HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, N.L. — Blocked access to a new accessibility ramp at the E.J. Broomfield arena in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is raising safety concerns.
A number of events happen at the arena and the ramp installed in 2019 helps make sure everyone can attend.
But Happy Valley-Goose Bay town councillor and head of the recreation committee Jackie Compton Hobbs said people blocking the ramp was an issue at the recent Lake Melville Extreme Mega Tournament on Jan. 17-19.
She told the Jan. 28 council meeting signs were posted telling people to keep the ramp clear but they did not work, with children playing on the ramp the whole weekend.
“There’s a safety concern there,” she said. “There were small children lying on the ramp so there is a safety concern there. It’s difficult because we were trying to keep children off it and the parents didn’t seem to understand why.”
Councillor Lori Dyson-Edmunds agreed with Compton-Hobbs that something needed to be done to keep people off the ramp. Dyson-Edmunds said there were a couple of ‘close calls’ the weekend of the mega tournament.
“It was ridiculous how people, I guess, didn’t realize what the ramp was there for,” she said. “It was a losing battle trying to keep kids off it.”
There were a number of people with accessibility issues there, Dyson-Edmunds said, and measures need to be taken to make sure they can attend events safely.
The ramp and seven accessible seats cost $900,000 total and came from the New Building Canada Fund — a federal/provincial/municipal partnership.
