You probably needed to start your paperwork about 6 months ago if you are talking about handguns. Yes, you can have a pistol, rifle, shotgun in Canada. The rifle and shotgun are a lot easier now that the registry is gone, but pistols are still a pain.
Nothing under 4" barrel (actually a bit over 4" as the requirement is in cm) but basically 4". There are a whole passel of "prohibited" pistols (basically any weapon with a barrel length of less than 4" and just about anything in 25 cal or 32 cal.
There is an RCMP web site...the link here is to a site for US going to Canada...but lots of good info and links...
http://www.panda.com/canadaguns/#att