awards celebrate the achievements of young people who access the Surrey County Council SEND teams services and also the professionals who support them.
Three of Surrey Choices' award wins went to Supported Internship customers, including Dennis, who worked at Fernleigh Day Centre, Christina at East Surrey Hospital, and Saskia, who completed a placement at University of Surrey.
Surrey Choices are one of Surrey County Council's providers that deliver supported internships, a type of study programme specifically aimed at young people aged 16 to 24 who have an EHC (Education, Health and Care) plan, and want to move into employment and need extra support to do so.
Becky Grammel, the South Surrey Employment Service Coordinator from Surrey Choices, bagged a YES award for her commitment and support to finding young people employment.
Christina Earl, Senior Operations Manager for Surrey Choices, commented: "We are thrilled that Becky, Dennis, Saskia and Christina have been recognised for their commitment to their work.