Rising costs force some communities to rethink Canada Day parades

Peter Jeffery has been organizing his localCanada Day parade in East Hants, N.S., for 25 years, but he says rising costs and waning community support have put the brakes on the event this year.

The parade typically goes from Elmsdale to Enfield, N.S., where the festivities continue at the Lions Club, said Jeffery, the president of the district chapter.

"The parade itself takes a lot of planning and it has quite a bit of cost to it," Jeffery said. "It's evolved over the years to what we hadright up until just prior to COVID."

Jeffery saidfinancial help has been declining for years andfewer volunteers have stepped upto help organize and carry out the event.

"It ended up with just us trying to pull things together," he said, adding that funding from the federal government hasn't risen as costs for the celebrations from fireworks to insurance have increaseddrastically.

A new requirement for federal funding that guarantees the event will happenprompted Jeffery to pull the plug on the event last fall, he said.

Other cities, towns in same spot

Jeffery isn't alone. Several cities and towns say rising costs andfunding woes have themrethinking their parades.

In Montreal, there will be no Canada Day parade for the third year running. Canada Day celebrations will takeplace with events at the Old Port.

In Strathcona County, Alta., the Sherwood Park and District Chamber of Commerce announced in May that the Canada Day parade would not take place as a result of the increased costs of physical infrastructure, insurance and security obligations.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority won't have a parade or fireworks, citing "rising costs for safety and security, and across the events industry," adding that it would instead focus on other events.

Banff, Alta., made the decision to replace its parade with a day of activities and performances.

Some taking a new approach

Last year, many cities opted to cancel Canada Day events after the discovery of unmarked graves at sites of former residential schools. While most events are resuming this year, some cities, such as Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, Ont., have chosen to observe Canada Day with cultural programming rather than celebratory events such as parades and fireworks.

Halifax haspartnered with the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre and local artists to host 'Kana'ta-HFX Canada Day 2022,' which the city sayswill honour the Indigenous community.The Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo will be hostingits Canada Day parade.

Jeffery said he hopes to get the Elmsdale-Enfield parade up and running again next year.

"We don't want to see this event die," he said.

He said planning for next year's event would have to start in August to secure funding from the federal government.