The days of hunting with a bow and arrow are over in Coquitlam, but you can still fire a shotgun in two remote northeast areas and at shooting ranges in the city.
The decision made by Coquitlam council this week in a 5-4 vote comes a year after a wounded bear - shot with a bow and arrow - left a northeast blueberry farm and stumbled into Minnekhada regional park, a popular spot for hikers.
The incident prompted city council to call for a bow and arrow ban; however, over the next few months, it transpired into a bow and arrow as well as a firearms discharge prohibition - much to the chagrin of many Lower Mainland hunters who lobbied council and spoke at a townhall meeting to call for a bylaw change.
Verne Kucy, acting manager of Coquitlam's environmental services, said the new policy, as adopted at Monday's council meeting, strikes a balance for both hunters and environmentalists (the new bylaw stops gun use on farmland unless the owner needs to protect his crops, as allowed under provincial legislation).
Paul Juoksu, a Coquitlam hunter who pressed council to rework the policy, thanked council on Monday for listening to the hunting community to control the geese from Goose Island and the Pitt-Addington Marsh Wildlife Area foreshore.
Violators will be fined $300, but when asked by Juoksu how city hall will crack down on people who break the bylaw, Mayor Richard Stewart admitted it will be a challenge. "Don't tell anybody but we probably won't be enforcing it very much."
Council's debate centered on hunters' rights versus the population growth in northeast Coquitlam, where 20,000 more people are expected to call home.
Councillors Terry O'Neill, Linda Reimer, Brent Asmundson and Lou Sekora and Mayor Stewart supported some firearm discharge around Pitt River while Selina Robinson, Mae Reid, Neal Nicholson and Craig Hodge voted against the motion.
Reimer said 900 Coquitlam residents have firearms licences and the city hasn't had any incidents related to hunting in rural northeast Coquitlam. Responded Nicholson: "This is a recreational area. We're not the district of Coquitlam in 1965. This is the city of Coquitlam in 2012. There are people all over the place."
