WINNIPEG - In the wake of several violent bear spray attacks, a local activist who pushed for changes to provincial laws governing the substance’s sale says the rules need to be tightened again.
Sel Burrows said bear spray is still falling into the wrong hands and being used for nefarious purposes, despite new regulations implemented 15 months ago.
“It’s obviously being used an awful lot,” said Burrows, co-ordinator of the Point Douglas Powerline, a neighbourhood watch group. “We’ve been slow off the mark with bear spray and a lot of people have been hurt because of it.”
In January, police said bear-spray incidents became more frequent in Winnipeg in the nine months after the rules kicked in. Updated statistics weren’t available.
The most recent incident occurred in the 400 block of Maryland Street on Monday at 11:10 p.m.
A 13-year-old boy allegedly forced open a door to a multi-suite residence and blasted the interior, resulting in four people being treated at the scene, police said.
This follows a convenience store robbery, home invasion and fight between young males where bear spray was discharged in April.
Burrows said there may be black-market sales of the spray.
“These kids that are ending up with it I don’t think could walk into (a store) and buy it,” he said.
Burrows would prefer an outright ban on its sale in stores.
Until that day, he wants the province to expand the rules to require retailers to provide a list of buyers, including their names, addresses and a copy of photo identification, to government on a weekly basis to find out who’s buying it frequently, and to limit the number of canisters one can buy over a certain period.
Under the Pesticides and Fertilizers Control Act, current rules require retailers to be licensed to sell animal repellents, keep products behind a counter, and submit records of who they are sold to on an annual basis. Retailers have the right to refuse a sale.
At least one Winnipeg store, Wilderness Supply Company, stopped carrying the product.
Owner Rick Shone said he didn’t want to pay a fee for each staff member to be trained and certified to sell it, or mistakenly sell it to someone with bad intentions.
“Now that we do not sell bear spray we rarely see shady customers come through our door asking for a product we know they are not going to use,” Shone said.
chris.kitching@sunmedia.ca
