Hi Daisy and welcome to the great white north.
Yes, firearms can be a difficult item to get here.
First, you will take a firearms safety course, available from most of your locan gun clubs.
When you have passed your course, you then need to get your FAC...firearms aquisition certificate.
Get in touch with your local or provincial police about this.
Once you have been "screened" and get your certificate, you can go to your local hunting supply store and get your guns.
This process is for all available long guns, hand guns are a totally different story....I will look into what you need to do forthose and get back to you here.
Once again, welcome to Canada and I hope to be prepping with you often.

Denob - thank you for the information. I have a friend getting me the info for the next local firearms safety class. I'm very much looking forward to it. I've lived here for 16 years now, but only recently have I felt an urgent need to be able to defend my kids and my home. I live somewhat near the US border, and a concern I have is this: when the US dollar dies, people that are desperate will be crossing into Canada looking for supplies. I believe at that time, violence and home invasions will be on the rise.

I'm working on some other ideas too. I have bear spray, which is awesome and someone on another board suggested the foaming wasp spray. We are also in the process of moving to another apartment which has only one entrance and no windows on the main floor. (It's the upstairs of a house.) This, to me, seems more easily defendable than a house where an intruder is right in the living room as soon as he gets through the door. We are also getting a second dog (ours is so mellow she doesn't even bark when someone knocks on the door 🙄 )

It's nice to see you here! I have high hopes that this board gets hopping!

I agree 100% Daisy,
I grew up in the Eastern Townships in Quebec which also borders the US.
You would not believe how easy it is to cross the border undetected(I actually did it by accident once on a cross country ski trip)
I think post SHTF, the border will be largely undefendable.
Not to mention that our economy is very closely related to that of the US, that any collapse there would certainly fall on us almost immediatly.
The bear spray sounds like a great idea. Have you thought of a bow and arrows?
I also want this board to get hopping, lets get our fellow Canadians into the prepper state of mind.

Hmmm...bow and arrow. It's great in concept but I'm not so sure in practice. I live in a city of about 200K, so I don't know how feasible it would be. Also, we are vegetarians so our food is easier to kill. 😆

I figure we would have only a couple of weeks before the US collapse triggered a Canadian collapse. I also agree that the border would be undefendable. It's simlply to big of an area. Unless we build the Great Wall of Canada, and quickly, that is just a fact we will have to live with. It alarms me that the Americans are already armed to the teeth and I'm just starting out collecting my arsenal.

The US is also much more of a target for terrorism, which could also trigger a wave of "invaders".

I defend my home with implements that cause blunt force trauma. Essentially I know what I have around the house and can pick something up within one or two steps at any given time. Anyone coming through the door will need to be carried out.

Home defense is very possible without firearms although at some point you may have to abandon the home. My feeling is that if I think I need a gun to stay there, I'm not staying. Nothing against guns, but if I need it they probably have them too and life is a lot easier when you aren't dodging lead. Bug out bags for each member of the family are good.

Hi Daisy

just a quick note about Firearms

It's not all that hard to get your restricted firearms license in Canada as long as you have no criminal record, take the Resticted firearms course( and pass the test), have all the proper signatures on your application papers, have a current membership to a local gun club and you don't mind waiting 4 to 6 months for the Canadian Firearms center to do their job.

As far as home defense, a firearm is the surest way to put you in jail in this country so I suggest you get a good baseball bat to do the job until the SHTF, after that it's your call!

Cheers
Ready Freddy

Work from your personal space out. Take an effective unarmed self defence class like Krav Maga first. A gun , knife, or club may not always be at hand, but your hands and feet are. If you must have a projectile weapon and firearms are difficult to obtain, a crossbow might be effective in the closer quarters of a home or apartment. Nothing like a crossbow bolt sticking out of your chest to make you reconsider a course of action....

Hi, new to site but have been getting ready since Y2K. I would say that the best defence in a city of 20K people is to look and act like all the others. If they are hungry and they find out you have food, that's it.
I would buy black out curtains and hide my pantry with a false wall if possible or prepare for a bug out with a suitable vehicle and destination. Not so easy, but my best advice. I moved out to the country and got some hands on and contacts with the local people.

Hello all,

Once you get all the documentation in place and are able to purchase guns at the local store, you need to know that we do not have the same laws around defending your home that the USA has. You can not harm an intruder in anyway if they are on their way out, you must let them leave. Tresspassing is not a reason to inflick damage on an individual. I guess in a SHTF situation that would not matter. I have a machette as a scare item, nothing sais "crazy" like boxer shorts and a machette at 2 am.

nothing says "crazy" like boxer shorts and a machette at 2 am.

😆

Of course the sound of a Mossberg being pumped by a wild-eyed Southern girl in Canada is also somewhat alarming!

...

here is something I picked up on another site and found very interesting for perspective. Thanks to the author.

If I were a Raider....
Passed on to me from a mate of mine...

by Jeff T.

I am the leader of a band of 8-to-12 looters. I have some basic military training. We move from place to place like locusts devouring everything in our path. My group is armed with light weapons and can develop and follow simple plans of attack. We take what we want by force of arms. We prefer none of our victims survive because that could cause problems for us in the future.

It has been six months since the grid went down. You and the other five members of your party have settled into what may be a long grinding existence. The every day tasks of growing and gathering have now become routine. The news from the outside is extremely limited but you don’t really miss it much. Life is simple but physically demanding.

Although things may seem stable you will need to keep your team focused and alert. This is your first and most important layer of defense. You should hold an immediate reaction drill once per week. Keep things simple. Practice a specific response to such threats as injury, fire, attack and evacuation. Despite the challenges you must maintain contact with those around you such as neighbors for vital clues that trouble is brewing. Regular monitoring the radio will be critical in providing an early warning of trouble. You may be able to safely interview refugees with risking your party. Keep in mind the information you get from them may not always be reliable.

While you have been farming I have been learning the best tactics to employ to seize your property and your goods. I have been refining them since we hit the road right after the lights went out. I have conducted eight “hits” so far and have been successful seven times. Here are some of my “lessons learned”.

Intelligence gathering and target selection is critical to my success. Targets include those who have large quantities of fuel, food and other valuable supplies. My posse is constantly questioning anyone and everyone we contact searching for this our next victim. Anyone who has ever had knowledge, even second hand, of your preparations is someone of interest to me. I may approach them directly or indirectly. If anyone knows something I will find out about it. Who seems well-fed? Who still has transportation? Who has lights? Who was prepared? Where are they exactly? Somebody talks, either in person or on the radio. They always do.

We search for victims night and day. During the day we are listening for the sounds of machinery, cars, tractors, gunfire or generators. Day or night without a lot of wind those sounds can carry for miles. At night I look for any sort of light. Even a small flash indicates somebody with electricity and that means a rich target. I always have somebody listing to the scanner for any news, leads or insecure chatter.

Operational Security is an important concept for your entire group to understand and maintain. If somebody outside your circle doesn’t have a real need to know about your plans, preparations or procedures then they shouldn’t know period. Develop a cover story and live it like was a bulletproof vest. It is no less important to your protection and survival. During an event you need to blend in with the surrounding environment. Carefully observe noise (such as generators and other engines) and light discipline especially at night. If you need to test fire weapons do it in one sequence to avoid a prolonged noise signature.

Once I find and target you reconnaissance of your retreat is my next step. Only a fool would try to rush in and try to overwhelm a group of “survivalists”. We had a bad experience with that during our second hit. Now we spend at least a day or two trying to size up a large opportunity and the best way to take it down. I will observe retreat activity from a nearby-concealed position. I will get an idea of your numbers, weapons, routines and so much more by careful surreptitious observation. If your group seems alert, I will try and trigger a false alarm with a dog or child to watch your reaction to a threat. That helps me know how you respond, where you are strong and how to attack. I may also obtain a topographical map of the area to identify likely avenues of approach and potential escapes routes you will try to use. I may coerce your neighbors into uncovering a weak spot or access point or other important intelligence. I also have a Bearcat handheld scanner. I will be listening for any insecure chatter from your radios.

Regular patrols at irregular intervals focused on likely observation points and avenues of approach could keep me at bay. You could put down sand or other soft soil in key choke points as a way of “recording” if anyone has recently traveled through the land. Dogs, with their advanced sense of hearing and smell are able to detect and alert you to intruders well in advance of any human. Motion sensing IR video cameras as a part of a security plan could play a part in your layered defense as long as you have power. A 24 hour manned observation point equipped with high quality optical tools is a must. It should be fortified and if possible concealed. It should have a weapon capable of reaching to the edges of your vision. Seismic intrusion devices, night vision and thermal imaging are phenomenal force multiplying tools. They can give you critical intelligence and warning. You should use them if you have them. Understand they are not fool proof and I can often neutralize them if I know you have them.

These tools and techniques provide you reaction time. Time to plan your response and time to execute that plan. Recognize that a “defender” is always at a disadvantage. By definition a defender will be reacting to my attack. Modern warfare has emphasized the ability of the attacker to operate faster than opponents can react. This can be explained by the OODA loop. Below are the four steps of the classic OODA loop. These are the steps a defender goes through when under attack.

1. Observing or noticing the attack.
2. Orient to the direction, method and type of attack.
3. Deciding what the appropriate response will be.
4. Acting on that decision.

As an attacker I will try and operate at a pace faster than you as a defender can adjust to. I will change my direction, pace, timing and method to force you to continue to process through the OODA loop. This creates confusion and wastes your precious reaction time. As a defender you will need to disrupt or reset your attackers timing with a counter-attack. When you are successful you become the attacker. Your defensive plans should utilize and exploit this concept. Here are a few scenarios:

1. Snipe & Siege

I will begin the attack when I can engage at least half of your party’s military age personnel in one coordinated effort. I will infiltrate my team into concealed positions around your retreat within 50 to 75 yards. I will target any identified leadership with the first volley. Two thirds of my people will be engaging personnel. The other group will target communications antennas, surveillance cameras and any visible lighting assets. I want your group unable to see, communicate or call for help. The members of my band will each fire two magazines in the initial exchange. Two thirds of my group will change to new concealed positions and wait. One third will fall back into an ambush of the most likely avenue of escape. We will stay concealed and wait until you come out to attend to your wounded and dead. We repeat the attack as necessary until any resistance is crushed.

Ensure you adjust the landscape around your retreat so that I don’t have anyplace offering cover or concealment within 100 yards of your residence. You can create decorative masonry walls that can be used to offer cover for personnel close to your residence. Fighting positions can be built now and used as raised planting beds and then excavated for use in the future. These can be extended or reinforced after any significant event. These structures or other measures such as trenching must be sited carefully to avoid allowing them to be used effectively by an attacker if they are overrun.

2. Trojan Horse

For one hit we used an old UPS truck. We forced a refugee to drive it to the retreat gate. We concealed half our group inside the truck. The truck was hardened on the inside with some sandbags around the edges. The other half of our group formed an ambush concealed inside the tree line along the driveway. We killed the driver to make it look good and had one person run away. Those preppers almost waited us out. After nearly three hours they all walked slowly down the driveway. They were bunched up in a group intent on checking out the truck and driver. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

They could have worked together as group to sweep the area 360 degrees around the truck and they would have surely found us. A dog would have also alerted the residents to our presence. They could have taken measures to eliminate the vegetation offering us concealment on the road near the gate. They could have used CS gas or something similar to “deny” any suspicious areas. Lastly they could have done a “reconnaissance by fire”. Shooting into likely hiding spots, including the truck, trying to evoke a response. They should have established an over watch position with the majority of their group. This over watch group would have provided visual security and an immediate response if there were an attack. They were not expecting any additional threats. They didn’t consider that there might be additional danger lurking nearby aside from the truck and they died.

3. Kidnap & Surrender

A few weeks ago we surprised and captured a couple of women out tending a garden. It was totally by chance. We were traveling through a very rural area on our way to another town when somebody heard a tractor backfire. We immediately stopped and I sent a small team to recon the noise. They bumped into a small party tending a field at the edge of their retreat. They seized two women and immediately dragged them back to our vehicles. We began negotiations by sending a finger from each one back to the retreat under a white flag. The rest was easy.

This didn’t need to happen. Better noise discipline would have kept us from discovering their retreat. Some simple boundary fencing or tangle foot could have delayed us. The women should have been armed and aware of such a threat. If they has established an over watch for the garden they could have engaged us before we took our hostages or at least alerted the others that there was a problem. They also could have had a quick reaction SOP developed prior to this incident. That Quick Reaction (QR) force could have followed the kidnappers back to our vehicles and set up an ambush of their own. Rural retreat security is a full time job. If you snooze you may lose everything.

4. Fire and Maneuver

I don’t like this option but sometimes the prize is just too tempting. We typically infiltrate quietly at night to prearranged start points. We begin our attack just before dawn when your senses are dulled by a long night watch or from sleep. Based on our reconnaissance we divided your retreat into positions or zones that need specific attention. We prepare for battle by using an air rifle to target any lights or cameras. Our first priority is to engage any LP/OP site and destroy or degrade them as much as possible. I split my forces into two supporting groups. One group keeps the target position under constant fire. The other group also fires and maneuvers, closing on the target and destroying it with gunfire or improvised weapons. Many times these positions only have one occupant and the task is relatively easy. Often these positions are easy to spot and are too far from each other to provide any effective mutual support. We will work from one position to the next. In the darkness and confusion most of the defenders are disoriented and ineffective. They fall like dominos. We have also used motorcycles to negotiate obstacles and speed through cuts in the perimeter fence. Then throw Molotov Cocktails into any defensive position as they roar past. If you fall back into your residence we will set up a siege. If we can maneuver close enough, perhaps by using a distraction, we will pump concentrated insecticide into your building or we may introduce LP gas from a portable tank into the house and ignite it with tracer fire.

If there was enough warning time from your OP you could execute a pre-planned response. Your planned response should be simple, easy to understand and execute. Half your group occupies your fighting positions, two to a position. The rest of your party establishes an over watch and concentrate its fire at the enemies trying to fix your positions. If you had more than enough prepared positions the enemy might not know where to attack. It would also provide more flexibility in your defense based on the direction of attack. I would use Night Vision if available or illumination from flares or lights as a last resort. Rats hate light.

Usually people keep main access points blocked from high-speed approach. Likely avenues of approach should also be blocked or choked and kept under observation. Remember though what keeps me out keeps you in. Typically the common techniques of parking vehicles in roadways will only delay my approach not stop it altogether. An ordinary 12-gauge shotgun, shooting slugs, can stop most types of non-military vehicles at close range.

Don’t forget the threat of fire or other non-traditional weapons in your defensive plans.

You could create the illusion of a “dead end” for your main access road by positioning a burned out trailer home or a couple of burned out cars at the false “end” of the road. Concealing the fact that the road actually continues to your residence.

Lastly, develop a plan to evacuate and evade capture. When faced with a significantly superior force it may be the only viable option. This should include simple, reliable communications or signals such as three blasts on a dog whistle. Your fighting positions and barriers need to be constructed to allow coordinated withdrawal in an emergency. You should establish a rally point and time limit to assemble. I believe this should be a priority in your practice drills. During a real emergency you may be able to rally, rearm and plan your own version of the “snipe and siege” to retake your retreat.

Key messages:
Your rural retreat defense can be visualized as a set of concentric rings:

Location – Location – Location: High and remote are best
OPSEC – Think of it as a form of armor or shield: Practice it and protect it.
Observation Post / Listening Post: Your first best chance to counter attack
Gates / Fences / other barriers: May slow me down. Might keep you in.
Fighting positions: Must provide mutual support and allow for evacuation.
Residence: Last line. Don’t become trapped
People, Planning and Practice

Remember:

An aggressive and unexpected counter strike can win the battle.
Stay alert for multiple threats or diversionary tactics.
Criminals excel at feigning weakness to lower your guard.

Don’t underestimate me.

A bit of ballistic reality..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGLtuoNgjSo

http://theboxotruth.com/docs/bot7.htm

I believe situation dictates response.Crackheads get a running football tackle.Detain under citizen arrest for the cops. If and or when society collapses. All bets are off. A .22 rifle is quieter and just as effective in close. OPSEC is underrated. Unprepared people will be the worst random problem.