In Surrey, B.C., Vaisakhi parade organizers were cleaning up after Saturday's party -- but they may need to do more than sweep the streets if they want a similar celebration next year.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts told CTV News that the city will be re-evaulating the parade, after she was disappointed to see a political parade float decorated with pictures of men some call Sikh martyrs.
Some of those men belong to groups that Canada considers to be terrorist organizations.
"We had every assurance that that float was not going to be in, and that everything would run smoothly as it did last year," Watts said.
She attended Saturday's parade, but left after she saw that the float was included.
Several other politicians, including Premier Gordon Campbell, chose not to attend, after Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh and BC Liberal MLA Dave Hayer were told their security would be their own responsibility.
"At the 11th hour, everything erupts, and comments are made, and the float's back in, and it's just unacceptable," Watts said.
"We don't give permits for political events, and that was a political event."
She promised a re-evaluation of the parade's permits, but that's something event organizers say happens every year.
The controversy also seems to be perennial.
"It's kind of funny that the day of, the day before, and the day after, there's always this brewing controversy, but really for the rest of the year, nobody seems to bring it up again," Moninder Singh, spokesman for the Dasmesh Darbar Sikh Temple, told CTV News.
He insists that there has been a miscommunication, something that he and others will explain to city council at a meeting this week.
"Every float is checked by the RCMP. We sign off, they sign off, saying that every float has been checked. All the content is okay to go out on the street. Nothing was different yesterday."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Sarah Galashan
