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Disappointed, angered and disgusted is how Saskatoon’s Royal Stevens felt after being a victim of a bear spray attack in mid-October.
On Oct. 16, Stevens and his father were coming home from a road trip and had stopped at a gas station on Fairlight Drive.
As Stevens filled up his car with gas, he overheard some people at the corner of the building joking around and saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we bear sprayed these guys?’
Moments later, Stevens looked up to see a can of bear spray near his face.
Listen to Shane Clausing’s report on bear spray:
“I don’t know if it was a male or female. They were wearing dark pants and I saw the dark can and I told my dad to get into the car,” he explained.
He shouted to his dad they were going to get bear sprayed.
“That was the last thing I said before the waft basically hit us. Everybody was laughing. I took the brunt of it and my dad did not,” Stevens said. “Thank God, because he’s a senior and going through cancer.”
His dad took the wheel and the two booked it away from the gas station. Eventually, they pulled over somewhere safe to regain their bearings.
Stevens said that someone doing something as childish as bear spraying people for a laugh was ridiculous.
“It’s disappointing. I would never think about doing it to another human … you never know what underlying conditions they might have.”
Stevens said this is the first time he’d ever been attacked like this. He didn’t report the incident to police because he didn’t think they’d respond.
“We never even thought about reporting it to the police, because we’ve already heard about the police response time when it comes to incidents like that,” he added.
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Over 3,000 bear spray incidents in Sask.
Stevens’ story is one that has become more common across communities in Saskatchewan.
According to the province, police have responded to over 3,000 bear spray incidents over the last five years. However, that number could be much higher when factoring in unreported cases.
The Government of Saskatchewan created new rules in March to get tough on those who abuse bear spray in public.
It’s now illegal to deface or alter bear spray cans or carry it in urban public spaces like shopping malls, movie theatres and city parks.
The new rules make it so that those who are charged with a bear spray offence could face fines of up to $100,000.
“They’re intended to provide police and wildlife officers with an additional tool to seize bear spray and charge people with possession of bear spray,” said Bronwyn Eyre, former Saskatchewan Justice Minister and Attorney General in an interview with 650 CKOM.
“Previously, law enforcement could address only the criminal use of bear spray so they could only charge someone if the bear spray had already been used, had already been deployed,” she said.
Eyre was not re-elected as an MLA during last Monday’s provincial election.
As of Oct. 10, police services across the province had laid around 30 charges under the new regulations. It is not known how many people pleaded guilty to the charges or the total cost of the fines as each matter is still before the courts.
Eyre said she believes the new rules are working because of the “positive feedback” she’s received.
“I was in P.A. with a number of colleagues and Mayor (Greg) Dionne publicly thanked us for bringing those regulations in, and certainly his sense is that it’s making a difference,” Eyre said.
“Police chiefs tell me it’s making a difference, and members of police boards, and we’ve been told thank you for bringing these regulations in.”
Do Saskatchewan police officers think it’s working?
While Eyre is confident the new laws are working, high-ranking police officers who spoke with 650 CKOM say it’s too soon to tell.
“What I’m seeing is that the legislative additions really haven’t made a difference yet,” said Saskatoon Police Chief Cam McBride.
“There’s always a bit of a culture shift that needs to take place. Our members are used to using the criminal code in order to deal with these circumstances where bear spray is present,” he added.
“We’ve definitely seen the number of charges we’re laying picking up slightly as we head into the fall, but still the numbers are not great.”
Regina Police Service Deputy Chief Lorilee Davies says their officers have laid 15 charges since the law came into effect.
“I think for our officers, it does give them just another option,” Davies said. “Have we seen a huge change in terms of the climate in relation to bear spray? Probably not, but it’s still pretty early on.”
“In Saskatchewan, we know bear spray has a legitimate purpose. The problem we see is the ease of accessibility and we’re unsure whether the fine imposed at the end of the charge under the new provincial legislation is going to have a deterrent effect,” McBride said.
“We’re watching that closely, and we’ll see what kind of penalties come out of those charges as they work their way through court. And then we’ll be able to see is the penalty that’s becoming commonplace really a deterrent or not?”
Both are saying bear spray remains too easy to access and more needs to be done to deter purchases.
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