Millennium Library’s fourth floor reopens with safety fencing, added security

The fourth floor at Winnipeg’s main library downtown reopened Tuesday, nearly two weeks after city officials prevented public access over safety concerns following one suicide and the threat of another.

A metal construction fence blocked off the railing overlooking the Millennium Library’s main floor. Two uniformed security guards monitored the floor while visitors used computers and scanned bookshelves. The fencing, which has also been installed on the third floor, is temporary and will remain in place while the city looks to develop a permanent fix, city spokesperson Pam McKenzie said.

The fourth level is home to the library’s information services and a local history room. It includes biographies, maps, government documents, adult non-fiction books and a stockpile of newspapers and historical directories.

On Aug. 6 a 40-year-old man jumped over the fourth-floor railing and died of his injuries. Another visitor threatened suicide on Aug. 20 before being stopped by a security officer. The fourth floor was closed indefinitely the following day.

In 2017, a 25-year-old man jumped from the fourth floor in the library and later died in hospital.

Comedian Lara Rae was at the library on Aug. 6 when the man jumped over the railing.

“I was on the fourth floor and I saw some escalation of mood,” Rae said. “I got on the elevator, and something in my brain said, ‘stare ahead.’ Then as the elevator went down, I heard a horrifying scream, and then it sounded like a dumpster had been dropped three stories, and there was a huge crash. And then I walked out of the elevator and stared straight ahead as 10 police officers rushed past me.”

Rae said if the Community Connections space in the lobby — closed late last year when funding ran out — was operating, the incident could have been prevented.

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Community Connections staff provided support and information to library visitors and a separate area to help people in crisis with referrals to mental-health and other services.

“If that had been there, that’s where that man would have been sent, and he would have had a better chance at survival,” Rae said. “Rather than security guards and uniforms poorly trained trying to negotiate with somebody who’s already elevated, he’s on the main floor… and then you’re going to give the person coffee, and you’re going to sit and listen to them.”

The library staffs seven community safety hosts, who are trained to prevent, manage and de-escalate conflict, as well as several security guards and community crisis workers.

Last week Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500, which represents library staff, urged the city to restore the Community Connections space and that the union is surveying library staff for input on how best to reduce the risk of safety incidents from the library’s upper floors in the longer term.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.