BURST
The Canadian government should change gun licence policy so that international students and others living here temporarily are no longer eligible to apply, former B.C. solicitor general Kash Heed said Tuesday.
Heed, a police officer for decades and current Richmond city councillor, said “it’s absolutely ridiculous” that international students and others in Canada short-term can get a possession and acquisition licence to purchase a legal firearm.
Several international students have been identified as suspects in violent extortions in B.C., Ontario and Alberta over the past two years. While most of the guns used in these crimes are believed to have been illegally obtained, Heed said that all possible gun sources should be cut off.
“This is a loophole that needs to be filled immediately,” he said. “These are the areas we have to start to look at to make sure there is a comprehensive approach to dealing with the extortion problem we have.”
The licence application to the RCMP-run firearms program notes that people can apply from outside the country, but need to provide a “letter of good conduct” as part of their online application.
“If you do not live in Canada, in which province or territory will you be using firearms the most when in Canada?” the application also asks.
Gun licence applicants also need the reference letter if they “currently live in Canada, but lived outside of Canada for more than six months in the past five years” or have lived in Canada for less than five years, the applications states.
The RCMP’s national media office wasn’t able to provide data on the number of firearms applications received from outside Canada or from international students within Canada by Postmedia News’s deadline.
Former Mountie Elenore Sturko, the Independent MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, questioned why an international student would need a firearms licence while studying in Canada.
“If you’re not a (permanent resident) or Canadian or specifically visiting for the purpose of a guided hunting trip, then perhaps we need to be more restrictive about who is allowed to possess and acquire firearms,” she said.
But she echoed what Heed and others said about most of the extortion guns likely coming from illicit sources.
Firearms expert Frank Grosspietsch, who spent 15 years with the RCMP’s national weapons enforcement support team, said the policy should be changed.
“A Canadian citizen, even if they are living in the U.S., cannot purchase ammunition or a firearm. So in a certain aspect, U.S. laws are stronger than Canadian laws,” he said.
The latest report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said most crime guns in Canada are smuggled in from the U.S. by organized crime groups, often called OCGs.
“Smuggling is the principal means by which OCGs obtain handguns and prohibited firearms and devices,” said the 2025 report, released this month. “OCGs further rely on manufacturing, theft and straw purchasing to acquire illicit firearms. Most smuggled firearms originate from the U.S.”
The report also said that “extortion has become a significant issue, with OCGs targeting businesses and individuals to generate revenue and assert dominance over territories and markets.”
“These tactics not only threaten public safety, but result in property damage, environmental risks and heightened community instability.”
It said the number of criminal organizations in Canada doing extortion-related crimes has risen from four per cent in 2022 to 20 per cent in 2025.
“Extortion has become a lucrative criminal market for many groups, and events targeting diaspora communities in Canada by OCGs with an international footprint have become more commonplace over the past two years.”
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