- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

Some of our Owen Sound residents were celebrating Diwali (or Deepavali), the Festival of Lights, last week.  Traditionally that's an occasion for fireworks and in Ontario communities with larger populations of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, they were for sale on every corner.

Owen Sound is still working with a 2013 Fireworks By-law that permits personal fireworks  between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on 17 days
throughout the year - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of four long weekends and New Year's Eve.

We no longer have a By-Law Committee, so the issue of fireworks regulation was brought up by Mayor Boddy at the last Corporate Services Committee meeting.  Boddy noted that he received a letter in the summer from a concerned citizen respecting fireworks in the City.  Given the non-stop discussion of fireworks on Facebook from mid-May through Thanksgiving, the fact that the mayor received a single letter indicates that people do not understand how to engage with city hall, (see the last few paragraphs below).

Nevertheless the Committee seemed to address the subject with some urgency, waiving the usual notice of motion and passing this motion:

"THAT the Corporate Services Committee recommends that City Council  direct staff to bring forward a report to a future Corporate Services  Committee meeting respecting a review of the Fireworks By-law which will include:
1. By-law enforcement;
2. Permitted dates;
3. Special exemptions;
4. Comparatives to neighbouring municipalities;
5. Review of the effects on animals;
6. Associated fines; and
7. Consideration of banning fireworks outside of the current permitted holidays"

There are other considerations around fireworks.  Toxicity, including the spent fireworks found all over town, is one.  The impact of the sound should be considered, not just on animals wild and domestic but on humans - children and elders trying to sleep, and those in our community who have suffered the trauma of war.

But this is the mayor who suggested adding emergency sirens all over town in the dark before the 2021 Canada Day fireworks. Council approved that plan, until citizens convinced them otherwise. The decision was quickly reversed, so never doubt the power of your voice!

Throughout the discovery of racist stickers, the Black Lives Matter march, rainbow crosswalk dedication and Muslim solidarity vigil, Mayor Boddy insisted that we are a community that celebrates diversity and practises inclusion. We have welcomed refugees and immigrants and actively court 905-ers to relocate to our community. Yet we continue to allow four days of fireworks around the birthday of a long-dead queen of England and the Empire, while they are illegal for holidays celebrated by over half a million Ontarians. Since 2016, November has been declared Hindu Heritage Month in Ontario.

The staff report on fireworks is to come to "a future Corporate Services Committee meeting".  The next one is November 25 at 5:30. The agenda will be published a few days before the meeting - click on the meeting on the calendar here.  If you have a question for the Public Question Period of the meeting, it must be submitted to the Customer Service Facilitator by 9:00 a.m. the day of the meeting. Questions will be read at the meeting by the Recording Secretary at the discretion of the Chair.  The Chair of the Corporate Services Committee is Councillor Travis Dodd, and other current members of the commitee are Mayor Boddy, Councillor Marion Koepke, Councillor John Tamming and Councillor Brock Hamley.

You cannot attend any meeting in person as the capacity of the council chambers has been capped at 15 for the forseeable future,  but you can watch it on video by clicking on the meeting on the calendar at the time.

The fireworks industry continues to grow, with companies like Phatboy and Kaboom offering products in mobile trailers across Ontario. Other municipalities are also looking at the impact on their communities of the increasing supply and access.

Let the Corporate Services Committee and council know your thoughts on the costs and benefits of private fireworks in Owen Sound.