Iqaluit seeks public input on recreational fireworks

The City of Iqaluit will decide whether to draft a bylaw on use of fireworks in the city, based on responses to a questionnaire it sent to residents March 17. (FILE PHOTO)

The boom and crackle of amateur fireworks is happening more often than ever at random times and locations around Iqaluit.

That’s why city hall is asking residents if it’s time to control their use.

“It does seem to be an issue that a lot of people are concerned about with respect to safety, and disturbances,” said councillor Stephen Mansell, who chairs Iqaluit’s public safety committee.

“If fireworks are causing a disturbance, we can take action under the noise bylaw, but that’s clearly not enough,” Mansell said.

The city released a survey of eight questions through its website, March 17, which were also mailed to residents, to gather opinions and consider all aspects of fireworks use within city limits.

“The goal of the consultation document is to guide what a bylaw would look like, and what Iqalungmiut feel on the issue,” Mansell said, “to identify exactly what the concerns are and if there is a bylaw, what do people want to see in it.”

At least two retailers in the city sell fireworks for recreational use — which don’t require permits for sale and purchase — and their use has taken off in the past three years, Mansell said.

Natural Resources Canada, which regulates the use of explosives, allows the use of single-fuse recreational, or “consumer fireworks,” such as “roman candles, sparklers, fountains, wheels, volcanoes, mines, and snakes,” the department’s website states.

More powerful explosives classified as “professional” require federal permits.

In Nunavut, the Protection Services division of the territorial government’s department of Community and Government Services calls for all retailers to restrict the sale of recreational fireworks to adults, 18 years of age and over, and to keep a written log of all purchases.

“There’s no special permit” needed to purchase consumer fireworks in Iqaluit, said Stephane Daigle, Arctic Co-operative’s Ltd.’s regional manager for Nunavut.

ACL sells such fireworks at its Co-op gas bar in Iqaluit, and offers them at co-op stores in other communities throughout Nunavut.

“They are a dangerous product, and I think that’s why the age restrictions are there,” Daigle said. Retail grade fireworks also come with safety instructions, he added.

“I’m all for bylaws. I don’t think people should be firing them in town,” Daigle said, noting that the city has no restrictions on where residents can use recreational fireworks.

Carvings Nunavut Inc. also sells fireworks, and advises buyers to use them outside the city limits.

The City of Iqaluit drafted its survey based on a review of fireworks regulations in other municipalities throughout the country, Mansell said.

Bylaws in many municipalities “are quite similar,” he said, “and where they diverge, is where we focused our questions — to determine what’s best for Iqaluit.”

Response to the survey has been steady so far. City staff noted about 50 answers by the end of March, Mansell said. The city won’t commit to drafting a bylaw until it examines those responses at the next public safety committee meeting, April 9, he said.

“We want to give people as much opportunity as we can to provide their feedback.”

The city’s noise bylaw states activities that “unreasonably disturb the peace and tranquility of a residential area” outside the hours of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. could carry penalties of $125 to $2,000 for an individual, and at least $10,000 “for a corporation.”

The bylaw includes detonation of fireworks “or explosive devices not used in construction” as an activity that could disturb the peace.

Copies of Iqaluit’s fireworks consultation questionnaire are available on the city’s website.