Two Western police chiefs put on an embattled federal firearms panel to give it balance missed its only meeting this year.

Calgary police chief Rick Hanson and Abbotsford, B.C. chief constable Bob Rich both say they weren’t given enough lead time to schedule a trip to Ottawa for the day-long session on April 25

“Given the very short notice he was given to attend that meeting, [Hanson] already had other commitments, and wasn’t able to reschedule them, and wasn’t able to attend,” said Calgary police spokesman Mike Nunn.

“I got notice of the meeting, I think in March,” said Abbotsford, B.C. chief constable Bob Rich, but it conflicted with an already-scheduled vacation.

Public Safety says it’s striving to schedule meetings all committee members can attend.

The Firearms Advisory Committee, which advises the Public Safety Minister on gun control policy, has been a lightning rod for controversy since last year, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper distanced himself from a report the committee produced calling for a radical loosening of Canada’s gun control system.

Story continues below advertisement

One particularly controversial recommendation involved removing the category of “prohibited firearm,” which covers guns such as snub-nose handguns and automatic weapons, making them easier to own legally.

It also called for a registration system for people who own unregistered prohibited weapons – for example, an illicit sub-machine gun.

When the recommendations became public Dec. 6, Harper said repeatedly, “that document does not represent the government’s position”.

Question Period the day the report was made public began with seven Opposition questions on the subject.

“I am very concerned with some of the recommendations made in that report, and I think the committee does need some re-examination in that light,” Harper said in response to a question from then-Liberal leader Bob Rae.

The government shook up the committee In March, dropping three civilian gun owners and adding three police officers: Hanson, Rich and Mike Sutherland, who heads Winnipeg’s police union.

Sutherland attended April’s meeting. He did not return a call asking for comment.

The appointment of Rich and Hanson was widely seen as a response to a long-ignored request from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to be represented on the committee, and balancing out a committee seen as representing only the gun-rights side of Canada’s gun control debate.

Story continues below advertisement

Rich, for example, said in testimony at a House of Commons committee in May of 2010 that private handgun ownership “should be prohibited in all cases.” He also said police should be stricter with people who let their gun licences lapse.

The main discussion at this year’s meeting concerned proposed changes to Canada’s gun licence system. Members spent two and a half hours on the subject after a presentation by Public Safety officials.

Details of the proposed changes were censored from documents obtained by Global News under access-to-information laws.

Rich says this is an area he’d like to have a say in.

“I believe in face-to-face interviews, and that kind of input around making sure the right people have [firearms]. The issue is making sure that we are issuing them to the right people and taking them away in the right circumstances. That’s an area that I would certainly give input on – when there are mental health issues, or other kinds of behaviours with people who have a [gun licence], then we make sure that we visit taking them away.”

Last year, licencing changes discussed by the committee included extending the term of a gun license from five years to ten. The RCMP opposed the move, saying it would make it harder to keep track of gun owners’ mental health.

Story continues below advertisement

The committee also discussed allowing holders of possession-only gun licences – people who were licenced before the gun control measures of the early 1990s and haven’t taken a safety course – to buy new firearms, something they’re now barred from doing.

“Public Safety Canada will take steps to ensure that all members of the Minister’s Firearms Advisory Committee are able to participate in meetings and provide advice to Minister Blaney,” Julie Carmichael, a spokesperson in the minister’s office, said in an email.

They could start by giving more of a head’s up to members with day jobs thousands of kilometres away, Rich said.

“It’s a big country, so we’ve always struggled with that whenever we have a national committee,” he said. ”I’m a chief of a relatively small organization, so I can [make the time]. If you want Chief Hanson’s time, you’d better give him a lot of notice. It’s the same with all the big departments – you can’t just expect him to be somewhere. For me, if I can make myself available, I will.”