BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a gallery titled 'Noella Festival lights up the night in downtown Barrie' published on Nov. 20.
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Fireworks are damaging. They cause fires and carry the potential to seriously injure or kill people.
Barrie's own website states: "Every year, thousands of Canadians, mostly children, are hurt by consumer fireworks" and "fireworks also cause many fires."
This should be no surprise — fireworks are explosives with a pretty name.
Further, it is well-known that fireworks cause fear — in companion animals, wildlife, and humans.
Let's start with companion animals. During the Victoria Day weekend, my dog experienced vomiting and diarrhea every single hour for 48 hours, causing severe gastrointestinal bleeding.
By the time Canada Day passed, my dog had been to her veterinarian twice and spent two days at an emergency clinic.
Skip to September and she still wouldn't leave the house to go for a walk.
Skip again to November and she is only comfortable heading in one direction, and only in the morning. I am not the only person whose dog reacts like this.
If you are reading this and live with a dog, I am willing to bet that they are also scared of fireworks.
Wildlife and humans are also suffering. Many animals flee when they hear fireworks. Some have heart attacks and die. Many young animals are orphaned, and wildlife rehabilitation facilities can vouch for how harmful fireworks are.
Humans with PTSD, children, and others can all be negatively impacted by fireworks.
Even further, fireworks cause air pollution and litter, negatively affecting our environment. They are also a fire safety risk for trees, land, and property.
After Canada Day, I found 84 discarded fireworks at public parks and schools near my house. Included in this was one firework which still had an unlit fuse attached to it.
BarrieToday published an article stating police received 64 calls about fireworks this past Canada Day, which leads me to believe that many people care deeply about this issue, and likely even more care but are too nervous to say anything about it.
Every single holiday people express the desperate need for a firework ban.
If we can't get behind a total ban, there are other options. Banff, Alta., for example, has started to use special effect pyrotechnics, or "silent fireworks." Barrie could follow suit.
At the very least, if we are going to pass a bylaw stating that fireworks can only be used on specific holidays, the bylaw should be enforced. The current bylaw is nothing but a facade, as indicated yet again by the fact that the Noella Festival used fireworks just (Saturday).
This needs to stop.
Vanessa Tassone
Barrie
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