Whitehorse Snow and Ice Control Accessibility Becomes a Hot Topic

At the Whitehorse city council meeting on December 11, a proposal by Councillor Ted Laking was unanimously approved to grant $220,000 in more funding to “provide additional resources to address accessibility concerns in respect to the city’s snow and ice control.” The motion also approved $30,000 from the city’s reserve to go towards a “Snow and Ice Control Accessibility Review” for the future, to be delivered in May of 2024. The motion also called for increased enforcement of the city’s snow and ice bylaws.

Currently, the onus is on private businesses to clear the sidewalks in front of their business by 11am the day after a snowfall, enforceable by $250 fines (only 6 fines have been given out this year, according to bylaw supervisor Kyle Morrison at the council meeting on December 4th). In the existing Snow and Ice Control Policy (last amended October 23, 2023), the city is divided into priority 1, 2, and 3 roads, with priority 1 roads needing to be opened and ice controlled within 24 hours of a snowfall. For Priority 2 roads- it's 48 hours, and for priority 3 roads, it's 72 hours.

This meeting and previous City Council meetings over the last few weeks has seen a large turnout of delegates speaking to Council of their personal experiences navigating icy and uncleared city sidewalks and alleyways, as well as being unable to use accessible parking spots due to snow being plowed and piled onto the curbs and para-ramps around them.

One of the delegates Ramesh Ferris, who is disability advocate and polio survivor, spoke out at most of the meetings. He grew up navigating mobility and accessibility hazards in the city. Ferris contrasts the well groomed active transportation routes and trails that are designated priority 1 with the inconsistent, privately maintained downtown sidewalks and alleyways. Ferris says: “What city council has done is they've stretched the term accessibility to meet their political agenda to expand their active transportation routes, ignoring people with disabilities, seniors, and First Nation Elders, who are saying, 'We want the city to take over snow and ice clearing from the businesses on 2nd Avenue, 4th Avenue, Front Street and Main Street, and Grey Mountain Cemetery because we feel we have the the right to access our community.' And so we're trying to make the parallel that if you can do it for active transportation routes comfortably and financially approve that, well then you can financially approve and find in your budget the money and the services for a barrier-free downtown.”

This approved motion on December 11 replaced an earlier motion by Councilor Michelle Friesen to re-classify all downtown accessible parking stalls as priority 1, thereby receiving plowing within 24 hours of a snowfall. The new motion, however, has no timeline for this or breakdown of specific locations. The $220,000 additional funding approved in the motion is also not budgeted or broken down. At Monday's meeting City Manager Jeff O’Farrell did not appear to have a plan or timeline on how this money would be allocated, saying “Starting to spend this money in January would be the city moving at lightning speed.”

Councilor Friesen, in an interview with the Juice Dispatch, acknowledges the frustration of residents, but hopes that the approved motion will result in long term policy change. Friesen says: "The Advocates were really clear with us that they've seen these short term solutions be put in place before. Then you know every snowfall they'd have to kind of start back at square one and come back and continue to ask every year for those accessibility changes."

Friesen gives credit to the delegates for persuading Council to address the issue, part of a positive trend she sees in municipal engagement in the community. “I think that what's been really cool to see over our term is at the beginning of our term our respondent level was really low,” she says. “I think on our first budget survey we had 10 respondents and so now we're seeing thousands of respondents to these surveys and to these public consultations that we're doing, and I think it's really amazing that the community is showing up and being so engaged.”