Anmol Garg said machetes were no longer sold in his store on Selkirk Avenue as of two weeks ago in anticipation of new legislation, which is expected to be granted royal assent this week.

The Long-Bladed Weapon Control Act (Bill 39) — which won’t take effect until regulations are worked out — will require purchasers to be at least 18 years old and show identification that retailers have to record and retain for at least two years.

That would pose a problem for most of Garg’s customers.

“They don’t have IDs,” said the store owner who took over Bargains Galore a few months ago and renamed it Bargains and More.

“They lost it or someone stole it,” said Garg, whose store has a cheque-cashing service in addition to selling groceries and household items.

His shop still sells what appears to be big hunting knives in a display case behind the counter. Garg said they’re not long-bladed — the incoming law restricts blades 30 cm and longer — adding he’s aware of the $5,000 fine for violating the legislation when it comes into force.

“People need consequences,” a legislative committee reviewing the machete bill heard Wednesday. The only registered presenter, inner-city advocate Sel Burrows, told the committee he’s been dealing with machete violence for a decade.

Burrows, who co-ordinates the Point Powerline that has worked to rid North Point Douglas of gangs, drugs and derelict houses, recalled getting a knock at his door one day from a young man who’d been hacked and was “spouting blood.” He was accompanied by “another guy with a big smile on his face” who was holding a machete.

“They were friends. They were both high on meth at the time,” said Burrows, noting paramedics and police soon arrived. Another incident he recounted involved a well-dressed young woman “totally plastered” on methamphetamine who was standing in the middle of the street waving a machete.

Since then, the sale of machetes and long-bladed weapons at neighbourhood shops, stores and online has increased along with violent incidents involving them, Burrows told the committee.

“Once the legislation is in place, would you please prosecute (violators) immediately,” the Order of Manitoba recipient asked the committee, which includes Justice Minister Matt Wiebe, who had introduced the bill.

“No one should live in fear of random acts of violence,” Wiebe said in his opening remarks.

Bill 39 is precedent-setting legislation in Canada, the minister said, noting it was modelled after provincial legislation controlling the sale of bear spray that’s led to a 25 per cent reduction in crime involving bear spray.

“Restricting access keeps Manitobans safer,” Wiebe said.

Burrows promised that elders and community members would report retailers who break the new law.

Burrows warned that going after the supply of machetes isn’t enough.

Most youth wouldn’t try to get their hands on such weapons if they had sports and recreational opportunities instead, he said.

“Recreation is one of the major things to prevent juvenile crime,” said the activist, who called on all levels of government to step up. Burrows slammed cuts to inner-city programs and activities, joking that they’ve been replaced by “juggling machetes.”

“When we cut back on programs in the inner city, we are creating more problems,” he said.

The Boys and Girls Club of Winnipeg, which has provided programs to children and youth in vulnerable neighbourhoods for nearly 50 years, is trying to solve some of the problems.

“We can’t have more kids getting involved in bad things,” said president Ron Brown. “It doesn’t help anybody.”

Manitoba is witnessing the result of children “being left to their own devices” when public health concerns over COVID-19 required programs and activities to be shut down, Brown said.

“Now, kids are falling through some of the gaps that are out there, and I think that’s manifested itself in some of the youth violence we see,” the non-profit leader said.

“The demand for what we do is through the roof right now and we have finite resources to be able deliver these programs.”

The organization has seen rising demand along with rising costs, Brown said.

“We’re out there right now pounding the pavement, talking to governments, to potential donors … to plug our funding gap and get back to where we could afford to offer programs at 100 per cent capacity and engage even more kids. That’s our No. 1 priority,” Brown said about the club that runs organized team sports such as basketball after school and on weekends.

“When kids are bored, they gravitate to what interests them the most. If that’s something bad, that’s not a good decision,” he said.

Back on Selkirk Avenue, Garg said his store will only sell regulation knives with blades under 30 centimetres to adults. Young people who want to buy them have offered to pay an extra $20, but they were refused, he said Friday.

The immigrant from India, who came to Canada in 2019 as a student and has a computer science degree, said they recently stopped selling cans of spray paint after city officials approached them about graffiti in the area.

Across the Red River, at Nairn Convenience Store, similar knives with blades emblazoned with a colourful cannabis leaf design are on display behind the counter, along with cannabis paraphernalia such as bongs.

The knives sell for $35, a representative of the store at Nairn Avenue and Kent Street said. It does not carry machetes, he said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca