Poorly cleaned snow-covered sidewalks creating barriers for Winnipeggers with disabilities

Nick Donaldson feels trapped in his home every winter.

Donaldson, who uses a power chair and is visually impaired, says his chair can’t make it through the snow.

“The fact that sometimes two to three days after a significant snow, and they’re talking about how they’re clearing roads and stuff like that, and the sidewalks are still disgraceful,” he told CityNews.

“I have been in a wheelchair since the summer of 2016 and every winter is the same thing. Sometimes there’ll be a decent snow clearing because the person who’s doing it actually does a proper job or a reasonable job, but overall it is inconsistent and generally poor.”

Donaldson says he feels like the city sees him as a second-class citizen, as his needs for accessibility are not a priority like they are for motorists and the road.

“You might as well just tell all the people, people like me, you might as well say, ‘sorry you can’t be a citizen in Winnipeg when it snows because we don’t want to accommodate you,’” he said. “We don’t want to do the things that we should do so that you can actually be a citizen here and enjoy and take part in the things that the city has to offer. You’re just shut in until the snow is gone and we don’t care.’”

He says he’s had many conversations with the city, other advocates and media, but says he finds the willingness for long-term change wanes very quickly.

“They’ll do it for five minutes and find it too difficult and want to stop,” Donaldson said. “Well, you can’t stop because that’s what we have to do every year all the time. It never seems to get better.

“We’re having to plow through snow or having to go over sidewalks. They’re not cleared, they’re compacted. They’re not actually scraping the snow off, they’re just compacting it down so when it starts to get a little warmer, it turns into soft snow and you get stuck in it. There does not seem to be a whole lot of interest in trying to make this better.”

Snowy sidewalks are also a big issue for Winnipegger Kirby Cote, who is visually impaired. Cote walks, takes the bus or uses a bike to get around the city.

“Definitely after a snowfall, I’ve smashed my shins,” said Cote, the executive director of Accessible Sport Connection Manitoba. “I probably look like I’m intoxicated, stumbling around, because I can’t see where the beaten path is that other pedestrians have worn down if the sidewalk hasn’t been cleared. I need to walk to get groceries. I need to walk to get to work. I need to walk and take a bus to help care for my own parents. These are really human things.

“We have all the tools we need and we have all the knowledge we need. We have lived here for a number of years. I think all the solutions are there and it’s just a matter of people recognizing that they have a responsibility to this community.”

Cote is also part of a group of organizations – the Winnipeg S(NO)W Plow Campaign – advocating for the city to prioritize sidewalk clearing in the winter. Its members are the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities (MLPD), ILRC Winnipeg, ASC Manitoba, the Visually Impaired Resource Network, Transportation Options Network For Seniors (TONS), the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba and the MB Deaf Association.

“We’re doing this for the entire community,” she said of the campaign. “It’s not just about the disability community, everyone is impacted by barriers caused by lack of snow removal in the winter. A lot of times, when someone with a disability has an accessibility need and it’s met, it often benefits a greater number of people in the public. We know that.

“So when we speak up, yes we’re creating better spaces for persons with a disability or persons that have mobility needs, but it really benefits everybody else and we really do care deeply about that.”

Cote says those conversations are underway, but more long-term work is needed.

“Ultimately I don’t think the plan that we have going forward is good enough to actually create a space where Winnipeggers can move around their communities freely and live their best lives because snow is an obstacle,” she said. “And I feel like, we’ve been here for 150 years, and I think we should be doing a better job right now.”

Like Donaldson, Kirby says attitudes around accessibility overall need to change.

“The Manitoba Accessibility Act says that attitude is the biggest barrier to accessibility and I would say that that remains in our city as well,” she said. “It is definitely the responsibility of people in the Public Works department, contractors who do the snow removal, to really understand the importance of their role in our community.”

Donaldson says he’s looking for less talk and more action when it comes to finally discussing how Winnipeg will keep its sidewalks clear, but says he’s no longer holding his breath.