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Critics raise eyebrows over plan to send prohibited firearms to Ukraine war effort

  • Kyle Duggan

  • Canadian Press

  • December 9, 2024

Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc speaks virtually at a press conference on new measures to strengthen gun control in Ottawa on December 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle

OTTAWA -- Ottawa's new plan to send prohibited firearms to Ukraine to help in its war against Russia has some experts scratching their heads.

The Liberal government announced last week it will work with Canadian businesses to donate select weapons banned in Canada to Ukraine.

But some are casting doubt on how useful that will be to the war-torn country.

Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says this isn't what Ukraine really needs to win the war and that it already suffers from a lack of standardized weapons.

Kelly Sundberg, a criminologist at Mount Royal University, said the move seems more like a political stunt than carefully considered policy.

Defence Minister Bill Blair has said Canada reached out to Ukraine in October asking if any of the firearms listed under the program could be useful, and Ukraine said yes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2024.