City installs remote door locks, buzzers at Sherbrook Pool in response to staff safety concerns By: Tyler Searle Posted: 5:19 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026

Heightened issues with safety at the Kinsmen Sherbrook Pool have prompted the city to introduce new security measures, including remote door locks that require patrons to buzz in before entering the public facility.

The move comes after several years of troubling incidents for pool staff. The union representing them had threatened to file a grievance if their concerns were not addressed.

“It has been increasingly (clear) that staff has not felt safe working at that pool. We are getting a lot of people that are getting in who are in mental-health and addiction crises, and it’s been hard to manage and deal with that,” Daniel McIntyre Coun. Cindy Gilroy said Tuesday.

“It has become such a concern that if we lose staff, and staff don’t want to work at that location any more, it could mean shutting the doors. So, it’s time to find a way to make sure that everyone is feeling safe in their workplace.”

A controlled entrance with a remote door release was installed at the 381 Sherbrook St. pool in mid-March as part of a security overhaul that also introduced swipe card access to staff areas within the facility, city spokesman Adam Campbell confirmed.

He said numerous incidents have impacted staff and patron safety in recent years, “including physically threatening behaviour, verbal threats, assault, as well as theft from and damage to vehicles.”

“It’s time to find a way to make sure that everyone is feeling safe in their workplace.”

The city received 19 reports of incidents in 2025, and 20 reports the previous year.

“Note that these are only the number of incidents that get reported — the actual number of incidents may be higher,” Campbell said.

It is the only public pool in Winnipeg to have a controlled entrance, but Campbell said heightened security measures have been in place at other city facilities for several years, including the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre on Langside Street and the Millennium Library downtown.

Staff at the pool contacted representatives from the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 more than a month ago to voice concerns about security, union president Gord Delbridge said.

The union was told intoxicated people were increasingly entering the facility and causing disruptions. Delbridge said some of the staff are young and were frightened both during the encounters and when leaving the facility at the end of their shifts.

The union leader initiated the grievance process, but agreed to hold it in abeyance if the city demonstrated it was taking action.

“That’s kind of where we are at now,” Delbridge said, noting the union is now monitoring the workplace to ensure staff are satisfied with the bolstered security.

“That’s somebody’s daughter who’s working there, that’s somebody’s family member or partner, and you’re not going to work to deal with that kind of stress and fear,” he said.

Judy Hasselfield encountered the facility’s locked door Tuesday. The 75-year-old who lives in Wolseley has used the facility about three times a week for the past 20 years, and said she has occasionally seen people “camped out” near the front entrance.

“It’s not a scary place, except the neighbourhood itself is getting a little dodgy. The pool itself has always been extremely well-managed and I’ve never felt (concerned),” she said.

“The staff are very friendly and informative. They seem to care about the neighbourhood and they seem to care about the people that are struggling, even when they’re dealing with them.”

Hasselfield said she has no issue with the security upgrades and hopes they put staff at ease.

“I think it’s absolutely vital to keep this pool in the community, not only for older people like me, but also for youth. I think it is still a safe place.”

Josh Hollett, another patron, said he has been visiting the pool once or twice a week over the past decade. Like Hasselfield, he has no problem buzzing in through the secure entrance.

“It’s fine with me if that’s what they’ve got to do,” the 43-year-old said.

“It’s absolutely vital to keep this pool in the community.”

Marianne Cerelli — a former NDP MLA and activist who advocated for the preservation of the pool in the mid-2010s when it required structural renovations and was under threat of closure — said the safety concerns at the facility are emblematic of larger issues throughout the city.

“This is social collapse and we think that we can deal with it by just installing more and more security,” Cerelli said. “It’s a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage.”

Decades of under-resourcing for social programs have created an underclass of people who languish in poverty, addiction and trauma with little hope of improvement, she said.

“I feel for the staff that are there. I can understand that they feel threatened. Some of those neighbourhoods are getting more and more rough. However, we have to look at a full range of ways to address the problem.”

Coun. Vivian Santos, chair of the community services committee, said all levels of government must work in concert to confront the root issues contributing to the security concerns plaguing the pool and elsewhere.

“We are seeing it all across the city.”

“We are seeing it all across the city,” said Santos (Point Douglas). “We are in that type of climate and environment right now where there’s a lot of social disorder, and it is unfortunate that we have to do some of these security measures… but I think it’s important these measures are in place until we can find a more positive path moving forward.”

The most recent city data available shows approximately 38,900 people used the pool in 2024.

The city’s 2024-27 multi-year budget included direction for the public service to report back on a four-year review of the pool’s usage, revenue and operating costs. That report is anticipated in fall 2027, ahead of the next multi-year budget process, Campbell said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca