A conversation over the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George planning to equip its bylaw officers with pepper spray, batons and other equipment led to some minor sparks between a rural member of the board of directors and a representative from the City of Prince George at a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025.
Presented to the board for information was a report from Blaine Harasimiuk, the district’s manager of inspection services and sustainable practices on the training and equipment provided to bylaw officers.
The regional district is planning to hold a training session on protective force options for bylaw officers in Prince George, with invitations sent to all other local governments in central and northern BC.
The cost to host the session is estimated at around $6,000, with costs shared between the 12 participants.
Once the session is over, each of the regional district’s bylaw officers will be set up with:
- Safety footwear
- Protective vests
- Jackets with ID
- Personal ID
- Puncture/cut-resistant gloves
- Flashlights
- Oleoreisn capsicum (pepper) spray
- Collapsible batons
- Handcuffs
- Body cameras
The total cost to purchase all this gear for each bylaw officer, some of which the district already has on hand, is $4,145.
On top of that, the district is looking to also purchase a micro drone (estimated cost $200), a Garmin InReach satellite communicator and GPS device ($200) and software for the body cameras ($16,000 to $20,000) for the use of the entire department.
When it came time for directors to discuss the report, Director Dannielle Alan (Robson Valley-Canoe) voiced her strong objections to bylaw officers being provided with weapons.
“I appreciate the professionalism and efforts of our bylaw officers, they do a fantastic job and (I note) in the report that one of the officers as accosted by a dog and I’m sorry they had that experience,” Alan said.
“However, I am strongly against our bylaw officers carrying weaponry, either a baton, pepper spray or zip ties. I understand that Prince George bylaw enforcement officers have had great success with protection tools, however our bylaw officers do not deal with the same circumstances.”
Alan said that looking through bylaw enforcement reports, the only infractions being dealt with by regional district officers are unsightly premises.
Prince George bylaw officers, by comparison, have to deal with problems caused by addiction, mental health issues and people Alan said can be unpredictable and sometimes dangerous.
Director Brian Skakun (City of Prince George) said he disagreed with Alan.
“In the rural settings and if you talk to some directors on the side, some of them will tell you about some of these homes where these folks are hidden at and some of the things going on,” he said.
“I, for one, would not be able to sleep at night if something happened to one of the bylaw officers because we could not provide them with some sort of minimal protection. A collapsible baton, that could be used for a dog, it could be used for all sorts of things.”
Harasimiuk said that he had been cornered by a dog about two weeks ago with no way to protect himself and there have been incidents where people interacting with bylaw officers have threatened to bring out guns or hammers against them.
“I don’t think we can say that just because we don’t deal with the kind of street people that the City of Prince George deals with we can say that we’re not dealing with some kind of unknowns all the time because we are rural,” he said.
Director Kyle Sampson (City of Prince George) said he hopes bylaw officers never need to use pepper spray or a baton, but there are many different circumstances in the field where they could be needed.
Director Cori Ramsay (City of Prince George) said that when the city rolled out those tools to its bylaw officers, city council asked for a report after the first year on how they were used. That report said that they hadn’t been used, but that officers felt safer.
She wondered whether her colleagues would be interested in directing district staff to complete a similar report.
With regards to handling the data that is collected by body-worn cameras, general manager of legislative and corporate services Maureen Connelly and chief administrative officer Chris Calder said those elements still need to be worked out.
Speaking again, Alan said she did not believe that Fraser-Fort George is any more dangerous than the other 27 regional districts in British Columbia that do not arm their bylaw officers, also raising concerns about use of weapons possibly violating residents’ Charter rights and complaints over excessive force.
She said she did not object to the other gear being purchased, like the drone.
“Just because Prince George does something doesn’t mean that the same thing is applicable to our people in rural areas,” Alan said. “This is overkill. This is killing a gnat with a hammer … that sends entirely the wrong message of who we are as a regional district. We’re not the City of Prince George, we are the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George”
Sampson challenged Alan to explain what she meant when she said that the regional district “is not the City of Prince George.”
Alan said she meant that bylaw officers operating only in the regional district’s rural areas do not experience the same challenges as those working for the city.
Sampson was unsatisfied with Alan’s answer and challenged her again, with chair Lara Beckett requesting that he keep his comments brief as a delegation was waiting to present.
“I know the literal definition that the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George is not the City of Prince George, I want to know what you’re implying when you say that, Director Alan,” Sampson said.
Beckett interjected to say the question had been dealt with, to which Sampson asked for Alan’s statement to be retracted if she wasn’t going to defend it.
Alan declined to do so. That prompted Beckett to say that they weren’t getting anywhere and moved for a vote on receiving the report for information and proceeding onto the next item.
