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Kevin MacDonald, Abbotsford Cameraman, Hit By Bear Spray Outside Homeless Camp

"Getting bear sprayed like that when you're just doing your job — that's not cool."

A cameraman in Abbotsford, B.C. said he couldn't see for hours after a woman attacked him with bear spray outside a homeless camp on Wednesday.

Kevin MacDonald, a veteran freelancer, was shooting outside a temporary camp in the city after the B.C. Supreme Court ruled on homeless people's rights to live outdoors.

MacDonald was filming stock footage for CTV when a woman across the street started shouting at him.

"I wasn't even shooting her," MacDonald told The Huffington Post B.C. in a phone interview.

In a video MacDonald posted to YouTube, the woman tells the cameraman that he doesn't have the right to film people "without asking."

(Watch above. Warning, foul language.)

In fact, there are no Canadian laws that forbid photographing or filming someone who is on public property.

"Then she got right up in my face, so I gently touched her to get out of my space," MacDonald said. After that, he alleges that the woman bear-sprayed him.

"I heard the click and as she turned to walk she got me in the eyes. Direct, full-on blast in the face. I've never felt pain like that in my entire life."

MacDonald said other reporters and cameramen helped rinse his eyes out, and that friends had to drive him home.

Const. Ian MacDonald said the 39-year-old woman has been arrested, and that Abbotsford police will be recommending charges of assault with a weapon.

"Getting bear sprayed like that when you're just doing your job — that's not cool," said the cameraman. "I couldn't see for hours afterward."

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