A majority of North Shore News readers say they support a ban on fireworks across North Vancouver and West Vancouver.
Currently, the pyrotechnics are allowed only on Halloween night in the District of North Vancouver and District of West Vancouver, with permits granted by the local fire departments.
But the municipalities have been facing calls to ban them from people who argue they result in noise pollution, stress for wild animals and pets, and that they are a fire risk.
North Shore News polled 2,318 online readers and asked the question: Should fireworks be banned across the North Shore?
The poll ran from Nov. 4 to Nov. 16 on our website. Of the 2,318 votes, we can determine that 808 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:
In 2021, the District of North Vancouver lit a fuse when council contemplated banning the noisy amusements. After much public consultation, the proposed ban was voted down 5-2.
On Nov. 3, District of North Vancouver Coun. Jim Hanson posted on Twitter that he would be bringing a new motion to ban fireworks again within the first year of the new term on council. Newly elected Coun. Catherine Pope responded that she “100 per cent supports this.”
But even if the motion passes, it might not bring the peace and quiet supporters are hoping for, warned Aleem Kanji chief advocacy officer for the Canadian National Fireworks Association.
“Traditional fireworks will still be available either from underground sources or nearby municipalities that haven’t banned fireworks. Those fireworks that become available may not be as safe to use, i.e., they haven’t passed the federal governments testing process to ensure that legal fireworks are safe to store, transport and use. They would be illegal fireworks,” he said in an email.
Other factors at play with bans include whether municipalities have the resources to enforce them and less control over when/where fireworks are actually used.
Kanji said his industry group prefers public education when it comes to regulating fireworks and the association provides training to legal vendors and fireworks users, which wouldn’t be possible with a ban in place.
Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers who are located in North Vancouver and West Vancouver. The margin of error – which measures sample variability – is +/- 2.02 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.
What are your thoughts? Send us a letter via email by clicking here or post a comment below.
