Lachine Cancels Canada Day Fireworks
Written by Paul Graif on 1 July 2021
Lachine is the latest municipality to cancel some Canada Day celebrations. The move is in solidarity with their First Nations neighbours, especially Kahnawake, as hundreds of unmarked graves are being discovered around the country at the sites of former Residential schools. Lachine Borough Mayor Maja Vodanovic says they have cancelled the fireworks that were planned for this evening. “The administration said they got the go (COVID approval) and put on the billboards everywhere saying ‘Fireworks for Canada Day.’ This happened a few days ago. I went Oh my God it’s not a good moment, not a good moment. On the social pages people were happy saying ’yes fireworks!’ but it was a great un-comfort at the same time,” Vodanovic said.
Vodanovic then spoke with her community and reached out to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake at that point.
“We felt really, really wrong about it and we shouldn’t be celebrating. It’s a moment of mourning. So, we went out and put it on all of our pages, the administration pages, the political pages. We said we’re cancelling it and the response is tremendous. Thousands of people have responded saying thank you. This from all communities combined. I’ve known, and felt, and respected and have been working with the community (Kahnawake) on many art projects and I want to work on reconciliation issues.”
