º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍø

“This approach was well-intentioned and made in response to urgent circumstances, but it became clear that a vast majority of these firearms did not meet NATO compliance standards. That is why Canada’s new government cancelled this program because it was not a practical or effective way to support Ukraine’s defence,” the minister’s office said. Canada has committed nearly $22 billion in assistance to Ukraine, including over $6.5 billion in military aid since the beginning of the war with Russia in 2022.

The plan was announced in December when the Trudeau Liberal government increased its banned weapons list to more than 2,500 types of firearms and started the first phase of its long-delayed buyback.ÌýFormer defence minister Bill Blair said at the time the government was working with the Ukrainians to “ensure that weapons that were intended to be used in combat could be made available to them” and that the country’s military had confirmed its interest in some firearms.

Critics, however, said it was a ploy to increase support for the contentious program. The only mention of the plan since Prime Minister Mark Carney became Liberal leader was in June, when that no firearms had been donated at the time after more than 12,000 guns had been purchased from businesses.

In justifying the buyback program, the Liberal government has branded the banned weapons as “assault-style” and at times, “weapons of war,” that should not belong in communities and need to be outlawed to prevent mass shootings.

Tracey Wilson, a gun lobbyist at the Canadian Coalition for Firearm rights, said none of the banned weapons are automatic so they would not be suitable for military combat.

“It debunks the idea that they’re weapons of war,” Wilson said. “Otherwise Ukraine would want them all.”

The buyback plan has faced opposition from gun owners and some provinces and police forces, while advocates have grown frustrated over delays in implementing it. Controversy escalated this week after a leaked audio recording showed Anandasangaree telling a gun-owning tenant of his that the Carney government was continuing with the $750-million program due to electoral pressures from Quebec. He has since said the comments were taken out of context and walked them back but that has not stopped calls from the Conservatives that he resign.

The program is launching this fall for individual gun owners, with an initial pilot in Cape Breton, N.S. An estimated 180,000 guns across the country are impacted.

With files from The Canadian Press.