In a territory where rifles hang above cabin doorways and hunting seasons mark the rhythm of the year, the Yukon’s new government used its first day in office to draw a bright northern line in Canada’s gun control debate.
As fresh snow settled over Whitehorse and newly elected MLAs took their seats, the Yukon Party government signaled that Ottawa’s firearms buyback program would find no foothold here.
During Monday’s Speech from the Throne, Premier Currie Dixon’s administration said the territory refuses to participate in the federal initiative, setting Yukon alongside a growing bloc of provinces resisting the program and staying true to the government’s pledge to defend the rights of lawful gun owners.
The announcement came during the opening of the 36th Yukon Legislative Assembly, the first sitting since the Yukon Party’s major victory in the Nov. 3 election.
Commissioner Adeline Webber delivered the Throne Speech at 1 pm, outlining the agenda for a government that now commands the largest majority in territorial history, with 14 of the expanded 21 seats.
Dixon’s administration made clear it intends to stand firmly with lawful gun owners who rely on firearms for hunting, trapping, and rural protection.
The government said it will refuse to take part in the federal Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program, which aims to prohibit and collect thousands of models of so-called assault-style firearms. Ottawa’s program stems from a series of bans issued by the Liberal government beginning in 2020 and has been plagued by delays, ballooning cost estimates, and resistance from provinces and police forces across the country.
Yukon’s refusal puts the territory in the same camp as Alberta and Saskatchewan, which have already taken formal steps to block local enforcement of the program, and follows the Ontario Provincial Police’s recent decision not to participate.
The Throne Speech reaffirmed a Yukon Party campaign promise to introduce legislation that will prevent territorial policing resources, provided through an RCMP contract, from being pulled into federal gun seizures. Dixon had signaled this direction months earlier in a March letter to then-Prime Minister Mark Carney, pledging that a Yukon Party government would shield residents from what he called an ideologically motivated and ineffective policy.
The broader speech laid out a 100-day action plan focused on economic growth, resource development, mental health access, housing, addiction treatment, and policing support for remote communities. It also previewed infrastructure and energy investments and promised to restore fiscal discipline with a supplementary budget before Christmas and a full budget next spring.
With the Yukon Party now holding a commanding majority, the government appears positioned to follow through on its pledge, setting up another front in the ongoing battle between Ottawa’s gun control agenda and conservative-led jurisdictions determined to resist it.
Learn more about Currie Dixon at this link.
Photo at top: Currie Dixon.
