Claiming slice of ice not very nice

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This article was published 05/02/2021 (1322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Currie Gillespie usually rides his bike along the south end of the Seine River, but he’s happy to take on any of the frozen spaces along the river.

It’s especially beautiful this year — while the ice is always stunning, Gillespie has found himself marvelling at just how many people are out this year, something he hasn’t seen before.

“In the past, if there was a packed path on the Seine River, it was maybe two, three feet wide possibly, and it was started because of the (fat-tire) bikers grooming the trail… but nothing compares to the way it is now,” he said.

“The vast majority of users on the river right now are on foot, whereas it used to be pretty much us and the odd dog walker.”

He said he’s seen hundreds of people walking along the river on busy weekends, and thinks the higher turnout is connected to COVID-19 making it harder for people to congregate indoors

“I’m hoping that it continues. I’m hoping that it’s a permanent social change that we can see,” he said.

However, bigger crowds have brought on a “double-edged sword,” he said, because there are more rinks, making parts of the river inaccessible to people with mobility issues.

Gillespie said he’s seen skating areas that have been cleared from bank to bank, which makes crossing difficult.

“When you’ve got somebody who’s out walking with a cane — which there are quite a few — they’re not going to try and manage to walk across the ice. Most people won’t shuffle across the ice,” he said.

“So that leads them to try and find an alternate path, and that’s not always doable either.”

He’s seen seniors walking along the river choose to turn around because the alternative would be going up metre-high banks to get on a path around the rink. Even a small area left uncleared for walkers along the edge of the river would eliminate this problem.

“But I guess they felt that extra three feet was critical for their rink,” he said.

“How could we ask permission to use that rink? We don’t know even whose house it is.”–Diana Epp-Fransen

Wolseley resident Diana Epp-Fransen is delighted to see more people utilizing the neighbourhood’s natural beauty but isn’t happy with some of the area’s riverfront property owners.

She has seen signage along the Assiniboine designating sections of the river as “family rinks” telling people to stay out of the area unless they get the homeowners’ permission.

“To turn around and say, ‘Well, you have to ask us permission,’ another issue with that is, how could we ask permission to use that rink? We don’t know even whose house it is,” she said. “It’s not a fair ask.”

Gillespie said he had seen similar signage and said there have always been people who believe that if they live near or beautify parts of the river they can then claim that space.

While he called the practice “pretty selfish,” he said he hasn’t seen many signs.

“When you build something on public space, you build it knowing the public’s going to use that,” he said. “That’s everyone’s space.”

Epp-Fransen said she’s heard stories of families skating along the river and homeowners kicking them off of “their” space.

“I think sometimes it’s easy to forget what other people don’t have; by that I mean, if I lived on the river and was able to look out there and go out there any time I wanted, I might forget that there are some people stuck in an apartment that also want to use that space,” she said.

A spokesperson from the city said signs put up on any frozen waterway prohibiting access that aren’t placed by a public authority aren’t enforceable or valid.

“When you build something on public space, you build it knowing the public’s going to use that.”–Currie Gillespie

Should the bigger crowds become a new normal during Winnipeg winters, Gillespie said he hoped the city or province will invest in public education on making the space accessible to everyone.

“One of the things I think about is, if it’s made for the least of us, then it’s good for the most of us,” he said.

Code-red public-health restrictions have limited the size of outdoor gatherings to no more than five people, raising the possibility that there are some groups flouting the rules on the crowded rivers.

A spokesman for the province said health-order enforcement statistics are broken down by fine amount, not location, so he couldn’t say whether violation tickets have been issued on the rivers.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_