Ottawa councillor wants Mooney's Bay hill made safer, not closed to sledding
Ottawa councillor wants Mooney's Bay hill made safer, not closed to sledding
The city councillor who represents the Mooney’s Bay area is speaking out after city staff decided to install fencing this winter to prevent people from sledding at Mooney’s Bay Park.
The decision came nearly a year after an 11-year-old girl died in a tobogganing accident on the hill at Mooney’s Bay.
Coun. Riley Brockington, however, says he was disappointed by the decision.
“I am very disappointed to read this memo, sent to the corporation and Council as a whole, without first reviewing it with me, the local Councillor,” he wrote in a response to City Manager Steve Kanellakos and Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services general manager Dan Chenier.
The memo, released Friday, said a municipal risk assessment found no area of the hill was safe for sledding, and the city would be installing “robust temporary fencing” to keep people off it in the winter. Fencing off Mooney's Bay was among a 10-point list of recommendations aimed at minimizing the chances of another fatal accident and improving the city's sledding hill program.
But Brockington was critical of the city's response, saying staff took no responsibility for last year's fatal accident.
“The tragedy at Mooney’s Bay last December 27 that took the life of 11-year old Josée Abi Assal was completely preventable,” he wrote. “City of Ottawa negligence caused this death.” (emphasis in original)
Brockington noted in a phone call to CTV News that Abi Assal hit a post that city crews had forgotten to remove that winter.
“Through-out your memo you have taken no responsibility for this death and instead paint the Hill as a public recreational amenity so dangerous that it must be closed and boarded up until the end of time,” he wrote in his response.
Brockington said he is strongly opposed to closing the hill to sledding and noted that Mooney’s Bay is visited by many new Canadians and by those with limited means, who enjoy what the park offers year-round. Brocking also previously called for a safety review of the hill following last year's tragic accident.
He said he accepts that sledding comes with risks, but argued the city’s role is to mitigate those risks.
“I also accept that Mooney’s Bay Hill has risks around it that add to potential issues for sledders. Many of these can be addressed if a comprehensive plan is developed to permit sledding on one or some angles from the hill’s summit and not an absolute ban and closure. Mooney’s Bay Hill needs to remain open for public use in all four seasons,” he wrote.
Last winter, city crews installed hay bales around lamp posts and removed some of the metal poles from the bottom of the hill in an effort to improve safety, though officials stressed the hill was still unsafe and continued to discourage people from using it for tobogganing.
City officials are placing bales of hay around lamps and other hard metal posts at Mooney's Bay hill Dec. 28, 2021, following a fatal sledding accident. Crews were also removing most of the thin metal signage from the area. (Colton Praill/CTV News Ottawa)
Speaking to CTV News Ottawa, Brockington said toboganning has been part of Mooney's Bay for decades.
“It's free, it's outside, it's physical; it's everything I believe our city parks should offer. Closing the hill is not on for me,” he said.
The hill has not been an approved sledding hill since 2017, but has remained a popular destination regardless. Brockington says instead of a ban, the city should be looking at ways to make it safer for tobogganers.
“As to your action item list, I draw your attention to Item 6: conduct annual inspections for all approved hills. City hills that are not officially sanctioned but known to be well visited by the public should also be inspected,” he wrote. “This matter needs greater attention.”
He believes all sledding hills should have signage that inform users of the risks and things like rocks and trees can be wrapped and padded if they pose an issue, but there are also ways the city can change the landscape to make sledding safer. He added that he has heard from residents, including Abi Assal's family, who say they want to keep the hill open.
“It's going to take a motion at council,” Brockington said. “They dropped this memo yesterday, so I need some advice and I don't have anything written yet, but it is my strong desire to see tobogganing at Mooney's Bay Park.”
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
Top European Union officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials as rescue crews dug through the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine struck by a Russian missile, killing at least three people and wounding about 20 others.
In Washington progress on police brutality appears difficult, if not unlikely. Bipartisan efforts to reach an agreement on policing legislation stalled more than a year ago, and President Joe Biden ended up instead signing an executive order named for George Floyd, whose murder at the hands of Minneapolis police set off nationwide protests nearly three years ago.
A new 911 dispatch system in New Brunswick means that now fire departments aren’t getting dispatched to all medical calls leaving residents waiting and first responders in the dark.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
After an extremely mild month of January, the province is bracing for a blast of arctic air that will move in tonight and last until Saturday. Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued extreme cold warnings that covers most of the province with wind chills expected to be between -38 and -42 across the South and -50 across Northern Quebec.
Longueuil police (SPAL) arrested Gilles Croteau, 57, in the Saint-Hubert borough on Jan. 24 after an investigation that led to 31 arrests across Quebec for various sex offences, including child pornography possession and production.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
Bostwick Road has reopened following a serious crash on Wednesday evening. Around 7:20 p.m., emergency crews responded to the scene in south London for the incident involving two vehicles.
The organization regulating medical care and services in Manitoba is apologizing for racism directed towards Indigenous people when accessing health care in the province.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Wiarton Willie made his prediction his spring prediction Thursday morning at 8:07 a.m. The groundhog did not see his shadow, meaning we could get an early spring.
A hearing is underway to determine if Udo Haan is not criminally responsible for the death of his wife Edra Haan, who was found in the aftermath of the 2018 house explosion in Kitchener, Ont.
Calgary police are looking for suspects involved in an altercation that lasted for approximately an hour, spanned several communities and ended with a gun being fired.
Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service officials are encouraging any local victims to come forward following the arrest of actor Nathan Lee Chasing Horse in Las Vegas on sex assault charges.
A large crowd of around 700 students, faculty members and Lethbridge residents came out on Wednesday to protest a planned speech by Frances Widdowson at the University of Lethbridge that didn't take place.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
B.C.'s Ministry of Health is continuing its multi-year trend of paying millions more dollars each year to private surgical centres for the delivery of public health care, CTV News has learned.
Changes to the amount of time the public gets to voice their opinion during Surrey City Council meetings has caused controversy among former councillors.
City officials are placing bales of hay around lamps and other hard metal posts at Mooney's Bay hill Dec. 28, 2021, following a fatal sledding accident. Crews were also removing most of the thin metal signage from the area. (Colton Praill/CTV News Ottawa)
