Rampant bear spray use emerges as ongoing challenge for Saskatoon police

Saskatoon police say the number of reported bear spray incidents is up almost 25 per cent, to close to 300, from last year.

The acrid spray has been discharged everywhere from the street to mall stores to city buses, and getting a grip on its illegal use is a primary policing challenge heading into 2025, Saskatoon Police Service Chief Cameron McBride said.

Through October, there was been an average of nearly one incident per day. At one point, there were five cases over two days.

• Saskatoon facing a 'troubling rise' in bear spray incidents: police

This trend is troubling enough that one of the yardsticks McBride is using to assess the province's Safe Public Space Act is whether the new laws will help control the sale and use of bear spray.

WATCH | Here's what the police chief thinks Saskatoon needs to address its bear spray problem:

Saskatoon has a bear spray problem. Here's what the police chief thinks needs to happen

4 days ago

Duration 0:58

Saskatoon Police Chief Cameron McBride thinks amendments to the Safe Public Spaces Act have potential to reduce bear spray incidents in his city — if they can effectively address three key points.

"How do we control it at the point of sale? How do we control it as it travels from one hand to the other? How does it get into the hands of a person who's going to use it for a criminal purpose," he said.

"As we're looking at the new legislation and how it might implement change and how effective it might be … is it effectively going to make a difference?"

McBride said he had not yet studied the new legislation, introduced by the government on Dec. 5. The province said the Safe Public Spaces (Street Weapons) Act will improve safety by regulating the possession, transportation and storage of items that may be used as street weapons, and allowing police to seize them without laying charges.

That includes large knives, machetes and bear spray.

McBride is open to having a new tool for police to use.

"If there's positive change as a result of legislation, I'm all for it," he said.

Municipalities must opt in for the laws to apply.

Police flagged bear spray as a live issue earlier this year when they noted a "troubling rise" in bear spray-related incidents, according to SPS Supt. Tonya Gresty, especially in weapons assaults and robbery reports.