The City of Mission unanimously voted to send a letter to the province requesting a review of their firework policies to allow more enforcement options for local governments.
Coun. Ken Herar made the suggestion to council after making inquiries with the Mission RCMP. He said they received 68 firework complaints from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30.
Herar thinks council should restrict or ban the sale of fireworks within Mission, and perhaps put on their own fireworks display sometime between Halloween and Diwali, which could reduce their casual use in the community.
“I think what we need to do here … is take the arm of the sale of fireworks out,” Herar said. “Once we deal with that, then I think that we’ll have a better situation.”
“The 68 complaints is probably a low number, in my opinion, I think it’s much higher. People probably just didn’t call.”
Coun. Jag Gill suggested they needed to work with the Union of BC Municipalities, because if fireworks are not sold here, local residents will just travel to neighbouring communities.
Without the “global approach,” any form of effective regulation would be a challenge, said Mayor Paul Horn.
“We can identify ourselves as a nuclear free zone, but if the people next to us decide they’re going to have nuclear bombs, I guess it doesn’t matter,” he said.
Coun. Mark Davies said he supports further regulation on the sale of fireworks, as he’s seen kids get hurt from their use.
“It makes no sense to have unregulated, essentially gunpowder, available and easily accessible for children.