The city of Toronto has imposed a no-fly order on kites in one of its north-end parks, setting off a flood of protests from Afghan-Canadians over the unilateral ban.
Effective this week, the city has summarily banned all kites from Milliken Park, a 32-hectare green space in the city's northeast end that has become a favorite site for kite-fighting competitions popular with Toronto's large Afghan community.
Every weekend, dozens of mostly families -- many of them Afghan-Canadians -- pour into the park to picnic and watch skilled kite-fliers dodge and dive their flimsy craft in aerial battles to slice their opponents' strings.
One kite flier called the ban "a slap in the face to every Afghan."
Kite fighting, portrayed in Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel and later movie "The Kite Runner," is a national passion in Afghanistan and the Afghan immigrants say the weekend excursions to Milliken Park remind them of home.
The ban was enacted administratively -- without the approval of city council -- after Toronto parks and recreation staff received complaints from the local councillor that the kite fighters left the park littered with severed strings, some of it metallic or coated in ground glass.
Chin Lee, who represents the city ward that includes the park, has said he received complaints from area residents for more than a year about the litter left by kite fighters, including downed kites and hundreds of metres of string and wire.
"The problem is the string, it's a safety issue," Lee said. "When I was a kid flying a kite we used cotton threads and that break easily and are biodegradable."
Some residents say children trip on the string. Others complain that it gets caught in the city's lawnmowers, and that the city has to clean up the mess.
City bylaws already forbid metal kite-strings allowing staff to enact the ban administratively, without taking the issue to council. Parks workers pounded bright yellow "No kite flying allowed" signposts into the ground around Milliken Park Tuesday morning.
Gogi Malik, an organizer of one kite fighting group says between 70 and 80 people show up on Saturdays and Sundays to fly their duelling kites, which he says do not use the more controversial sharp string.
His club has four people designated to clean up any leftover string or kites on park grounds, but acknowledged that some garbage may have been missed after it got dark.
"We can do more about that," Malik said, adding he would be willing to go to a more secluded park outside city limits, if the city of Toronto deemed it necessary.
"We don't want this game totally banned," he said.
His club is planning to protest the ban on Saturday but insist they won't flout the new bylaw, which carries a $100 fine, by flying their kites in the park.
Brenda Patterson, the city's general manager of parks, forestry and recreation, said her staff posted signs asking the kite enthusiasts to clean up after themselves, but to no avail.
"This is obviously not a good solution in the long term," Patterson said, observing that banning kites in one park will just shift the problem to another. "We need to have a conversation with the kite-fighting community … that's obviously the next step."
She said the city could designate one or two parks or areas within its larger parks as kite-fighting zones.
Mr. Malik said he is more than willing to seek a compromise, adding that most of the kite fliers play by the rules.
"We're going to try out best to convince them. If the mayor has any issue, if the councillor has any issue, we'll try to solve them."
Milliken Park became Greater Toronto's major kite-flying site after the city banned the sport from Bluffer's Park on Lake Ontario; sliced kite line was floating out to the water and gumming up boat engines. Milliken and Bluffer's are the only Toronto parks where kites are forbidden.
The park is tucked into an immigrant-rich corner of Scarborough, on the border of the suburb of Markham. It's surrounded by tidy, two-storey homes with double garages, many of which back on to the park.
With a report from CTV's Scott Laurie
