More than 1,000 Mimico area residents have signed a petition calling on City Council to crack down on the use of fireworks which they say affects their quality of life, causes injury, stress, pollution, pet and wildlife safety,

A group called the Etobicoke Fireworks Remediation Committee (EFRC) started the petition last September which was sent to Mayor John Tory, Councillor Mark Grimes, whom they met with, and others. There are two online petitions calling for the enforcement of fireworks by laws.

A motion by Grimes directs the Municipal Licensing and Standards and the Fire Chief and General Manager, Toronto Fire Services, in consultation with relevant City divisions, to report to the General Government and Licensing Committee on the outcome of a review of Chapter 466, which governs the use of fireworks.

The City will be looking at increased education, enhanced environmental protections and other regulations on the sales and discharge of fireworks.

Also sought are restrictions on fireworks sales both in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, in advance of the 2021 warm weather seasons.

Fireworks vendors are required to obtain a fireworks vendor’s permit, issued by Municipal Licensing and Standards, according to the City.

“Family fireworks are regulated through permits, conditions, and inspections and are enforced by Toronto Fire Services,” according to the agenda.

It states that without a permit, discharge of fireworks is only permitted on “designated holidays” such as Victoria and Canada day.

“We are receiving more reports of people purchasing and discharging fireworks throughout the year,” according to the document. “This is problematic in waterfront parks with their abundance of wildlife, aquatic habitats, and in some areas with a dense residential population.”

The EFRC petition states that Toronto public spaces have become ‘a free-for-all for year-round fireworks.’

They note parks like Humber Bay Shores and Ashbridges Bay have suffered from individuals with disregard for the needs of wildlife or neighbourhood peace shooting fireworks almost nightly as late at 3 or 4 am.

“The disruption to a peaceful environment, loss of sleep and overall harm to quality of life for residents speaks for itself,” the group wrote. “Geese, ducks, swans and grebes all consume fireworks debris left over in the water. Shoreline birds may experience panic during nesting.”

The EFRC warn the noise can lead nocturnal birds to become disoriented and fly into windows of nearby condos and chronic exposure from fireworks increases the risk to animal health.

“Species like the nocturnal Eastern Whip-poor-will are now designated as threatened, urbanization contributing to their diminishing numbers,” they warned. “We certainly don’t need to exacerbate the environmental threat to wildlife so carelessly.”

Next month will mark the 60^th year that Gloria Isadora Bartley broke barriers and tradition by becoming the first Black woman to be sworn in and serve with the then Metropolitan Toronto Police Force.

Bartley was quiet and reserved and served the City of Toronto from November 1960 to 1967, when she was mandated to retire after giving birth.

Prior to 1972, female Toronto officers had to resign after giving birth.

Bartley arrived in Toronto from Trinidad and Tobago in 1958 and worked hard and long hours to realize her dream.

“There was a buzz in the Service when Bartley broke the female colour line,” Larry McLarty, the force’s first Black male cop said then.

Insp. Sonia Thomas, who is now retired, said Bartley ‘was an inspiration to those who would follow.’

“I can only imagine how difficult it was for her joining at that time in a predominantly white male organization,” said Thomas.

Bartley died in April 2018 at the age of 84. A funeral service was held without much fanfare.

Her funeral was attended by several retired and active officers, including Thomas who was at one time the highest ranking Black female Toronto police officer.

The mother of one was remembered as a humble trailblazer whose legacy lives on today.

“She broke barriers so future generations don’t have to worry about those things,” her son Alonzo, recalled after his mom’s death.

She was “very quiet and reserved, even though she was a trailblazer,” Alonzo said. “She didn’t go out of her way to tell people. That wasn’t her style. She was very humble.”

He said his mom lived a full life and was always willing to give sound advice.

Her death is not forgotten by Toronto and other police and her anniversary on the force was Tweeted out by Ontario Women in Law Enforcement (OWLE).

“Being the first is often the toughest and most challenging. This lady paved the way,” wrote OWLE Canada officials. “Her light has shone brightly. Well done Madam.”

The more we know about how cybercrime works, the better we can protect ourselves and our assets from cyberattacks. Here are some common cyberattack tactics, courtesy of the OPP.

Typosquatting: The attacker buys domain names very similar to legitimate sites (usually a character or two difference) and squats on them, matching a brand’s look and feel. When a user fills out a form, the attacker harvests the user’s login credentials.

Clickjacking: The attacker conceals malicious hyperlinks beneath legitimate clickable content.

Baiting: The target is given a USB or other portable device preloaded with malware.

Doxing: The attacker publicly releases a person’s sensitive, identifying information (typically obtained from social media profiles).

Pharming: The attacker re-directs users from legitimate websites to fraudulent ones for the purpose of extracting confidential data.

Spoofing: The attacker deceives computers or users by faking their identity.

Phishing: The attacker sends an email or text message that appears to be from a legitimate person or organization but contains malicious links or attachments.

Social Engineering: The attacker extracts information from people without them being aware of or feeling interrogated.

Cross-site scripting: The attacker injects malicious code into a trusted website.

Device Drop: The attacker leaves a USB drive, CD-RW, phone or other storage device around an office and writes a tempting label on it, to encourage the finder to connect it to their device. Once accessed, the malicious code is launched.

How to Protect Yourself. Follow these quick tips to help defend yourself against cyberattacks.

Always use strong, hard to guess passwords and don’t use the same password for multiple accounts, enable multi-factor authentication whenever possible, make sure to use secure https connections when browsing the internet, only download files and apps from reputable websites, do not open files or links in emails or texts from suspicious or unknown senders.

Users should also keep their systems and applications up to date, review your security settings on all devices, keep your computer backed up, do not plug any unknown devices into your computer and limit the information you share on social media and only accept friend requests from people you know.

Please visit getcybersafe.gc.ca/en/home or cyber.gc.ca for more information.