The Town of Innisfil has a fireworks by-law, that gives residents permission to set off ‘family fireworks’ without a permit, on holidays that include Victoria Day, Canada Day, and New Year’s Eve.
Recently, there have been numerous complaints that fireworks are being set off on days other than recognized holidays - sometimes for weeks before or after the designated day – keeping children awake, and traumatizing family pets.
The issue was recently brought to the fore by the death of a family dog in Innisfil, reportedly from stress and anxiety caused by Victoria Day fireworks.
On Wednesday night, Coun. Kevin Eisses put forward a Notice of Motion, asking for changes to the Fireworks By-law.
The motion, tabled during the virtual meeting, acknowledged that fireworks are used to celebrate cultural, religious and other significant, universally-recognized events, but noted that they “can negatively affect or impact neighbourhoods and be harmful to small children, people with mental illness from dealing with trauma, as well as being very dangerous to pets and animals, causing distress that can lead to death.”
Coun. Eisses is asking for an amendment to the by-law that would allow fireworks to be set off without a permit only on a designated holiday, with a ‘bad weather’ rain date one day before or one day after the actual holiday.
His motion would also add Chinese New Year, Diwali, and Eid-al-Fitr (the end of Ramadan) to the list of recognized holidays for which fireworks are allowed, and residents would still be able to apply for a permit to set off fireworks on special occasions, like weddings.
The motion, which does not address issues of enforcement or stiffer fines for infractions, will come before council at the next regular meeting, on June 23 – one week before Canada Day.
Mayor Lynn Dollin urged residents to have their say on the issue, notifying the town of any concerns or opinions. “People have three weeks to dive in, and get lots of engagement with this,” she said.
