Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

==== Social issues ====

In 1995, the Chrétien government introduced and passed the [[Canadian Firearms Registry]], also called the long-gun registry. This would require the registration of all non-restricted firearms in Canada. This [[gun registry]] would document and record information of the firearms, their owners, and their owners' licenses.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

The government under Chrétien's premiership introduced a new and far-reaching ''[[Youth Criminal Justice Act]]'' in April 2003, which replaced the ''[[Young Offenders Act]]'' and changed the way youths were prosecuted for crimes in Canada. A flurry of major environmental legislation, including the ''[[Canadian Environmental Protection Act]]'', [[National Marine Conservation Area|''National Marine Conservation Areas Act'']], ''[[Pest Control Products Act]]'', and the ''[[Species at Risk Act]]'' were enacted. The cooperation of federal, provincial, and municipal governments also enabled Vancouver to win the bid to host the [[2010 Winter Olympics]].{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

In July 2003, Chrétien reversed his position on gay marriage, which he had previously been opposed to (in 1999 Chrétien had voted for a resolution sponsored by the Reform saying marriage was a union of a man and a woman only).<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking 2003 p. 420.</ref> After a Toronto court ruled that laws forbidding homosexual marriage violated the ''Charter of Rights and Freedoms'', legalizing same-sex marriage throughout Ontario, Chrétien embraced the idea of gay marriage and introduced a bill in the House of Commons that would have legalized gay marriage despite the very vocal opposition of the Roman Catholic Church with the bishop of Calgary warning in a sermon that Chrétien's "eternal salvation" was at risk.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking 2003 p. 421.</ref>