Canada Plucks Pepper Spray

Sun., July 21, 1996

By Susan English susane@spokesman.com

Hikers planning to take pepper spray into Canada could be in for a surprise at some Canadian border stations.

According to Canadian Customs regulations, cans of pepper spray, even if marked as animal repellant, must also have an Agriculture Canada Pest Control number on the can or border guards will confiscate it. At least at some crossings. The products cost $30-$45 a can.

The regulation is not new, but has been observed inconsistently at various border crossings.

In recent years, hikers wanting to take their bear repellant pepper spray with them north of the border needed to show border guards a picture of a bear on the can of spray, confirming it was bear repellant and not intended for use on people. At some crossings, those cans were allowed into Canada. But if border guards follow Canadian Customs regulations, the pepper spray will be confiscated.

“Ninety-nine percent of the pepper spray manufactured in the U.S. does not meet our regulations,” says Kevin Hewson, the superintendent of Customs Border Services in Patterson, British Columbia. “Pepper spray is tightly controlled in Canada and we recommend people leave it at home.”

As of late June, the Canadian border patrol at the crossing just outside Waterton National Park (adjacent to Glacier Park in Montana) was actively confiscating pepper spray, bear picture or not. The border guards will hold the can for 40 days and you can pick it up again when leaving Canada, otherwise you are asked to “abandon the pepper spray to the Crown” and it’s destroyed. (Or you can return to the U.S. side of the border and mail it back home.)

Pepper spray that is advertised for use solely as animal repellant, and has an Agriculture Canada inspection number on the label, is available at some Canadian sporting goods stores.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BEAR FACTS Going into grizzly country? Check out “Bear Aware” (Falcon Press, $6.95, 800-582-2665) a concise primer for campers, anglers and others who go where grizzlies roam.

This sidebar appeared with the story: BEAR FACTS Going into grizzly country? Check out “Bear Aware” (Falcon Press, $6.95, 800-582-2665) a concise primer for campers, anglers and others who go where grizzlies roam.

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