A Call to Legalize Pepper Spray in Canada

an Open Letter to Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani

I’d like to preface this article by saying that writing the email that I’m about to share with you very much went against my grain. My reasons for this are probably ones that not a lot of you can relate to. As someone who remains sympathetic to anarchism despite no longer adopting the label to describe myself, writing letters to government officials is simply not something that I do. At least not under anything other than very exceptional circumstances. I remain opposed on principle to capitalism, nation-states, liberal democracy, and all forms of coercive authority. You can agree or disagree with me on that. I’m fine either way.

Besides, that’s not what this article is about. These are exceptional times we’re living in and women are facing exceptional levels of violence, sexual assault, rape, and harassment. As a result, “The Male Gender” (which I hear is a registered trademark of Marlboro Cigarettes) is facing an unprecedented backlash for the reprehensible behaviour of a large but by no means majority subset of men who think they have carte blanche to have unfettered access to women’s bodies. This backlash is, as I mention in the following letter, taking the form of a global cultural shift in which men’s roles in society are being challenged and uprooted, leaving many of us confused about what it even means to be a man anymore.

Rather than sit back and continue to bleat the tired refrain of “not all men,” I’ve decided to put certain principles on hold so that other ones can have their say. Here’s the result:

Dear Minister Virani,

My name is Matt MacDonald and I am writing to you regarding the current legal status of pepper spray in Canada. It has recently come to my attention that possessing and carrying pepper spray remains illegal for the general public. I am calling for its unqualified legalization to enhance personal safety, particularly for women.

According to Statistics Canada’s 2019 General Social Survey on Victimization (GSS), approximately 106 out of every 1000 women are physically and/or sexually assaulted each day in Canada. This amounts to roughly 290 cases nationwide per day. A disproportionate number of these cases are indigenous women and other women of colour. While I’m sure you would agree that one case is too many, this statistic is unacceptable. I urge you to look into these statistics and the broader issue of women’s safety in Canada.

While the argument could certainly be made that they have other means of self-defense at their disposal, the fact of the matter is that the physical stature and upper body strength of the average male vastly outweighs and overpowers that of the average female. That being the case, forcing women to rely solely on self-defense training, rape whistles, and personal alarm systems places them at a physiological disadvantage. In the time that it takes for help to arrive, it could already be too late. While I’m not one to advocate for senseless and frivolous violence, women need and deserve a means to immediately incapacitate their attackers to give them time to escape.

Violence against women has become a global epidemic. Given increased international attention to incidents of rape and sexual assault in India, for instance, it’s evident that there’s a widespread cultural shift underway in which the role of men in society is being questioned and challenged. This leaves many of us confused about what that role actually is. I won’t go so far as to say that men in general “owe” it to women to be more supportive and compassionate because I think this is the wrong way to frame it to ourselves. This should be something we do because we want to do it, not because we take it on as a moral obligation. As men of good conscience, the desire to be there for women makes our actions all the more genuine.

I encourage you to act on this desire within yourself and do everything in your power to grant women access to every possible means to defend themselves. This includes reassessing current laws and considering the legalization of pepper spray for personal protection.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Matt MacDonald
Nova Scotia

As I said at the outset, doing this sort of thing is highly out of character for me. I’m not big on letter-writing campaigns, petitions, or making “demands” of state officials in the hopes that the “better angels of their nature” will prevail. I’m more of the “tear shit down and start fresh” mentality. However, while I don’t hold out much hope that this one little email will have any substantial impact, it’s at least a minimal gesture that, if it has any impact whatsoever, will hopefully contribute to helping women take back some of their autonomy without having to ask permission. This, I’d like to think, is an anarchistic gesture in itself.

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If you want to contact Minister Virani, here is the necessary information:

The Honourable Arif Virani
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0H8

Email: [email protected]

Fax: 1–613–957–3559

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