One and done? Diwali, Lunar New Year fireworks suddenly on thin ice

Now you see it, now you don’t?

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Just a few months after city council voted 10-5 in favor of updating the city’s fireworks by law by adding Chinese New Year and Diwali to the list of holidays in London when fireworks are allowed to be set off, city council’s community and protective services committee quietly recommended against the proposal on Monday.

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The vote was 3-2, with councilors David Ferreira, Hadleigh McAlister and Sam Trosow voting against adding the new holidays to a draft new bylaw, leaving Victoria Day and Canada Day as the only days fireworks will be permitted.

The committee endorsed other proposed changes, including requiring fireworks vendors to obtain a license from the city at an annual fee of $800, reducing the number of days fireworks can be sold to five from seven, and adding new monetary penalties.

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McAlister called for a separate backyard vote on the added days, saying he had voted against the proposal in August based on his opposition to fireworks. He argued there already were a “sufficient number of days,” but that he understood the cultural desire to add the holidays.

“Festivities can evolve, there are other ways of having lights,” he said. “There are concerns in the community in terms of fireworks … and it’s one of those things where … even if we outlawed them, people would still set them off.”

Trosow also asserted that there was never a public meeting on the inclusion of the Chinese New Year to the permitted holidays, and it was a late amendment to add Diwali, which did have public input. Councilors added the Chinese celebration after a last-minute pitch by the London chapter of the Chinese Canadian National Council.

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Following the city council vote in August, the city allowed Diwali fireworks on Nov. 12, 2023, and Lunar New Year fireworks on Feb 10.

Coun. Corrine Rahman, while not a member of the committee, was one of the leading voices on adding the new holidays to the bylaw. She said the community has come out “loud and clear” in favor of including the two new days.

“There will be an opportunity to speak to it at the council meeting, and I look forward to being able to do so,” she said. “We heard very loud and clear from the community that it was very important to be inclusive and to add additional dates, of which people were already broadly in the community using backward fireworks, and that was Diwali and Lunar New Year.”

Much of the committee’s discussion focused on concerns about licensing and bylaw enforcement.

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Resident Becca Amendola, speaking over teleconference, told councilors impoverished and disabled residents felt ignored during the drafting of the bylaw. She urged the city to adopt a complaint system through the ServiceLondon portal for noise complaints.

Amendola argued residents who can’t afford a full mobile plan but have an internet connection have no way to report noise complaints, and that a ServiceLondon button could also provide more information after hours.

“This is about people with disabilities not being listened to,” she said.

Orest Katolyk, the city’s bylaw enforcement boss, later said the city is moving to implement a similar complaint system to barking dogs this year, another situation where bylaw enforcement officers often show up after the fact.

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In times of drought or extreme heat, the city will also be able to withhold permits for larger fireworks shows in order to address concerns about fires, staff said.

Trosow put forward a motion to refer the bylaw back to staff for more work, but it was defeated in a 3-2 vote, with councilors McAlister, Elizabeth Peloza, and Jerry Pribil voting against on the grounds of how long the debate has raged.

“To me, it just feels like we’re filibustering the fireworks … at a certain point we have to move on with this,” McAlister said, adding the bylaw should be ready for the upcoming Victoria and Canada Day celebrations.

The proposed bylaw will be subject to final approval at the April 2 city council meeting.

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