A spike in violent incidents involving bear spray has Burnaby RCMP urging the city to adopt a bylaw to restrict its sale in the city – especially to youth.
Calls involving bear spray jumped 36 per cent (from 71 to 111) between 2020 and 2023, and 2024 is on track to exceed last year’s numbers, according to a recent report to the city’s public safety committee.
"It's almost on a weekly basis we're getting a call regarding a bear-spray related incident," Const. Dwight Martin told the committee.
He pointed to a fight last month involving pepper spray that led to the evacuation of the Metrotown mall food court.
Many of the incidents involve youth, he said, with teens often victimizing other teens.
Chief Supt. Graham de la Gorgendiere, head of the Burnaby RCMP, said bear spray is being used to commit robberies, home invasions and assaults.
"This is happening to a great number of youth in our community," he said. "We see people losing their iPhones, their runners, their jackets."
Coun. Richard Lee asked if there was an argument to be made for using bear spray in self defence, but de la Gorgendiere said the same logic could be used for a knife or a gun.
"It's not legal to carry those items around," he said.
The sale and use of bear spray is already controlled by federal and provincial legislation, which prohibits selling it to anyone under the age of 19, and people who buy it are required to sign documents indicating how the spray should be used and stored.
But only police can enforce the provincial and federal laws, whereas a bylaw would allow the city’s bylaw officers to investigate and address the illegal sale of bear spray as well, according to Martin.
Bylaws have made a difference in other cities, he said.
Chilliwack adopted a bylaw in 2020, he said, and saw bear spray calls go down 40 per cent (from 164 to 98) by 2023 – during the same time period Burnaby saw a 36 per cent increase.
Similar decreases have also happened in other cities, including Vancouver and Coquitlam, after bylaws were put in place, according to Martin.
Under the bylaw he recommended for Burnaby, the sale of bear spray would be banned to anyone under the age of 19; the buyer would be required to present two pieces of valid government identification and sign a declaration form; and the seller would have to sign a waiver with the government ID number, keep a record of the sale and declaration form, and store the bear spray as outlined in the bylaw.
Merchants would be prohibited from displaying it because one way youth get their hands on bear spray is by stealing it, according to Martin.
Other methods include buying it online with gift cards, buying it on Facebook Marketplace or getting it from older students who've graduated from their school.
One thing's for sure, according to Martin, even the in-person sales of bear spray in Burnaby are out of whack with the number of bear attacks in the city.
He noted Canadian Tire has sold about 500 cans of bear spray since 2020 but there has been only one incident of a bear injuring a person during that time – and that person was feeding the bear, according to Martin.
"In essence, the ends don't justify the means in terms of the amount of bear calls we have versus the number of bear spray incidents that are being recorded," he said.
Martin said the bylaw wouldn't solve the whole problem, especially since online sales are largely out of the RCMP's control, but it would be one way to help make the streets safer.
De la Gorgendiere said there are legitimate uses for bear spray for hikers and hunters.
"It's not everybody that’s committing a crime with this," he said, "but it's certainly become a phenomenon within the city here, and there's no need to have bear spray on the streets of Burnaby. That's not a thing for us."
The public safety committee unanimously approved a motion directing staff to explore the creation of a possible bylaw to regulate the sale of bear spray in the city.
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