Daycare begs city to clear weapons, needles from parks

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This article was published 06/03/2024 (549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Needles, weapons and trash dumped in parks make it tough for children at a downtown daycare to play safely outside.

Daycare staff conducts security checks before letting the kids explore nearby green spaces, which have turned up everything from used needles, Narcan, human waste, garbage, knives, ammunition, broken glass, weapons, bear spray canisters and more, which sometimes leads the activity to be scrapped altogether, said Lois Coward, executive director of Niigaanaki Day Care Centre Inc.

For example, Coward said one attempt to play at the Spence Tot Lot last summer had to be cancelled.

“Underneath the picnic table, there were several used needles, including syringes and wrappers… We found human waste in the park, as well as (a lot of) garbage,” she told members of city council’s community services committee on Wednesday.

Coward said social challenges surrounding the daycare’s 500 Balmoral St. site appear to have become worse since the pandemic.

Their activities are limited by public drug use, police raids and, on one occasion, an active shooter. She stressed she’d like to see the city clean up parks in the area at least once a day to make them safer for daycares and community members.

“All families that live in the Central Park neighbourhood deserve a safe place for their children to play,” she said.

“All families that live in the Central Park neighbourhood deserve a safe place for their children to play”–Lois Coward

Coward told media she would also support the city designating a locked outdoor area for daycares to use as a play space. While her daycare has a small yard, she said it’s been difficult to maintain even that outdoor space. Coward said the yard’s fixtures have been “destroyed, vandalized or stolen.”

The committee considered a call for the city to create a policy to proactively clean up needles, weapons and other debris at all parks, playgrounds and tot lots within a one-kilometre radius of a daycare in “higher needs” areas of Winnipeg. The motion also called for the city to explore partnerships with community groups who could help do the work, as well as options to secure provincial money to help fund it.

For example, that could involve staff members from the city or a community group being largely stationed at, or rotating between, key green spaces to ensure they are checked at least once or twice per day, said Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre), who raised the motion.

“We could have someone… going to these parks and monitoring them on a regular basis,” said Gilroy.

“We could have someone… going to these parks and monitoring them on a regular basis”–Coun. Cindy Gilroy

On Wednesday, the committee instead approved a more general motion to have the public service look into options to clean up dangerous debris in city parks and estimate how much doing so would cost. Bureaucrats are expected to report back in about six months.

“I think this speaks to the larger issue of what’s going on in our city parks, especially in our inner city, and the unsafe activity that’s going on and the individuals who are struggling with substance abuse… I’m supportive of finding a solution,” said Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood), the committee’s chairman.

Gilroy told the Free Press she is disappointed the more general motion, which still requires a final city council vote, doesn’t call for a specific policy; she fears the report it triggers won’t return quickly enough.

“I wanted this to be a priority that these parks get cleaned up,” she said.

The committee took no action on a staff recommendation to create incentives for organizations to open their washrooms to the public, receiving the idea as information instead.

Duncan said the incentive would offer about $40,000 to potential participants, which he expected would not be effective. He noted the city’s own downtown public washroom at 715 Main St. costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to operate each year, with social services and safety initiatives included.

“I don’t think $40,000 is going to be an incentive to get anybody to open their washrooms without any type of parameters around how we can make sure that that’s a safe space. What we’ve been told by the public service is to make it a safe space costs about $400,000 to $500,000, as demonstrated on Main Street,” he said.

The councillor said he believes more public washrooms are needed throughout Winnipeg but there would be a substantial cost to add more.

Council will cast the final vote on the matter.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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