On November 7, 1991, Canada passed bill C-17, which meant tougher gun control laws. Implemented between 1992 and 1994, the new laws would increase wait times, require hunter safety courses for gun owners, prohibit large capacity magazines, define regulations around safe storage and introduce more restrictions on military guns and ammunition.
In a column, published in Yorkton This Week, Murray Lyons argued that while the Canadian law would die an ignoble death if attempted south of the border, it remained reasonable.
The law was at least in part a response to the death of 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, shot by Marc Lepine. One of the main components of the law was the restriction of the amount of ammunition which could be used legally, the direct result of Lepine using a semi-automatic rifle in the attack.
There was inevitably controversy surrounding the law, especially among rural voters. Many rural MPs voted against gun control, worried that some of the regulations would be bad for their constituents. They argued that hunters might be at risk with a reduced amount of ammunition allowed, or that having ammunition stored separately from the guns themselves might put farms at risk.
In response to the first objection, Lyons argued that “most responsible hunters would argue that a person who can’t bring down prey with five shells in his rifle shouldn’t be hunting at all.”
Lyons also observed the reactions south of the border, noting that the introduction of increased waiting times in the United States caused the National Rifle Association to start a donation drive, with full page ads in national magazines arguing that the right to own semi-automatic rifles would be threatened.
The Canadian laws would continue to evolve, and continue to be a source of controversy – especially after the introduction of Bill C-68 in 1995, which required the registration of all guns. The long gun registry was eventually dismantled due to Bill C-19 in 2012, but gun control as a whole remains in place. As Lyons predicted, America remains unwilling to do anything similar.
It was also Remembrance Day in the city, and Korean War veterans were being recognized for their service. Forty years after the conflict, which saw 27,000 Canadians serve and 500 killed, they finally received medals forty years after the fact.
Area veteran Ed McManus noted that it was largely ignored by the Canadian people at the time, and he regarded the terminology at the time – calling it a “police action” – as a “bloody insult.” All Canadians who participated were volunteers.
Like today, YRHS was excited about the success of the Raiders, but it wasn’t football in 1991. The big success story at the local sports level was girls’ vollyball. The team was heading into provincials with 105 wins, the third year in a row that the team broke 100 wins a season. The team had won the provincial title in 1990, and was preparing for the second straight title.
It was also Christmas, and stores were getting their best toys ready and putting them on sale. You could get a Memorex VCR for $349 at Radio Shack, which was a savings of $100.
