To Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, Ottawa City Council, Ottawa Police Service, and Bylaw Services:

We, the undersigned residents of Ottawa, are writing to bring urgent attention to a growing practice in our city: the unauthorized ritual immersion of religious idols into public rivers, lakes, and shorelines during the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Understanding Ganesh Chaturthi and the Issue: 

Ganesh Chaturthi is a traditional festival celebrating the birth of Lord Ganesha. As part of the multi-day celebration, idols of Ganesha are worshiped. At the conclusion of the festival, a ritual idol immersion ceremony takes place, where the idol is taken to a body of water and immersed or thrown in.

While this is a traditional practice in India, disposing of solid objects, religious idols, or ceremonial materials into public waters in Ottawa is illegal, environmentally damaging, and detrimental to shared public spaces.

Key Event Dates for 2026:

Ganesh Chaturthi begins on Monday, September 14, 2026. While smaller idol immersions occur throughout the festival, the primary, large-scale final immersion day takes place on the 10th day: Friday, September 25, 2026.

Why Action Is Needed Now:

• Pollution of Ottawa Waterways:  Even when idols are marketed as "clay" or "biodegradable," they often contain chemical dyes, plaster of Paris, plastic accessories, and synthetic glues. Dumping these into the Ottawa River, Rideau River, or local lakes pollutes the water and harms local wildlife.
• Preservation of Public Parks: Shorelines and beach areas (such as Mooney’s Bay, Britannia Park, and Andrew Haydon Park) end up littered with dissolved remnants, frames, and debris, ruining public spaces meant for all Ottawa residents.
• Lack of Historical Precedent in Ottawa: Public water immersion was never a practice in the Ottawa region before. As the population grows, public policy and enforcement must clearly establish that dumping items into natural waters is unacceptable in Canada.

Responsible Alternatives Exist: Worshipers and practitioners do not need to use public rivers or lakes to fulfill their traditions. Idol immersion can be performed safely and respectfully at home—such as by submerging the idol in a bucket, water tank, or garden container in one's own backyard, allowing the earth to return to the soil privately without violating municipal laws.

Our Demands to Municipal Authorities & Police Services:

1. Targeted Shoreline Patrols (Peak Focus: Friday, September 25, 2026): Deploy Ottawa Bylaw Officers, Ottawa Police Service (OPS) units, and NCC Conservation Officers to popular shoreline access points (including Mooney’s Bay, Britannia Beach, Andrew Haydon Park, and along the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers) during the mid-to-late September window, with peak monitoring on September 25.
2. Strict Enforcement and Fines: Consistently enforce existing municipal environmental, littering, and park bylaws, issuing formal citations and fines to anyone attempting to throw idols, frames, or decorative materials into public waters.
3. Advance Municipal Advisory: Request that the City of Ottawa issue a public advisory before September 14 clarifying that public water immersion in local rivers and lakes is prohibited, and promoting private, home-based submersions in garden containers or water buckets.

Public waterways belong to everyone and must be protected. We call on the City of Ottawa and local enforcement to act swiftly to ensure public spaces and natural waterways are respected and protected.