Remember to inspect the candy your child has gotten after trick-or-treating to make sure it is safe to eat.The city of Hamilton experiences an unusually mild Halloween night, going trick-or-treating as usual. However, studies have shown that children are twice as likely to be involved in traffic accidents on Halloween night. According to Statistics Canada, 1 in 5 pedestrian fatalities happened at intersections from the years 2018 to 2020. Statistics Canada also reports that 21 per cent of pedestrian fatalities that happened at have occurred because the pedestrian was wearing dark clothing.
Chelsey Norbruis is a Mohawk student catching up with her current workload in the Indigenous Student Services Centre. She says that Halloween is her favourite holiday.
“Halloween is definitely less big now than when I was a kid,” Norbruis said, “we used to trick or treat past midnight, but now it ends by nine. I think that Halloween has been dying over the past decade.”
One of the reasons that Halloween is Chelsea Norbruis’s favourite holiday is because it is colourful and fun.“There is a risk to walking alone at night, dealing with the homeless population that may perceive costumes as a threat,” Norbruis added.
The Government of Canada has listed several recommendations for having a safe Halloween with your costumed children, such as telling your kids to stay in well-lit areas, avoid letting your child wear a costume with long draping parts like capes to prevent tripping over themselves, and inspect your child’s bag for candy they may choke on or have an allergic reaction to.
Children ages four to eight are ten times as likely to die on the week of Halloween.Dozens of children were walking around the streets of Hamilton trick-or-treating this year, wrapping up at around 10 p.m. for most kids and teenagers. To learn more about how you can keep the holiday safe and fun for everyone, visit the Halloween safety page on the official Government of Canada website.
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