Mayor's statement on Canada Day 2025

Canada Day 2025 saw one of the largest Canada Day celebrations ever in Downtown Kitchener with more than 35,000 people celebrating Canada Day together with amazing family activities, live music and our best-ever fireworks finale, without incident or injury. We thank all of our partners, including city and regional partners for helping make this event welcoming and safe for all.

While frustrating and disturbing, the simultaneous negative actions of a few in the area surrounding Downtown will not deter us from bringing people together to celebrate in ways that are reflective of the great city we know Kitchener to be.

As a community, we all need to be concerned about the unruly behaviour of a small group of youth in the region – whether in a city park or elsewhere - and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to address these issues by taking the strongest stance possible to hold individuals accountable for their unlawful behaviour.

Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, on behalf of Kitchener Council