Travis Bader

About me

I founded Silvercore as a sole proprietorship in 2000 and incorporated in 2003. I personally taught the Canadian Firearms Safety Course from 1994 onward, and today Silvercore is the largest private firearms training company in Canada. I was qualified as an expert witness at the Federal Court of Canada in Parker v. Canada, the consolidated challenge to the May 2020 Order in Council firearms prohibition, and have provided expert opinion in firearms matters to Crown and defence counsel for roughly 20 years. We have grown our instructor cadre to teach across our full range of programs, and my work has shifted to running the business, training and certifying the instructors who teach for us, expert witness work in firearms-related matters, and hosting the Silvercore Podcast.

What I do

I'm the founder and Managing Director of Silvercore Outdoors. Silvercore runs the Canadian Firearms Safety Course (CFSC), the Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course (CRFSC), and CORE hunter education, taught by our instructor cadre. We hold the sole provider contract for BC Online Hunter Education. We also build custom firearms and use-of-force training programs for government agencies and private corporations, and we run the Silvercore Club, an approved shooting club under the Firearms Act with members across Canada and internationally.

I host the Silvercore Podcast and have built and consulted on podcast programs for government, municipal, corporate, and private clients.

Outside Silvercore, I provide expert opinion for Canadian law firms on firearms-related matters, and have been qualified as an expert witness at the Federal Court of Canada and the Provincial Court of British Columbia.

Certifications and credentials

RCMP Canadian Firearms Program

• Master Instructor, qualified to train and certify instructors for the CFSC and CRFSC
• Instructor, CFSC and CRFSC

Hunter education

• Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Education (CORE) Instructor and Examiner, British Columbia's official hunter education program
• CORE Hunter Education Facilitator, qualified to train instructors and certify examiners

Use of force

• Federal Use of Force Instructor, Canadian Firearms Centre
• Provincial Use of Force Instructor, Justice Institute of British Columbia

Range and rifle

• Certified Range Officer, accredited by the Department of National Defence, Vancouver Police Department, and Province of British Columbia
• Department of National Defence Rifle Instructor

Armourer

• Factory-trained armourer for Glock, Remington, Smith and Wesson, Beretta

Provincial and municipal

• Certified Firearms Instructor, Province of British Columbia
• Certified Firearms Instructor, Vancouver Police Department

Professional memberships

• International Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association

Other

• The Reid Institute of Interviewing and Interrogation, Basic and Advanced certifications

Expert witness work

I provide expert opinion to Canadian law firms on firearms-related matters. Firms I've worked with include Matthew Nathanson Law, Donaldson-Jette, Donaldson Law, Ganapathi Law Group, Roothman and Company, Fulton and Company LLP, Bouchelev Law, JSS Barristers, Fulton Law Co., and the Trial Lawyers Advocacy Group.

Qualified as an expert witness:

• Parker v. Canada (Attorney General), 2023 FC 1419, Federal Court of Canada. Testified under oath in the consolidated proceeding involving six judicial review applications challenging the May 2020 Order in Council that prohibited approximately 1,500 firearm models. Consolidated file numbers: T-569-20 (Parker), T-577-20 (CCFR), T-581-20 (Hipwell), T-677-20 (Doherty), T-735-20 (Generoux), T-905-20 (Eichenberg).
• R. v. Tereshchak, Provincial Court of British Columbia (2011). Testified on the classification of a Norinco Type 97A rifle.

Expert reports provided:

• R. v. Wong, Supreme Court of British Columbia (2009)
• R. v. Blair, Supreme Court of British Columbia (2011)
• Darren Fisk v. Tintina Gun Range, Yukon Supreme Court (2019)
• R. v. Zhao, Supreme Court of British Columbia (2019)
• Daniel McLean v. Alex McLean, Supreme Court of British Columbia (2020)

Selected contracts and program work, past and present

• Sole provider contract for BC Online CORE Hunter Education
• Created the BC Parks firearms instructor and student program
• Firearms repair and maintenance for armoured car companies across British Columbia and Canada
• Firearms advisor and maintenance contractor for the Vancouver Police Museum
• Firearms repair and maintenance for police departments across British Columbia
• Firearms training for Department of Fisheries and Oceans non-government staff across Canada
• Provincial range user and annual qualification course for Garda World
• Firearms instruction for Federal Corrections Canada
• Lead Instructor for the Security Programs Division, Justice Institute of British Columbia
• RCMP Auxiliary firearms familiarization instructor
• Transit Police (GVTAPS) firearms familiarization instructor
• Department of National Defence Cadet Instructor Cadre firearms instructor
• Range design and approval consultant for The Range Langley
• 2020 Vancouver Police TTC Use of Force Experts Clinic
• Podcast development and consulting for government, municipal, corporate, and private clients

Other work

From 2005 to 2022 I owned Firearms Canada Media Corporation Inc., the company behind firearmscanada.com, a Canadian firearms resource and discussion forum that ran for 17 years.

Outside of Silvercore, I spend time in the back country and with my wife and kids. Knife making is a hobby that fits between the two.