Owners of assault-style firearms banned in Canada have until March 31, 2026 to surrender their firearms or declare participation in a federal program that provides compensation for permanent suspension.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced the program in Montreal, along with Secretary of State Nathalie Provost and Quebec Public Safety Minister Ian Lafrenière, according to a release posted Saturday.
This initiative aims to remove dangerous firearms from Canadian communities while ensuring law-abiding owners receive fair compensation.
“Assault-style firearms have no place in our community. These types of firearms were designed as weapons of war,” Anandasangaree said in a statement.
“Banning guns and removing them from our communities is an important part of our government’s efforts to tackle gun violence and keep Canadians safe.”
The declaration period for eligible firearms license holders begins on Monday, and notifications will be sent directly to valid Possession and Acquisition License (PAL) holders.
“The deadline is real, so please be careful,” Anandasangari said at a press conference.
Submissions can be made online or by mail, and rewards will be distributed primarily on a first-come, first-served basis depending on available funds.
Get daily national news
Get the day’s top news, politics, economics and current affairs headlines delivered to your inbox once a day.
After the declaration period, approved participants will make an appointment to surrender the prohibited firearm to the RCMP, local police, or mobile collection unit for verification and destruction.
Since May 2020, the City of Ottawa has banned approximately 2,500 makes and models of assault-style firearms, including the AR-15, on the grounds that they are designed for military use and have no place in civilian society.
Prohibited firearms must be destroyed or permanently disabled by the end of the amnesty period on October 30, 2026.
Anyone found in possession after that date could face criminal charges and have their firearms license revoked.
Federal officials said nearly $250 million was set aside to compensate participants, covering an estimated 136,000 firearms.
Secretary of State Natalie Provost said the program represents an important step in addressing gun violence.
“For more than 35 years, Canadians have called for stronger gun laws to prevent deadly mass shootings,” Provost said in the release. “Today, we are taking an important step toward making our communities safer by continuing to implement an efficient assault-style firearm compensation program for individuals.”
Owners who choose not to participate can still comply with the law by permanently disabling their firearms at their own expense, surrendering them to law enforcement without compensation, or exporting them with the appropriate permits.
But the program has faced resistance from several provinces, including Alberta, Ontario, the Northern Territory, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, who have said they will not implement the program.
Critics, on the other hand, argue that the program is expensive and ineffective.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) issued a statement calling on Ottawa to halt the pilot project in Cape Breton, noting that only 25 firearms were recovered despite a target of 200.
“The failure of the Cape Breton pilot project should have proven to Ottawa that it is time to eliminate this program,” said CTF Prairie Director Gage Haubrich. “Instead of confiscating guns from licensed gun owners, Ottawa needs to listen to law enforcement experts who want help stopping illegal guns.”
Advocates for gun owners also raised concerns shortly after the announcement, saying compensation could be far less than promised.
“Canadian Firearms Rights Coalition” [CCFR] “Law-abiding gun owners across the country are shocked and disappointed by today’s federal announcement,” the statement read.
“The government has chosen to proceed with this wasteful, ineffective and divisive program in violation of the trust of all Canadians affected by it.”
CCFR says the recent ban has reclassified more than 2 million firearms as prohibited goods, while the government has indicated it intends to compensate owners of approximately 152,000 firearms.
“They have also publicly stated that once the budget runs out, no one will receive a paycheck,” the group said in a statement. “This will deceive more than 90 percent of gun owners.”
The program is based on a federal pilot for businesses that ran from November 2024 to April 2025 and resulted in the collection and destruction of more than 12,000 prohibited firearms.
The 2026 program includes firearms banned in May 2020, as well as firearms banned in December 2024 and March 2025.
The government said the program is part of a broader strategy to reduce gun violence, which also includes hiring additional RCMP and Canada Border Force officers, restricting access to handguns and reviewing the national firearms classification system.
For more information, please visit: Government of Canada website.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.