Kayleigh Trace (left) and Deidre Lee (centre) led the march down Gottingen Street. Photo: Halifax Examiner
Kayleigh Trace (left) and Deidre Lee (centre) led the march down Gottingen Street. Photo: Halifax Examiner

About 100 people — many who use canes, crutches or wheelchairs — protested the poor sidewalk ice clearing in Halifax today. Saying the sidewalks were to icy to walk on, the protesters literally took to the street, walking a two-block stretch of Gottingen Street to express their displeasure with city ice removal efforts.

The Gottingen Street sidewalk were indeed treacherous, covered with six to eight inches of ice, except for in front of a couple of businesses and the North End Community Health Clinic, which had cleared the sidewalks to bare concrete.

No politicians or City Hall managers showed up to speak to the protesters. A handful of police officers good-naturedly escorted the group and blocked the southbound lane of Gottingen to cars for the length of the march, about 15 minutes.

Chantell Lemiux. Photo: Halifax Examiner
Chantell Lemieux. Photo: Halifax Examiner

One protester was Chantell Lemieux, who on a rainy day earlier this week slipped on the sidewalk while walking home from the grocery store and fractured her fibula. She’ll be wearing a non-weight bearing cast for the next six weeks, so must walk with crutches. Lemiux said she came to the protest because she wants the city to “provide safe and accessible crosswalks for everybody.”

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The sidewalk along Gottingen Street, like most sidewalks in Halifax, is covered with ice and presents a hazard, especially for people with mobility issues.
The sidewalk along Gottingen Street, like most sidewalks in Halifax, is covered with ice and presents a hazard, especially for people with mobility issues.

Tim Bousquet is the editor and publisher of the Halifax Examiner. Twitter @Tim_Bousquet Mastodon

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