ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
NEWMARKET
BETWEEN:
HIS MAJESTY THE KING
— AND —
JUDY ELLEMENT
ENDORSEMENT
Ms. Zenia SETHNA ................................................................................. counsel for the Crown
Nobody Appearing for the Respondent
KENKEL J.:
1In the afternoon of September 1, 2025 police received a call about a person being shot in the leg. They arrived to see the respondent in her residence lying in a pool of blood. She’d been shot in the leg and the injury was life-threatening. Luckily EMS was able to control the bleeding until the respondent arrived at Sunnybrook where she received emergency care. The police were told that the firearm had been carelessly stored with a round in the chamber and that the shooting was an accident. Her son and his friends had been looking at the rifles.
2The police seized 14 firearms along with ammunition. Nobody in the residence was licensed to own them. The firearms had belonged to the respondent’s husband who passed away over 8 years prior. Since that time the respondent did not transfer the items or dispose of them. Plainly the presence of those firearms in that home creates a significant risk to public safety.
3The Crown applies under s 117.05 of the Criminal Code for an order for disposition of the items seized by the York Regional Police.
4The matter has been before the court several times on November 3, November 24, December 22, January 30 and now February 20. The respondent was given time to arrange a transfer or sale of the firearms to a person licensed to receive them.
5The respondent did not appear for today’s hearing. The Crown has not been advised that there is a licensed owner who can receive these firearms. I find it necessary in these circumstances to proceed ex parte under s 117.05(2).
6Having considered the evidence and the circumstances in which the firearms were seized, it’s plain that the firearms cannot be returned to the scene of the shooting. The respondent has had more than 8 years since her husband’s death to lawfully transfer the firearms to a licensed individual. The failure to do that resulted in near tragedy.
7I find it necessary for public safety to order that the firearms and ammunition seized be forfeit to His Majesty. With respect to the rifles and shotguns this order is subject to a final period of 30 days in which the respondent has one last chance to convey those firearms to a licensed holder who can attend at the York Regional Police and receive the firearms upon proof of lawful transfer and proof that the person is licensed to possess those items. That transfer must be completed on or before March 20, 2026. After that date, the rifles and shotguns are forfeit to His Majesty for destruction.
8This permission to transfer applies only to the firearms that are not assault-style rifles that are now prohibited and cannot be lawfully transferred. Any assault-style rifles are immediately forfeit to His Majesty for destruction.
9The ammunition seized as item 15 is ordered forfeit to His Majesty for disposition immediately.
Delivered: February 20, 2026
Justice Joseph F. Kenkel