No fireworks ban in Mississauga, but city will enforce stricter rules

Mississauga has decided against a full ban on fireworks, choosing instead to more strictly enforce their use and beef up public education efforts.

Faced with some 30 members of the public lined up to speak on the hot-button issue at Wednesday morning’s general committee meeting, Mississauga city councillors briefly debated and then decided ahead of time to go against senior staff’s recommendation for a full ban on fireworks.

Their decision was met with applause from many in the audience inside council chambers at city hall. Those who were scheduled to make deputations — most, if not all in opposition to a ban — no longer needed to do so given councillors’ move to keep public fireworks use in play in Canada’s seventh-largest city.

City council had decided earlier this year to revisit the fireworks issue in response to a significant increase in the number of public complaints and challenges associated with enforcing Mississauga’s current bylaw.

Concern for public safety, given misuse of fireworks by some people that has led in recent years to numerous dangerous large gatherings across the city, was also cited as a major concern in a report from senior city staff that recommended a full ban on fireworks that would have taken effect next Jan. 2.

Key in Wednesday’s decision by councillors to shelve the idea of a full fireworks ban, said Mayor Carolyn Parrish, was a commitment from members of the Hindu community to help bolster the city’s education efforts on proper and legal fireworks use.

The mayor said she met on Tuesday with representatives from the Canadian National Council on Hindus, who put forth a proposal to strengthen public education while still allowing members of the public to use fireworks to celebrate various holidays including Diwali.

Parrish called the eleventh-hour negotiations “a last-ditch effort to keep fireworks,” adding the national Hindu organization “came forward with good suggestions.”

The public education component of what will soon become a reworked Mississauga fireworks bylaw will be complemented by stricter rules governing the purchase and use of the devices.

Included in the new measures, to take effect in early 2026, are restrictions that limit fireworks use on private property — in residents’ backyards — to between 6 and 10 p.m. on days where fireworks are allowed and a move to ban all sales of fireworks on the day of the holiday/celebration.

Also, certain types of fireworks deemed more dangerous, such as Roman candles, will be prohibited moving forward.

The City of Mississauga plans to set aside an additional $300,000 a year for public education related to fireworks rules and use and another $300,000 for beefed-up bylaw enforcement.

A decision on a ban was to have been made at the City of Mississauga’s Oct. 1 general committee meeting, but the matter — a controversial one for many residents, business owners and others — was pushed back to the committee’s Oct. 15 session.

City councillors and senior staff heard earlier from more than two dozen residents, fireworks shop owners and speakers representing Hindu groups who stated their case at the first general committee meeting in October. The vast majority of deputants spoke in opposition to a full ban.

Members of Mississauga’s Hindu community had expressed concern that a full ban on fireworks would’ve been a form of religious and cultural discrimination that would impact in the years ahead their right to celebrate Diwali, the annual festival of lights taking place later this month.

Under current fireworks rules in Mississauga, Diwali is one of five days/time periods during the year when people are allowed to stage backyard fireworks displays without first having to obtain a permit from the city. The holiday symbolizes triumph over darkness through colourful lights, candles, lanterns, diyas and fireworks, city officials said.

Mississauga’s fireworks bylaw in its current form, enacted in late 2023 to beef up regulations, enforcement and fines, also allows residents to set off backyard fireworks without permits on New Year’s Eve/Day, Victoria Day, Lunar New Year and Canada Day.

When the fireworks issue was discussed back in May, staff were directed by councillors to continue studying the matter and return with definitive direction.

Council had decided last November to give more consideration to the city’s fireworks bylaw given the significant increase in the number of public complaints the last few years.

City staff noted earlier that of 10 other municipalities they looked to for purposes of comparison, three — Brampton, Caledon, Milton — have full fireworks bans in place (both use and sales). They cited such concerns as public safety, air pollution and complaints in going that route, Mississauga officials said earlier this year.

Markham, Kitchener and Oakville, meanwhile, are currently reviewing their bylaws, staff said, “signifying possible changes soon.”

The remaining four — Toronto, Ottawa, Burlington, Hamilton — have more restrictions than Mississauga, allowing fireworks without permits only on two holidays, Canada Day and Victoria Day.