The recently re-elected councillor for Ward 5 wants to know what the City of Calgary can do to deal with illegal celebrations, particularly around the celebration of Diwali.

During Question Period at the Nov. 3 Organizational Meeting of Council, Coun. Raj Dhaliwal asked how the City of Calgary will respond to these celebrations, given that there have been problems in 2023, 2024 and now 2025.

The festival of Diwali was celebrated between Oct. 18 to 22 in Calgary.

Dhaliwal said that the majority of people were celebrating in a safe manner.

“But then there were some folks who had taken advantage of fireworks that are being sold illegally. There were a couple fires,” he said.

“Residents in my Ward, Ward 5 had enough because they don’t. They’re not against celebrations, but they want it in a safe manner, respecting their neighbours and residents of the community.”

Dhaliwal said that the two fires caused roughly $130,000 in damage. One car caught fire causing $30,000 damage, and a structure fire caused roughly $100,000 damage between two houses, according to Dhaliwal.

He also noted 32 verbal warnings were issued, 29 calls were made to 311 and 150 calls were made to the City of Calgary.

In mid-October, the City of Calgary put out a news release before Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas, reminding citizens that fireworks are strictly prohibited within Calgary city limits. They said last year, more than 200 calls were received over six days, all related to unauthorized fireworks. They said many were tied to cultural festivals.

Also in 2024, the Calgary International Airport considered shutting down an active runway due to fireworks discharged nearby.

“Our officers have been actively connecting with community members to highlight the public safety risks linked to the unauthorized use of fireworks,” said Calgary Police Service District 5 General Investigative Unit Staff Sergeant Geoff Gawlinski in that Oct. 16 release.

“We’re committed to ensuring public safety while encouraging respectful and joyful celebrations throughout the year.”

Committed to safe celebrations: GM Black

Community Services GM Katie Black said that they are committed to ensuring safe community and cultural celebrations.

They are aware of fireworks that were sold illegally and set off illegally.

“We have a range of by laws that attend to various components of safety, and we will be looking at all of those,” said GM Black.

“We know that we have proactive, community-centered engagement that we can and need to do more of to attend to this.”

Black said that they will begin outreach earlier next year, and strengthening relations with cultural and community partners, particularly around deterring the illegal sale of fireworks.

“We also look forward to working with council and building trust across the range of interest holders in this pursuit so that we can make sure that we are creating safe, legal celebrations for all of Calgary,” she said.

Under Calgary bylaws, possession of fireworks or pyrotechnics without a permit carries a minimum fine of $500. The sale, or use of fireworks without a permit is a minimum of $250.

The City of Calgary said that any of these violations may also breach the National Fire Code (Alberta) and a first offence could carry a fine of up to $100,000, and $1,000 for each day the offence continues, plus imprisonment for up to six months.