CSAAA’s Year in Review

Our Annual General Meeting and 2022 Board of Directors elections were held on July 7^th.

Thank you to everyone that voted, attended, and ran in the election. Congratulations to our new board members.

We want to take this opportunity to look at our year in review:

What have we been up to since the last AGM?

• Established the CSAAA as the voice of the sporting arms industry and its business members in Ottawa; separate from, but supportive of the voices of gun owners.
• Maintained direct lines of communication and a positive professional relationship with our government service departments including the R.C.M.P. firearms program, Global Affairs, CBSA, the U.S. Commercial Service/U.S. Embassy and full-time Public Safety staff. These contacts serve our industry regardless of who’s in power.
• We continue to support all the current legal actions with invaluable business and financial data and firearms expertise including numerous affidavits.
• We are continuing to improve our member communication and we have established active social media pages to aid in communication and industry and organization awareness.
• We continue to work closely with and meet with CFOs in all provinces to help rectify transfer and licensing backlogs and wait times and to streamline and minimize the inspection process for businesses.
• We maintain active with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and their powerful lobbyists to support our industry members in their communications.
• We continue to cover the cost of our members’ CFIB membership, so you have access to all the small business benefits offered by CFIB without any additional cost to you.
• CSAAA is growing its membership on a national level.
• We are improving our reach to be more inclusive to all regions of Canada including Western Canada, Quebec, and the Maritimes.
• We have established that Canada Post is our “best bet” for full shipping coverage Canada-wide. We continue to work with many stakeholders and Canada Post to get ammunition shipping covered Canada-wide, including to the rural and remote areas that are currently not receiving service.
• We are continuing to work with Sheridan College and our task force to build the first-ever 2-year college gunsmithing certificate. This project requires many time-consuming steps, but we look forward to the future launch of this program.
• We offered a response to the “Technical Consultations on the Proposed Program Design and Compensation Model” email after consulting with our BOD. We also met with Public Safety and the RCMP to voice our concerns in regard to the email.
• CSAAA continues to explore more avenues to generate support for our industry. We now offer merchandise with all proceeds going directly into our initiatives to support and protect the industry. This gives individuals wishing to show their support the opportunity to do so.
• We have established and maintain constant communication with the RCMP, CFC and CFP members to quickly correct issues and outages in BWS and consult to better the services BWS offers to ease business with the new regulations.
• CSAAA held an information briefing and open discussion for members after Bill C-71 came into force. A BWS Portal demo was also made available (at csaaa.org). We are continuously consulting with CFP, CFC and Public Safety on the struggles our industry faces with these new regulations.
• We are working closely with Airsoft In Canada (ASIC), major stakeholders in airsoft and all politicians involved in Bill C-21. We have contacted every single SECU member and MP involved in the sittings regarding Bill C-21 and the proposed handgun freeze to ensure the best information is offered and the industry has a seat at the table when these regulations are being discussed.
• Continue to lobby and defend the industry regarding ongoing OIC buyback program.
• Continue to lobby the current government to soften upcoming OIC regarding magazine restrictions and marking requirements.

What do we have coming up?

• Work with Canada Post and regulatory branches of the government to allow ammunition shipping services to all Canadians.
• Continue to unite, grow, and support the industry on a national level while ensuring inclusive coverage to businesses Canada-wide.
• Continue to work with all consumer lobby groups while maintaining our separate, business-focused initiatives, goals, and support.
• Continuously improve our communication and reach to members and gain awareness for this industry organization.
• Continue to monitor and support our members through Bill C-71, Bill C-21 and the proposed handgun transfer freeze.

We appreciate the support!

We are very thankful for the donations and support from the community and our member base. We want to continue to lobby and campaign as hard as possible against the proposed Bill C-21, handgun freeze, and ineffective and unworkable gun control regulations while we continue to find solutions for all other issues impacting our businesses. To do this, we need your continued support.

Visit csaaa.org/waystosupport for more information on how you can help support Canada’s hunting and firearm industry organization.