Montreal Metro | The use of irritant gas is skyrocketing

Use of cayenne pepper spray or other irritants in the Montreal subway has jumped since 2022, learned The Press. A new “urban phenomenon”, according to the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), which is causing headaches for public transport users.

It is more and more frequent in Montreal that the STM has to evacuate metro stations and paralyze entire lines of the network because someone, somewhere, has deliberately used capsicum aerosol or any other irritant gas.

The phenomenon has tripled in 2022 compared to the previous year, and is 10 times higher than 10 years ago, learned The Press under an access to information request. In fact, a total of 23 such offenses were recorded by the STM in 2022, compared to 7 in 2021. In 2013, only two similar events were recorded.

The trend does not seem to be reversing. In the first two months of 2023, five events related to the use of irritant gas have already been noted by the public transport agency and the media.

On January 5, the same day, two separate detections were made at the Parc and Berri-UQAM stations¹. That day, a large part of the Montreal metro was paralyzed, especially during rush hour. Several stations had to be evacuated.

According to information from the STM, two other offenses were committed at the Guy-Concordia and Place-d’Armes stations, on January 13 and February 14 respectively.

Then, last Sunday, an altercation at the Atwater station between two users who sprayed each other with pepper spray also forced the interruption of service for about half an hour on the orange and green lines.². This last offense does not appear in the data provided Tuesday by the STM to The Press.

With the exception of natural gas infiltration in 2022, all events related to an irritant gas in métro stations in 2022 and 2023 are qualified as “intentional misdeeds” by the STM. Two of them mention a “police intervention”.

No recent arrests

Neither the STM nor the Montreal Police Service have been able to explain the origins of this “new urban phenomenon”, as Philippe Déry, head of public relations at the STM, calls it.

“We cannot comment on the profile of the people who would use [de vaporisateur de poivre de Cayenne], in particular because we do not always have all the information on the circumstances that led to the incidents, explained by email Mr. Déry. We also do not wish to contribute to pointing out or marginalizing certain profiles of people. »

The SPVM also claims not to be able to “decide on the intentions of the people who commit these acts without having facts on which to base ourselves”, commented the communications officer Caroline Labelle.

On June 30, 2022, the SPVM opened an investigation into a group of young people who allegedly tried to spray pepper spray on an apparently homeless man in a metro car at McGill station, while filming themselves with their cell phones.³.

This last offense does not appear in the list provided by the STM to The Press.

The SPVM confirms that although several investigations are underway concerning the use of irritating agents in the métro, no arrests have been made yet.

Stations more affected than others

According to information from the STM, the station most affected by this type of public mischief is Berri-UQAM, where The Press recently reported a significant increase in violence linked in particular to drug trafficking and consumption⁴.

Note that Toronto is also facing a significant increase in assaults on its public transport network.⁵.

In Montreal, other stations affected most often are Atwater, Honoré-Beaugrand, Guy-Concordia, Bonaventure and Plamondon.

When an irritant is detected in the metro, the STM’s protocol aims to protect users by preventing it from spreading through the ventilation system and promoting the supply of fresh air, explains Mr. Déry.

“The fact remains that we are forced to interrupt the service to carry out these emergency ventilation maneuvers, he laments, which has an impact on the movements of our customers. It should be understood that it is necessary to evacuate several stations, or even several sections nearby within a certain radius of the incident to allow emergency ventilation of the tunnels and stations, since our network forms an interconnected whole. »

Emergency services may also be called to the scene. Since 1^er September 2022, Urgences-santé intervened in the metro 15 times for calls with the mention “cayenne pepper”, said spokesperson Jean-Pierre Rouleau. Throughout Montreal, 148 similar calls were listed during this same period.

The STM was unable to tell The Press the financial repercussions of this increase in offences.