Quebec loses appeal to preserve long-gun registry data
Next step is Supreme Court of Canada
Quebec has lost another round in the fight to keep provincial data collected by the now-defunct federal gun registry.
The province had hoped to prevent Ottawa from destroying the data while the court battle continued, but the Quebec Court of Appeal said it won’t force the federal government to preserve the information.
Quebec ministers Sylvain Gaudreault and Agnès Maltais both expressed profound disappointment in the ruling.
"I find it deplorable," Gaudreault said.
"We’re disappointed," Maltais said. "We’re disappointed day after day by the government and its lack of comprehension of the Quebec situation."
Ottawa dismantled the long-gun registry last year, calling it costly and ineffective. Quebec tried to have the data preserved so it could be used in a new provincial registry.
The province intends to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to obtain a stay on the destruction of the data.