{"id":350820,"date":"2025-12-17T09:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T09:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/350820\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T09:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T09:50:11","slug":"dozens-of-people-allegedly-bear-sprayed-outside-market-at-big-white-ski-resort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/350820\/","title":{"rendered":"Dozens of people allegedly bear-sprayed outside market at Big White Ski Resort"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tDescrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tIncrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>A night out at <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/big-white\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Big White<\/a> Ski Resort took a chaotic turn Sunday after a group of young people allegedly deployed <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/bear-spray\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bear spray<\/a>, affecting dozens of workers and bystanders.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d21y75miwcfqoq.cloudfront.net\/70c8fc80\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not really the type of thing you see on the ski hill,\u201d said patron Isaac Potash.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses say the incident unfolded suddenly outside a nearby market. Harrison Ashe said he was spending time with friends when they noticed something seemed off. \u201cI was just over there chilling with my friends having a little yawn,\u201d Ashe recalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese people were wearing masks, I thought their faces were cold and then my friends said, \u2018Oh, they look suspicious,\u2019 then next thing you know, screams and whatnot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765813388_386_national.jpg\" alt=\"For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n<p>For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n<p>Staff at Snowshoe Sam\u2019s restaurant told Global News the group had tried to get help purchasing alcohol at a nearby market but were denied shortly before the bear spray was deployed.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Ashe said he saw the suspects flee immediately after. \u201cI saw them run out and run off and then you hear all the \u2018ahhhh,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Big White Fire Department crews responded to assist dozens of victims suffering from chemical burns. Fire Chief Joshua Foster said one physical injury occurred before crews arrived on scene.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11578652\/canada-grocery-code-of-conduct-2026\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765965010_195_grocery-store-code-of-conduct-2026.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tCanada\u2019s grocery code of conduct is coming in 2026. What it means for you\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11580848\/trump-travel-ban-more-countries-palestinian-authority\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3f77117524ded5edda1687cc8b2710b13a0b89d7c4252b81805497eee60b9b30_548c3d.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tTrump expands U.S. travel ban and restrictions to 20 more countries\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s our understanding that happened prior to our crews\u2019 arrival. We did treat one patron for a laceration above his eye,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n<p>One resort worker was allegedly struck during the incident.<\/p>\n<p>The restaurant closed its doors to help shelter and treat those affected, with members of the Big White community stepping in to help.<\/p>\n<p>Foster praised those who assisted first responders, saying, \u201cSeveral restaurant staff were pretty helpful as well as some bystanders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kelowna RCMP say they have identified individuals of interest and are continuing to investigate. Meanwhile, witnesses say they hope the incident is an isolated one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve not actually seen or heard that happen here before, ever,\u201d Potash said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Canada<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size A night out at Big White Ski Resort took a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[27255,152430,49,48,15222,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-350820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-bear-spray","9":"tag-big-white","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-central-okanagan","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}