Alberta has joined Saskatchewan and Ontario in a Supreme Court of Canada appeal challenging the federal government's 2020 firearms prohibition, arguing that the measures unfairly target lawful gun owners rather than violent criminals.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery announced on 10 November that Alberta would intervene in the appeal, giving the province a chance to put its opposition to the federal firearms restrictions directly before the country's highest court. The Supreme Court heard four related appeals in Ottawa on 9 and 10 November, and has reserved its decision.

Alberta maintains that federal firearms policy should focus on illegal firearms trafficking and violent crime rather than on hunters, farmers, sport shooters and collectors who own firearms legally. The province argues that the 2020 regulations, which prohibited about 1,500 firearm models and variants, swept up weapons that had been bought legally and used for years.

Four appeals, one question

The four appeals, brought by licensed firearm owners, businesses and shooting organisations including the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, ask whether the federal cabinet had the legal authority to prohibit the firearms by regulation, and whether the rules gave owners a clear way of knowing which firearms were covered.

The case turns on one subsection of the Criminal Code. Section 117.15(1) allows the Governor in Council, the formal name for the federal cabinet, to make regulations prescribing anything the code says may be prescribed, which is how a firearm is prescribed as prohibited or restricted. The challengers argue that the cabinet went beyond what Parliament authorised.

The regulations at issue were introduced on 1 May 2020 and covered more than 1,500 makes and models, along with their variants, including the AR-15 and the Ruger Mini-14. The Federal Court dismissed the original applications for judicial review in October 2023, and the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the subsequent appeals in April 2025. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the four appeals in March 2026.

Alberta's long-running opposition

Alberta's intervention is the latest step in a long-running confrontation between the province and Ottawa over firearms. Last year, Alberta invoked the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act to establish that the province would not take part in the federal government's firearms confiscation programme, and Amery has said the province will continue defending people who legally own firearms for hunting, farming, sport shooting and collecting.

The attorneys general of Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta are all participating as interveners, alongside other interveners including the Canadian Coalition for Gun Control and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. The second day of the hearing, 10 November, was devoted principally to arguments from interveners.

What happens next

No decision has been issued, and the judges will consider the submissions before giving their ruling. The court is not expected to rule from the bench in a case of this size, and no timeline has been published. Public Safety Canada said in June 2026 that it expected the decision next year.

Until the court rules, the restrictions remain in place, along with the terms of an existing amnesty that protects owners of the prohibited firearms. Under an amended order, the amnesty expires on the 90th day after the last of the four appeals ends by judgment, dismissal or discontinuance.

The outcome will determine whether the 2020 regulations survive the legal challenge. A ruling against the government would not by itself decide the validity of firearms added to the prohibited list in later rounds, since the appeals concern the original May 2020 regulations. Until the judges speak, the arguments from both sides remain positions put before the court, not findings by the Supreme Court. Read the report on Alberta's intervention and the report on the Supreme Court reserving its decision.