Vancouver debates banning fireworks

VANCOUVER • “BANG! Get your Halloween firecrackers at the Jong Yuen Hing Importing and Exporting Co.,” says a Vancouver Sun newspaper ad from 1928.

“Fireworks, sparklers, firecrackers, roman candles, etc. Prices only: 10c and 5c,” reads a Millar & Coe Ltd. ad in The Province newspaper from 1922.

This West Coast city has had a longstanding tradition, not typically seen in other parts of Canada, of setting off fireworks and firecrackers at Halloween — a ritual that has also been associated at times with “mayhem, hooliganism, riots, severe burns and the occasional death,” historical researcher Christine Hagemoen recently wrote in an online column.

But now that tradition could be extinguished after a city councillor put forward a motion proposing to outlaw the sale of consumer fireworks, which is currently allowed in the city in the days leading up to Oct. 31.

As with other jurisdictions where fireworks bans have been proposed, this one has sparked vigorous debate.

Bob Kronbauer, editor of the Vancouver Is Awesome blog site, recently wrote that fireworks were “a part of the identity of Vancouver, and if this motion passes, it will surely suck some of the life right out of our city.”

His comments mirrored criticism that was recently lobbed at two Labour MPS in Britain who proposed a ban on the sale of fireworks. “Socialists always want to ban everything and have no fun,” Tory MP Jacob Reesmogg reportedly said of the proposal.

“People enjoy fireworks and we don’t want to be po-faced enders of fun for one and all, we want to allow our constituents to do things that they enjoy.”

According to the motion put forward by Vancouver Councillor Pete Fry, fireworks — which include noisemakers, ground spinners, sparklers and aerial fireworks — in urban areas can cause anxiety in wildlife, pets and humans and their use should be limited to large public events.

“In 2016, a mixed-breed dog named Maggie was killed when spooked by fireworks. She ran onto Skytrain tracks,” the motion reads.

Fireworks can also cause panic and disorientation for birds and trigger PTSD for survivors of gun violence and war veterans, the motion continues.

Fry notes that fireworks result in an average of $379,000 in fire damage each year and that most neighbouring municipalities have banned them.

During a first hearing on the motion last week, public input was divided.