‘We cannot treat pedestrian deaths as business as usual’

A candlelight vigil held to remember a Winnipeg woman who died while crossing an Osborne Village street drew more than 100 people Friday, demanding safer streets in her memory.

Dozens gathered at the intersection of Roslyn Road and Osborne Street, where Rosalie Tennison was struck while crossing the street on Nov. 21.

The 67-year-old was hospitalized after the collision and was awaiting surgery on broken bones in her leg when she had an unexpected medical event and died the next day.

“She was an incredibly outgoing and dedicated person,” said Matthew Bowman, rector at the Parish Church of St. Luke on Nassau Street North, where Tennison was a member.

Although Bowman only knew the author and communications professional for six weeks, it was long enough for her to make an impression on him.

“(She was) an incredibly organized and driven person, an incredibly generous spirit that genuinely tried to live out her faith and bring joy to others,” Bowman said.

The church organized the vigil with advocates for safe streets and the Osborne Village BIZ.

Steve West, who has lived in Osborne Village for more than 25 years, said he was shocked and saddened by Tennison’s death but not surprised. He is an avid cyclist who has had close calls with motor vehicles.

“When you’re on a bike or walking you have a very different perspective of what’s going on in traffic,” said West, who volunteers with Bike Winnipeg and has long been an advocate for making Winnipeg’s streets safer. “Drivers are not only going very fast but they seem distracted.”

Tennison is the ninth pedestrian killed on Winnipeg streets this year, and the 16th person killed in a vehicle collision, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release earlier this week.

“Think of the cascading effect of that,” West said. “There’s her family and her church community and her condo community and her friends — for each person that’s killed or seriously injured in a traffic collision, there are so many people that are affected directly or indirectly.”

Downtown resident Mandalyn Unger said she attended the vigil because it’s important to commemorate the deaths of pedestrians killed in collisions.

“We cannot treat pedestrian deaths as business as usual or expected collateral damage from having such a car-centric city or such a car-centric corridor there on Osborne,” Unger said.

She called on Mayor Scott Gillingham and Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, to invest in infrastructure to make Winnipeg’s streets safer for pedestrians.

The City of Winnipeg is undertaking numerous initiatives to improve road safety, Lukes told the Free Press Friday afternoon. They include introducing traffic calming curbs and providing dedicated infrastructure for walking and biking.

Lukes empathized with Tennison’s family and friends, and said that her father was killed in a car crash when she was 18.

“When life is taken in a second, everything changes, nothing stays the same and it’s with you the rest of your life,” Lukes said.

Parish Church of St. Luke held a service prior to the vigil to remember Tennison, said Susan Roe-Finlay, reverend deacon at the church and a friend of Tennison’s.

“The service was to remember her and to remind people to respect life, and this (vigil) is to remind people that we need safer streets,” Roe-Finlay said.

She added that with the advent season beginning Sunday, the church recently hung four advent-themed tapestries that Tennison made last year.

“She was very much part of the church fabric,” Roe-Finlay said.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca