Wakeham says "hunting is a way of life in NL", province not participating in federal firearm compensation

    Thursday, 29 January 2026 06:00

    By Tonya Organ

    Under the program, gun owners have until October 30th to dispose of or deactivate prohibited firearms.

    Premier Tony Wakeham says “the Federal Government should focus on criminals, not law-abiding hunters and our way of life.” On Tuesday, a government news release confirmed that NL will not participate in the federal firearms compensation program. On January 17, the feds announced the national rollout of the but other places like Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, have also indicated they will not take part in the program. Wakeham is in Ottawa for meetings with Canada’s Premiers and told reporters yesterday that hunting is a way of life in NL and he doesn’t want to see that impeded in any way. Under the program, gun owners have until October 30th to dispose of or deactivate prohibited firearms. Wakeham says officials will be discussing this with police in NL on what this means. He says “Decisions are being made at a federal level that are isolated from legitimate civilian use of firearms.” 

     

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