There were 33 incidents in southeast Edmonton related to Diwali celebrations in 2025. A man who has been in the fireworks business for 20 years says there were no problems before new restrictions were put in place by the city in 2019. Photo by Postmedia /File Photo

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Putting restrictions on fireworks has created far more problems than it has solved, council members heard Monday.

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Speaking to the community and public services committee on Monday, John Adria, owner of Uncle John’s Fireworks, said there were no issues with fireworks prior to 2019 when the regulations were changed.

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“Calgary always bans fireworks and Calgary always burns on Diwali,” he said. “We never had those problems until we banned them. We’ve proved that we can’t do any better job than Calgary does — we have all the fires they do now.

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“What worked for Edmonton, for decades, was to allow community groups to get permits. They could just do what they felt was safe. What they’ve done now is made the permit conditions so tough that only someone like me can get it — there’s no legal path for them.”

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He noted when he opened up shop, it was an Edmonton tradition to use fireworks at temples. He urged the city to move to a model similar to Saskatoon, where there are several days throughout the year where fireworks use is allowed for all adults without any restrictions. He says Saskatoon has no incidents.

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He also suggested the red tape around fireworks is contributing to racism towards southeast Asian communities.

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“Every time fireworks are used illegally, they get blamed,” he said. “Even though these are the very communities that have given up their show and always followed the rules.”

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Chief bylaw enforcement officer David Jones told committee the number of complaints to 311 increased 1,400 per cent since 2020. Alberta removed fireworks from the National Fire Code in 2019.

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After a home burned down last year during Diwali when a family used fireworks on their property, city officials have been trying to chart a path allowing for the use of fireworks during the November holiday while ensuring fire safety.

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Known as the “Festival of Lights,” Diwali is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil. It’s one of several southeast Asian festivals held around the same time by Edmonton’s multitude of cultures.

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Administration is looking to support one or more community-based Diwali celebrations, contributing $20,000 from the city’s anti-racism fund with the rest coming from fundraising. The city is also looking at an event at city hall, though that event currently does not include a fireworks component.

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Sharminder Parmar of the Edmonton Diwali celebration steering committee said an event at city hall would have value but would not serve as a replacement for a community celebration and urged committee to proceed with a Mill Woods Park celebration — which they didn’t.

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“We need to have an event that’s accessible to residents in southeast Edmonton,” he said. “We’re just looking forward to some funding and additional support from the city in terms of logistics — ETS support, police service support, things like that.

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“Accessibility is one of the biggest driving factors why we find people not compliant with fireworks.”