Weston School’s children deserve safe, accessible playground

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/01/2020 (1842 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There is a chain-link fence barring staff and students from accessing the playing field at Weston School.

Since September 2018, these elementary school-aged children have not been able to play sports and games on their field, and they cannot enjoy what so many other children their age can: a playground without lead contamination. The field was closed in response to media reports that testing done in 2007, which was not released publicly, had shown unacceptably high lead levels.

In autumn 2018, the Manitoba government re-tested soil at Weston School and found that 17 out of 21 samples had higher than acceptable lead contamination. One sample was almost three times over the limit set by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment.

Lead at Weston School has been an issue since at least 1976, and test results have consistently shown higher-than-acceptable levels of lead. The province’s sustainable development department has expressed that there is no danger to the health of students, but out of an abundance of caution, children were warned not to touch their mouths after playing, and a fence was erected, preventing access to the field.

Since my election as school trustee for the area in October 2018, I have raised my concerns numerous times at the school board and in the community. I have met with the Weston School parent council and representatives of the sustainable development department.

Parents at Weston School are worried that the length of time it is taking to remove the soil with contaminated lead is affecting the well-being of the community’s children. One parent explained to me that their child is on the autism spectrum, and needs a place to run freely during recess, away from other children. Being confined to the overcrowded play structure area on tarmac is causing that child extreme stress.

I represent many working-class neighbourhoods, including Weston, as well as neighbourhoods with many low-income, Indigenous and newcomer families. This makes me ask: if there were lead contamination in the soil at a school in a more affluent community, would it have taken two years to remove the lead and open the schoolyard? Would it have taken nearly 40 years to come up with a potential solution that might finally remediate the lead? Is this an issue of class discrimination?

Why have provincial politicians kicked the can down the road for so long? The reality is, it is now 2020 and there is still lead contamination in the schoolyard.

The Manitoba government received a report in November 2019 that apparently assesses what steps need to be taken to remediate the lead at Weston School. But two months later, the report still hasn’t been released to the public or to the Winnipeg School Division trustees (the province said this week the report will be released before the end of this month). I am pleased, however, that after nearly 40 years of obviously insufficient efforts, the provincial government appears to be taking the issue seriously.

But we need a real commitment that when students return to classes in September 2020, they will start the new school year with an accessible and safe schoolyard. Weston School is a magnificent centre for learning, with incredible teaching, non-teaching and administrative staff. As the school trustee for this area, I will continue to advocate to get this soil replaced.

I am calling on the provincial government to follow through and act now to end the lead contamination at Weston School once and for all. Our children and our community deserve better.

Jennifer (Yijie) Chen is a Ward 6 school trustee in the Winnipeg School Division.