After pleas from Manitoba, Walmart decides to pull machetes from website, stores across Canada

Ian Froese · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 13, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Walmart Canada volition halt selling machetes — a benignant of weapon often utilized in violent crimes — successful stores crossed the country, aft Manitoba's authorities pressured the retailer to restrict online sales.

The company "will nary longer merchantability long-bladed weapons Canada-wide," spokesperson Felicia Fefer said Wednesday nighttime successful an email.

"We're presently removing them from merchantability successful our stores and online."

Fefer noted the company's Manitoba stores already did not connection in-person income of long-bladed weapons.

Walmart didn't explicate wherefore it would halt selling machetes, but CBC News reported a week agone that Walmart and Amazon Canada were truthful acold ignoring the province's requests to enforce restrictions connected online sales.

On Monday, Amazon informed the state it would halt machete shipments to Manitoba addresses.

Two days later, Walmart said it would spell further than the province's inquire and halt selling the products in-person and online crossed the country.

'We tin marque a existent difference': Wiebe

The institution realized "it's cleaner to conscionable halt the income crossed the country," Justice Minister Matt Wiebe told CBC News successful an interrogation Wednesday.

"It besides shows that they're consenting to recognize the interaction that these weapons are having connected our streets, that these are utilized successful convulsive attacks. We admit them stepping up and being bully firm citizens."

Manitoba's rules astir machete sales, which came into effect Dec. 31 and lone use to in-store sales, require businesses to merchantability the items lone to adults with photograph identification, and to support records of their income for 2 years.

They indispensable also keep the items stored successful a mode that prevents shoppers from accessing them without assistance.

But the provincial law doesn't use to online sales, and arsenic a result, customers of sites similar Amazon and Walmart were previously able to buy machetes without disclosing their property oregon providing an ID.

That led Manitoba to write two letters to these companies — issued Dec. 6, 2024, and Feb. 6, 2025 — asking them to "comply with the intent" of provincial authorities erstwhile selling machetes and different long-bladed weapons online.

CBC News antecedently recovered dozens of machetes for merchantability crossed Amazon and Walmart's websites, earlier the retailers' caller concern directives came into place, with the enactment disposable to person these products delivered to customers' doors.

Wiebe said the responses this week shows that Manitoba's authorities has an interaction beyond the province's borders.

"It shows this benignant of legislation, which ultimately came from the section level, from section assemblage leaders, from instrumentality enforcement and with our governments absorption ... we tin marque a existent difference," helium said.

Manitoba's Progressive Conservative party has antecedently argued online machete income shouldn't beryllium excluded from the legislation, acknowledging that portion enforcing regulations astir those benignant of purchases would be challenging it is incumbent to marque an effort. 

Machetes person been used in a bid of convulsive crimes successful Winnipeg implicit the past six months. 

Just past weekend, a antheral underwent surgery after helium was stabbed successful a machete attack near a convenience store successful the Westdale neighbourhood. 

A 16-year-old was arrested after swinging a machete astatine a passerby during an attempted robbery in the King Edward neighbourhood successful precocious January.

And successful precocious December 2 teenage boys were charged with aggravated battle aft they attacked an chartless antheral successful his 20s with a machete on Keenleyside Street.