The Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is allowing nighttime parades seven years after it banned them while also adopting new safety practices. The motion, which passed 10-to-one at a committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, recommended safety measures including limiting parade routes to 2.5 kilometres, restricting the total number of parade entries to 60 and requiring four spotters per entry. District 12 Coun. Kim Sheppard-Campbell was the sole dissenting vote. In October 2019, CBRM banned nighttime parades over safety concerns after a child died in an evening parade in Yarmouth in 2018. A child had also been injured at the CBRM Pride Parade in August 2019. Three years ago, council reversed course on that decision and directed staff to recommend changes to allow safer community parades at night. No permit applications for nighttime parades have been submitted since then. The staff report submitted to the committee about nighttime parades noted the events require additional resources from police and other municipal departments to support traffic control measures. “Additional resources required from municipal personnel during parade events will incur additional wage costs that will need to be managed by each respective department within approved operating budgets,” the report reads. With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
