OTTAWA

— The federal Public Safety department says
16 people took part in a pilot of its firearms compensation program that resulted in 25 banned guns being turned over and destroyed. 

The department released the figure just days after revealing the results and “lessons learned” from the test it ran in parts of Cape Breton over six weeks last year, where it initially expected to collect up to 200 prohibited firearms.

“A total of 25 prohibited firearms, turned in by 16 participants, were destroyed,” spokesperson Noémie Allard said in a statement on Friday. 

“

The total compensation paid to pilot participants is $26,535.” 

Later this month, the government plans to launch the long-promised compensation program for individual gun owners with one of the more than 2,500 makes and models of firearms the federal Liberal government has banned since 2020, according to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s office.

While the federal Liberals and gun control advocates say such weapons are too dangerous for public use, many firearms groups, along with the Opposition Conservatives, say the government is wasting taxpayer dollars by targeting lawful gun owners and argue the program will have no impact on public safety.

Lobby groups like the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights say the results from the pilot demonstrate that the program is destined for failure.

The federal government has instituted an amnesty period for individuals with prohibited guns until October 2026.

As the federal government prepares to launch the program nationally, the Public Safety department is trying to formalize agreements with different provinces and municipal police agencies to assist with collection efforts.

This week, officials announced that a deal had been reached with Quebec that would see the federal government compensate the province to the tune of $12 million for its coordination of that work.

Police in Halifax, Winnipeg, Cape Breton, and Fredericton have said they are willing to participate.

Meanwhile, many police forces in the Greater Toronto Area and elsewhere in Ontario say they have not yet made a decision.

A spokeswoman for the RCMP did not directly say what role RCMP officers in divisions across the country would play in the rollout of the program, saying it could not comment on the government’s “

plans or timing” of the program’s rollout. 

“As part of the rollout, the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program will notify firearms licensees about the (program) and how to participate.”

A spokesman in Anandasangaree’s office this week said that while agreements were in the works with more provinces and police, the banned weapons would be collected through special collection units to be sent around the country.

In its lists of findings from the pilot, the Public Safety department said that a much longer declaration period was needed to allow more time for firearms owners to declare they own one of the government-banned guns, as compared to the several weeks it had during the test run. 

The department also emphasized the need for a clearer registration process and more “timely” guidance on how to participate.

The federal government last year opened the compensation program for businesses, which resulted in some 12,000 firearms being turned over and destroyed.

It has provided no timeline as to when it may reopen the program for dealers, despite the government announcing last fall that it would be reopened in the “coming weeks.”

National Post

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.

A Jewish advocacy group is condemning the use of the “Palestine” label for certain ancient artifacts at the Royal Ontario Museum.

“We were made aware that the label had been in place for some time,” said Tafsik CEO Amir Epstein in a statement to National Post. “This does not excuse the responsibility to correct errors. While we are willing to give the benefit of the doubt that this was an unintentional mistake, we simply ask that the information be corrected to reflect archaeological and historical facts.”

The artifacts in question have been on display at the ROM since 2012. The museum says revisions have already been underway for several months, which is prior to the online discourse that began when Tafsik posted about it on X in late December. The museum did not immediately respond to National Post’s request about what the new labels would be after its revision.

“The @ROMtoronto (Royal Ontario Museum) is rewriting history. Welcome to Canada 2025,” Tafsik posted on X last month. The group also shared a photo of

a swirled marble mosaic bottle

that is located in the museum’s Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of Rome and the Near East.

It is dated 25 to 50 AD. It is labelled as being from Syria or Palestine.

The @ROMtoronto (Royal Ontario Museum) is rewriting history. Welcome to Canada 2025.

During 25AD – 50AD the land of Israel was called “Judea” by the colonizing Romans and “Eretz Yisrael” (Nation/Land of Israel) by the Jews. 100 years later, the Romans colonized the entire land… pic.twitter.com/NAc3eZsFkP

— Tafsik Organization (@Tafsikorg) December 30, 2025

“From approximately 25–50 AD, the land was known as Judea by the Roman authorities and as Eretz Yisrael by the Jewish people. After the colonizing Romans killed and expelled much of the indigenous Jewish population, they imposed the colonial name ‘Palestine’ with the explicit intent of erasing Jewish history and connection to the land,” Epstein said.

“Historical revisionism is not new to the Jewish people. The Nazis used it to justify the genocide of Jews in Germany, and more recently, Palestinian religious and political leaders have employed similar tactics to justify the genocide committed against our people on October 7, 2023.”

He said that, throughout history, the erasure of Jewish identity has led to violence and genocide, driving the Jewish people to “meticulously” document its history “for thousands of years” — “documentation that has been corroborated through archaeology and, more recently, through recorded testimony.”

Tafsik has been in touch with the ROM and it is optimistic that the museum is taking the matter seriously, he said.

Another example from the ROM,

as reported by the Free Press

, shows blue glass pieces, including a jug, flask, bowl, aryballos (small, spherical flask) and flagon (large drinking container) in the same gallery of the museum.

The items are dated AD 25 to 125. They are labelled as being from Syria or Palestine.

In an emailed statement to National Post, the ROM said its curator has identified displays within the gallery “as requiring several label revisions.” The gallery was originally installed between 2011 and 2012.

“This work has been in process for several months, and related label updates (including for the swirled marbled mosaic bottle) are underway,” the statement said.

“Any changes to labels at ROM are informed by dialogue between curators, interpretive planners, and sectoral peers. Labels use the date of the object as the fixed starting point and, where known, indicate the location as it was named at the time of production. Contemporary place names are also included to aid visitor understanding. The location often includes multiple current place names if the exact area of production within a geographic region is not known, as is common curatorial practice for centuries-old objects.”

Carl Ehrlich, a York University professor of history and humanities, told National Post that labelling artifacts is “very, very complicated,” especially when words take on different meaning in the modern era.

“Until very recently — when Palestine and Palestinian became both the name of a country in preparation, as it were, and of a new ethnic group — Palestine was viewed as a very neutral geographic term, an amorphous term, for the area we could call the southern Levant or southern Canaan,” he said.

“That’s the reason why Palestine is, at least in the scholarly world, a designation that is used for a general geographic territory without necessarily being specific about ancient borders, territories or ethnicities, because there were a number of different ethnicities and a number of different peoples living in that territory.”

Judea was a “relatively small area and kingdom,” he said. “Under Herod the Great, for instance, who ruled in the last few decades BCE, it managed to expand its borders a bit…It moved out of the area of modern-day Israel into the territory of what is now Jordan, the West Bank, etc. It was a little bit larger at that time.”

Christian scholars started archeological investigations into the ancient Near East mostly in an attempt to establish a foothold in the region and look into “the biblical roots of Christianity.”

“They continued using this terminology of Palestine for the southern area, Syria for the northern area,” he said.

Over the course of time, the terms have become more complex.

“Nowadays, the term Palestine and Palestinian is loaded with political implications, and therefore the modern day Palestinians, the ethnicity, has been essentially piggybacking on that term in order to establish an ancient historical tradition leading up to the modern people, that essentially also involves the erasure of the Jewish history and the Jewish connection to the land,” he said.

“So, it’s not a neutral term anymore.”

The entire labelling system could use an overhaul when it comes to presenting ancient artifacts to a modern audience, he said, as the “old scholarly labels” have not “kept up with the changing meaning of the words involved.”

As for the artifacts at the ROM pointed out by Tafsik and mentioned in the Free Press, they don’t include a specific geography in their online profiles that would definitively determine that they came from Judea, Ehrlich said.

“(The curators) don’t know exactly where, so they use the old scholarly designations,” he said.

It only becomes problematic if objects from the territory of modern-day Israel or ancient Judea are referred to as Palestinian “because that then is an erasure of Jewish history.” He said there is an ongoing battle between “modern day labels and imposing them anachronistically on ancient times to fight modern wars of legitimacy.”

• Vandalizing synagogue in Winnipeg with swastikas was a ‘cowardly’ act meant to ‘intimidate,’ exec. director says
• Why Canadian Jews are increasingly averse to identifying as ‘Zionists’ despite supporting Israel: study

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

A Toronto man found not criminally responsible for killing his own father with a hammer a decade back has been approved for 14 days of international travel even though he “continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public.”

Ari Da Costa, 30, had asked the Ontario Review Board for a 30-day leave to travel internationally so he could study mixed martial arts in Thailand. Instead, his psychiatrist suggested two weeks of travel might be a better bet.

“The treatment team would like to see some shorter ‘intermediate length’ trips prior to considering such an extended absence,” said a recent decision from the Ontario Review Board.

Da Costa’s psychiatrist “also agreed that it would be ‘preferable’ if any contemplated international trip be in the company of an approved person,” such as his mother.

The board “is unanimous in accepting that Mr. Da Costa represents a significant threat to the safety of the public,” said the decision.

“As submitted by (a lawyer representing the Attorney General of Ontario), this includes ‘the safety of the public everywhere.’”

The board acknowledged “that the terms of any disposition must be not only necessary and appropriate but at the same time, the least onerous and least restrictive.”

At some point in time it is necessary to “take the training wheels off,” Da Costa’s lawyer told the board.

The board “supports international travel on an itinerary approved by the person in charge while accompanied by an approved person for a period not exceeding 14 days,” said the decision dated Dec. 30, 2025.

Da Costa was found not criminally responsible on a charge of first degree murder in May 2019.

In December 2024, “Mr. Da Costa was ordered to be detained within the General Forensic Unit at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences with privileges up to and including residing in the community in supervised accommodation,” said the decision.

His psychiatrist told the board “it has been a good year for Mr. Da Costa. He has done well in the community and there have been no issues with his supported residence at Ballantyne House. He continues to work four days a week and is given (leave of absence) passes on weekends which he tends to spend with his mother.”

Da Costa called 911 on Dec. 18, 2015.

“He stated that he needed paramedics and police, that he had struck his father in the head with a hammer, and he believed that his father was dead. Mr. Da Costa was found covered in blood and he was arrested. His father, Richard Da Costa, was found dead in the basement, with a hammer beside him,” said the decision.

Da Costa had been thinking about killing his father for six months before he did it. “He reported that he had hidden a hammer in couch cushions. He knew that striking his father on the head would kill him. He stated that he hit his father from behind, while his father was carrying a television.”

Weeks before killing his father, Da Costa “agreed to attend the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Early Psychosis Program,” said the decision.

“He reported paranoid symptoms, including messages from the television and people reading his mind. He consistently reported that he did not enjoy living with his parents but refused to elaborate.”

Da Costa “met with an occupational therapist at the program,” four days before killing his dad, “apparently in an organized and cooperative fashion.”

Da Costa has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, cannabis use disorder, and alcohol use disorder, though the last two are in remission, said the decision.

“Da Costa’s risk for violence flows primarily from his underlying major mental illness, which, when active and under treated, has led to very serious violence. He continues to have some residual symptoms of auditory hallucinations, but these do not cause significant distress or impairment at this time.”

His psychiatrist told the board “Da Costa’s symptoms are nearly completely in remission,” but that he “continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public.”

Da Costa is now “using the lockbox at his residence for medication distribution seven days a week. In other words, he is now 100 percent managing his own medication compliance,” said the decision.

His treatment team said Da Costa “no longer requires the high level of support provided at Ballantyne House and will be able to be managed in a less supportive residence,” said the decision. “Having said that, the treatment team do not believe that Mr. Da Costa is ready for a move to fully independent living as this would represent an unnecessary risk enhancing step.”

His psychiatrist said “that the next move will be to housing operated by Durham Mental Health Services in a less supervised home.”

Da Costa was 20 years old and living with his grandmother when he killed his dad.

“He described a happy childhood but admitted to suffering from mood problems, gender identity issues and having bad thoughts in his mid-teens, which impacted his interpersonal functioning. He admitted to using marijuana and drinking alcohol heavily at times throughout his adolescence.”

Da Costa told the board he stopped using marijuana “because of its impact on his schooling. He was not passing his grades at Humber College as he left class ‘to get high all the time.’ He stated that cannabis also ‘…agitated the voices.’ Mr. Da Costa reported also having experimented with MDMA, using it twice at age 18.”

Da Costa studied fitness and health promotion at Humber. “He stated that he enjoyed his classes, but he did not want to put in as much effort as was required. He also acknowledged missing many classes because, as he stated, ‘I was too preoccupied with getting high.’ He left Humber College after failing half of his courses in his first semester and he did not return to school afterwards. He has a limited employment history. He reported that he eventually lacked the motivation to work and lived off credit cards and his parents’ support. He reportedly ran up a $2,000 credit card debt from the purchase of alcohol.”

Da Costa used a pass to travel to British Columbia last summer, said the decision. “He also makes use of indirectly supervised passes to travel to his mother’s home on weekends. There has been no indication of substance use while Mr. Da Costa has been on approved trips.”

His psychiatrist “agreed that it was possible that Mr. Da Costa would be eligible for a 30-day trip within the next reporting year.”

Da Costa is waiting for a bed at a Durham Mental Health Services home.

“There have been no issues with violence or threats at his current residence. There have been no command hallucinations bothering Mr. Da Costa. He is aware of the symptoms of his major mental illness,” said the decision.

Da Costa’s “insight has improved over the course of the past year,” said his psychiatrist. “There have been no breaches of his abstinence condition.”

The board said that “as Mr. Da Costa moves to more independent living, his risk of stressors caused by financial responsibilities, employment and substance use may exacerbate residual symptoms of psychosis (leading) to violent behaviour. It is noted that Mr. Da Costa has historically coped with psychosocial stressors through substance use.”

• Pot smoking Ontario senior found NCR for hammer attacks discharged even though he ‘remains a significant threat’
• Ontario woman found NCR for killing mom with a car is behind the wheel again

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.