City mulls restricting sale of knives

Report looks at ways to keep weapons out of convenience stores, away from minors

Edmonton will explore new rules for selling legal knives currently available in convenience stores after advocates came to city hall demanding action.

Business and community groups lobbied council's urban planning committee Tuesday for updates to business licences or other bylaws to stop knives from being sold at corner stores and to minors. A report on what legal tools city council could use is expected by late summer or September.

Sandy Pon, chairwoman of the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative Society, said Chinatown is working toward recovery by promoting tourism, housing and vibrancy initiatives, but there's an uptick in businesses selling questionable services and products in the area.

“There are a large number of weapons such as knives, swords, brass knuckles, bear spray, and other drug paraphernalia sold in these businesses,” she told councillors. “We need to stop the predatory practices.”

Bryan LaFleche said there's an “astronomical” number of children carrying knives in the Alberta Avenue neighbourhood. Staff at Gordon Russell's Crystal Kids Youth Centre on 118 Avenue confiscate on average three or four knives per week. Youths are carrying them for self-defence, he said.

“To the child, when we ask them, ` Why are you carrying a knife, why do you have bear spray,' the answer every single time is, `It's for protection,' ” he said.

“They don't feel safe travelling out in the community. We spend hours trying to convince them this knife provides them with absolutely no protection.”

Nunu Desalgne, who owns a grocery store around 107 Avenue in the North Edge business area, told council other shops sell knives but she won't because she thinks it's wrong. Knowing other stores sell them makes her fear for her family and the community's safety, and gives her competitors an unfair advantage.

“It's just not the right thing to do,” Desalgne told Postmedia during a break in the meeting.

“I am a mother, and this is not a business I want to promote, this is not a legacy that I want to pass on to my kids. This is quite dangerous. I can't even bring myself to sell kitchen knives. They should be in an area where they can be controlled.”

` ZERO TOLERANCE' FOR KNIVES: MAYOR

Coun. Ashley Salvador, who put forward a motion to explore new rules for selling knives with Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, said she's hearing growing concerns from the community.

She said it's time for council to start looking at enforcement since education and encouragement for businesses selling knives hasn't worked.

“As you heard today, you walk in, and right next to the chocolate bars is a wall of knives that are designed for harm,” she during the meeting.

Salvador said a small number of “bad business owners” are exploiting the city's core and harming community safety.

“I do feel a sense of deep frustration by what I see as reckless behaviour from business owners,” she said. “Ensuring that these weapons don't end up in the hands of kids is a critical, preventive step we should be taking to protect safety, security and their future, the future of our communities.”

Sohi told reporters the city should have “zero tolerance” for these knives and supports changing bylaws to stop them from being sold.

“These are not your utility knives that you use at home, these are knives designed to kill, and they should not be sold in convenience stores and they should not be easily available for people to have access to them,” he said.

Christy Morin, speaking for Arts on the Ave Edmonton Society, said the issue has been ongoing for about 20 years in many of Edmonton's neighbourhoods.

She and Allan Bolstad of the Alberta Avenue Community League gathered a group representing Alberta Avenue, Central McDougall, Queen Mary Park, Mill Woods, Jasper Place, Chinatown and others to ask council to take action.

Police on Monday announced the seizure of 185 weapons from 5 Star Gift and Smoke Shop near 105 Street and 107 Avenue on April 4. Police say they seized 100 large canisters of bear spray, 30 butterfly knives, 20 pairs of brass knuckles, 20 canisters of small hand-held bear spray, five flashlight-style Tasers, illicit tobacco and a controlled substance, believed to be khat, for the purpose of trafficking.

In January, the U.K. government announced legislation to ban so-called “zombie knives” and machetes in England and Wales, making it illegal to possess or sell them amid concerns about rising violent crime involving knives, Reuters reported.