May 6, 2020

The Hon. Bill Blair House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Phone: 1 613 995-0284

Email: Bill.Blair@parl.gc.ca

Subject: Order in Council, Firearms Ban

Dear Minister Blair, On May 01, 2020, your minority Liberal Government banned approximately 1,500 models and variants of rifles via an Order in Council. The Kelowna and District Fish and Game Club, representing approx. 1,000 members, writes to you to express several concerns with this action, and to request you immediately place any firearms laws before Parliament for democratic debate. It is patently obvious your Government is manipulating knowledge gaps amongst the population to score political points. Prime examples include your misleading messaging, such as making up words with no legal definition (military style assault rifles), describing already prohibited items (high capacity magazines, fully automatic firearms), and describing already prohibited actions (hunting with restricted firearms). This hyperbolic and recurring misrepresentation of the truth seeks to manipulate the Canadian population. Further, your Party's purposeful avoidance of the legislative process has stifled discussion, averted a reasoned and fact-based study of the issue, and obviated a representative vote by our elected officials. In short, the use of an Order in Council by the Liberal Party is a serious overreach and is undemocratic.

Your Party’s order serves to strip Canadians of their lawfully acquired property, or to prevent them from the use of their property. We remind you this property was legally obtained after multiple layers of qualification and approval from the Government’s own Canadian Firearms Program. Your actions appear to directly contravene Canadians' rights to the enjoyment of property, and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law, as guaranteed by Section 1 (a) of the Canadian Bill of Rights.

Your Government’s proposal to “buy back” lawfully owned property from licensed individuals will simply remove funding and capacity which would be much better spent on initiatives which would have a direct link to enhancing public safety. We ask you to instead consider funding programs such as gang prevention, mental health support and screening, and border security and interdiction of smuggled drugs and firearms, as opposed to a “buy back” from the most vetted group in Canada, who (as you are well aware) is not statistically linked to significant firearms crime.

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Kelowna & District Fish and Game Club

Our frustration as law abiding firearms owners is that while our members have always been willing to work with the authorities in reasoned and fact-based consultation, your actions have squandered this potential alliance. If you had followed your own promises of creating evidence-based policy to address the real causation of gun crimes in Canada (gangs, drugs, mental health issues and illegal guns), we could support you. Instead, you have misrepresented the truth, vilified law abiding citizens, and poisoned our ability to work with you. I will summarize your Government’s hypocrisy in this matter with a quote from Robyn Urback of the Globe and Mail: “If this government was to expend some political capital on guns, it should do it on measures that will actually make a difference – and not on marginal gestures it can speciously sell as a ban”.

In summary, we are registering our formal protest with this Order in Council. The Kelowna and District Fish and Game Club requests you immediately rescind this action, and place any proposed firearms laws before Parliament and our Canadian democratic process.

Respectfully,

The KDFGC Board of Directors

Special General Meeting Notice

Notice to Members – Special General Meeting – June 3, 2020 Kelowna & District Fish & Game Club is holding a Special General Meeting to present an Extraordinary Resolution to the membership. The meeting will be a virtual Zoom meeting on Wednesday June 3, 2020 at 7:00 pm. You have received this email as a member in good standing of the Kelowna & District Fish & Game Club, which qualifies you to vote on this resolution. Please indicate that you will attend the meeting by replying to this email stating your name and membership number by May 29. The meeting log in details will be sent to you shortly before the meeting. You will need to download and install the free Zoom app (link). The meeting will only have one item of business to be voted upon as well as a roll call of attendees and discussion of the resolution. Motion: Be it resolved that the membership approve and instruct the KDFGC Board to proceed with a $40,000 loan from Interior Savings Credit Union under the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program. Rationale: As a result of the 2020 Covid-19 shutdown of some KDFGC activities, the Club has and will continue to experience lower revenue from events, hall and range rentals. The federal government has initiated the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan program which the Club qualifies for. This would allow a loan of up to $40,000 for a two-year term at zero interest. If repaid in full by Dec 31, 2022, 25% of the loan amount is forgivable. The CEBA program allows the funds to be used for: “The funds from this loan shall only be used by the Borrower to pay non-deferrable operating expenses of the Borrower including, without limitation, payroll, rent, utilities, insurance, property tax and regularly scheduled debt service, and may not be used to fund any payments or expenses such as prepayment/refinancing of existing indebtedness, payments of dividends, distributions and increases in management compensation.” KDFGC qualifies for this loan through our financial institution Interior Savings Credit Union. Thank you for your participation KDFGC Board of Directors

Effective immediately all Shotgun and Rifle shooting at the Pistol Range is now Prohibited.  When first established, the Pistol Range (behind the Shotgun Sports Field) had a single shooting position for shotgun patterning and rim-fire rifle shooting was permitted.  These range rules were a carryover from the old "Plinking Range" which was shut down.  

Due to misuse, excessive damage to targets, and planned use changes, the Pistol Range is now reserved for pistol shooting only.  New signage is now in place at the range indicating this permitted use change.

Rim-fire rifle shooters and shotgun shooters using slugs and may use the 25/50 yard range.  For patterning, shotgun shooters can use the patterning station at the Shotgun Sports Field when the Field is open and under the supervision of a Range Officer.

Going forward, the Club is working towards opening up dedicated ranges for rim-fire rifle shooting and and static shotgun target shooting. 

  

Due to the current concerns regarding the Covid-19 Virus, and following the advice of Provincial Health Officers, the Kelowna and District Fish and Game Club is taking the following actions to protect the Health and Safety of our Members and Staff: GROUP EVENTS: All group-based events are postponed until further notice. This will affect all Club Dinners / Ceremonies, Club AGM, Black Badge and Recreational Pistol Training, Jr. Shooters and Archery, and all other indoor discipline shooting nights. New Member Orientations are suspended. OFFICE ACCESS: The Club office is closed to member access. Renewals, New Memberships and Inquiries will be processed by phone and email. Virtual Office hours and contact information: ·         Tuesday               11:00 to 4:00 ·         Thursday              11:00 to 4:00 ·         Saturday              9:00 to 3:00 ·         Email:                    info@kdfgc.org ·         Phone:                  250-764-7558 INDOOR RANGE: Closed until further notice. TRAP RANGE: Closed until further notice. OUTDOOR RANGES: Open to member access, subject to daily assessment. Conditions: Social Distancing MUST be maintained (6 feet between shooters). Members displaying any cold / flu or illness symptoms are not permitted to attend the range. Members who are returning from outside Canada or whom are subject to any form of self-isolation are not permitted to attend the range until 14 days of isolation have been completed. All members attending the range must exercise full cough and sneeze etiquette as well as diligent hand hygiene. Please – if you feel unwell, do not attend the range. The KDFGC Board of Directors would like to express their concern and best wishes for members and their families to stay healthy during this challenging time. We look forward to returning to regular operations and social activities as soon as appropriate. Thank you for your cooperation in the interim. KDFGC BOARD AND MANAGEMENT

As part of a larger effort to improve member and public safety, all new members are required to attend a Range Orientation before they can use the club's ranges.  The orientation is also open to the public and no cost.

This course runs most Saturday mornings at 10 am for 2 hours.  The orientation includes a tour of club facilities, a review of firearm safety, and instruction on range rules.

The orientation is lead by the KDGFC Range Manager or by a KDFGC Instructor.

Contact the Club Office for more information.

Indoor Archery Season starts Wednesday, Oct 9 at 7:00 pm.

Indoor archery will be Wednesdays at 7:00 pm and Sundays at 2:30 pm

Junior/Adult Small Bore Program

1: Start Sept 17th, 2019. Starts 6PM ends 9PM on alternate Tuesdays.

2: Children must be at least 10 years old (arm strength required to hold the firearm).

3: Club supplies firearm, ammunition, hear protection and safety glasses. Personal firearms not permitted.  Personal eye and hearing protection are allowed.

4: Our program includes safety instruction and continued monitoring, range rules, safe handling of firearms, shooting positioning.

5: Costs to attend. Club membership plus a $5 drop in fee each time you attend. Ammunition card $15 which will last for 4 or 5 nights of shooting.

6: Some tips: Long hair should be tied back in a pony tail fashion( hearing protection works better). Long sleeved shirt (our building has a large air exchange unit which keeps the range cool). If you wear prescription glasses make sure they come along.  A baseball type cap sometimes helps with ear protection fitting.

7: There will be 3 “classes” first at 6 PM for younger members, 7 PM for more experienced Junior shooters, and 8 PM for Adult shooters.

8: Most nights we are able to have each person fire 100 to 125 rounds (or less if you wish).  One on One attention until you are familiar with rules, and firearm handling.  Continued supervision throughout.  There is a viewing area.

9: The range is indoors, at the lower portion of our club house and can be accessed through the main gate which will be open. Lots of parking spots.

10: Contact person Ron Milani 250 860 4580 or xyzmilani@telus.net.  Answering machine will pick up if I am not home.  Check club office hours for purchasing a membership starting at $40 with a family membership.

11: Club air rifles and air hand guns have just been all overhauled and there will be some nights during the year we will be using those. The are different and fun to shoot.

12: If you bring a guest, the guest will be charged an extra $5 drop in fee to cover insurance etc.  Those guests will only be allowed one visit as a guest, after that a full membership is required.

13: All our firearms are in good condition and monitored closely. SAFETY is first priority. No horseplay, or ” fooling around” allowed . Our instructors are experienced.

14: Don’t forget to check out Junior Archery too.!!

WE LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING YOU ATTEND

Ron Milani