With the use of Tasers by law enforcement officers becoming a national hot button issue, law enforcement agencies in the Yukon are handing their stun guns over for testing.

On Wednesday in the legislature, NDP MLA Steve Cardiff and Liberal member Don Inverarity asked Justice Minister Marian Horne for information on the use of Tasers in the territory.

Their questions were based on a study commissioned by CBC/Radio Canada which showed some Tasers made before January 2006 delivered a shock up to 50 per cent stronger than they are supposed to. (Taser is the name of North America's most widely used conducted energy weapon, or CEW).

Since the release of that study on Dec. 5, the RCMP have removed Tasers from detachments around the country and sent them to Ottawa for testing, according to an RCMP press release dated Dec. 8.

"Will the (Justice) minister tell us how many of the older Tasers the Yukon RCMP has," Cardiff asked, "and what plans there are to test and recalibrate them if necessary?"

Horne responded "that five Tasers have been removed from (Yukon) 'M' Division and are being sent for testing."

"We pulled 24 of the X-26s from across the country, and five came from M division," Sgt. Greg Cox, an RCMP spokesman from the Ottawa media office, confirmed today.

Following on Cardiff's question, Inverarity asked, "Can the minister confirm that the Tasers at Whitehorse Correctional Centre will also be tested?"

"The Taser at Whitehorse Correctional Centre is being tested," Horne replied.

"Our Tasers were pulled last year and are in storage," said Chris Ross, the Justice department's media liaison. "We were doing a review of their use."

Horne announced a WCC moratorium on Tasers on Nov. 22, 2007. The decision to stop using the electric-shock weapon came after the death of Robert Dziekanski on Oct. 14, 2007, Ross said. The Polish immigrant died after being shocked several times by RCMP officers at the Vancouver International Airport.

"They will be sent for testing," Ross said of the two WCC Tasers purchased in 2004.

Correctional officers at the jail have only used the weapon once, on Nov. 23, 2006, he said.

Dziekanski's death also prompted an investigation by the Public Complaints Commission, which released 10 recommendations on Taser use to the RCMP.

"The primary recommendation was for the RCMP to immediately reclassify the CEW as an impact weapon and allow for deployment only in situations where an individual was behaving in a manner classified as 'combative' or posing a risk of 'death or grievous bodily harm' to the member, themselves or the general public .... The primary recommendation was rejected by the RCMP," the commission's final report reads.

According to a nationally issued statement, the RCMP have amended their Taser policy by:

• Restricting the use of CEWs to incidents involving threats to officer or public safety;

• Requiring RCMP officers to be re-certified annually on the use of CEWs; and,

• Enhanced use-of-force reporting.

Before they stopped using Tasers last year, guards at the jail had to follow similar guidelines. The jail went one step further in allowing the weapon to be used to "prevent damage to the physical plant," according to its CEW policy.

There is no word yet on whether the corrections centre staff will be rearmed with the weapons after they have been tested.