Meetings of the Toronto Municipal Licensing and Standards Committee are regularly a barn-burner. No, really. This is the same committee dealing, for example, with the issue of what to do with Toronto's broken taxi licensing system, which led to the amusing spectacle of councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34-Don Valley East) being chased down the hall by angry cabbies.

Friday morning, the MLS committee blew right past the taxi issue to tackle something else that's at least as controversial: should the city of Toronto ban the "possession, sale, and consumption of all shark fin products in Toronto." Actually, it's not even that, yet. Because of the issues of animal cruelty (many sharks are "finned" while still alive) and sustainability (shark fins in Hong Kong's market have been linked to endangered shark populations) the committee is only asking staff to produce a report on whether the city can or should adopt a by-law doing banning shark fins. The motion was moved by councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38-Scarborough Centre) and seconded by Ward 27 councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam.

Not that you'd know that from the deputants at the meeting. Passionate deputations both for and against banning the sale of shark fins. The pro side of the debate mostly consisted of restaurant owners who say they're worried about their business collapsing if they can no longer sell the expensive Chinese dish. The anti side consisted of some concerned citizens (some of whom brought their adorable children) as well as some notable celebrities like Rob Stewart* (the director of the documentary Sharkwater) and the star of Survivorman, Les Stroud. The ethnic divide was pretty stark: all the pro-fin deputants were Asian Canadian, and almost all the pro-ban deputants were not.

With one notable exception near the end of the meeting: Robert Hii got to the desk and said "I'm here to defend the good name of my culture," and just when it seemed like we would hear another defense of Chinese culture's right to eat shark fins or an attack on similarly cruel western dishes like veal or foie gras, Hii continued "shark fin is not a part of Chinese culture. How could it be when 80% of Chinese people can't afford it and don't eat it? It's a status symbol for people who have too much money."

The committee voted unanimously to ask staff for a report, which (thanks to a crowded agenda in October) will likely have to come back to a special meeting of the committee in November. That's right Toronto, we get two Shark Weeks this year.

* CORRECTION SEPTEMBER 10: An earlier version of this piece incorrectly spelled director Rob Stewart's name. OpenFile regrets the error.