City’s recreation centres lack accessible equipment or trained staff: disability advocates

The lack of accessibility at recreation centres in Burnaby sparked a heated debate among members of the city’s Access Advisory Committee during its Oct. 24 meeting. Several resident representatives expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of adaptive equipment and the absence of staff trained to assist patrons with disabilities. 

Brad Domaas, director of facilities management, said the city had just completed an inventory of the adaptive equipment in its recreational facilities and that it will do its best to improve accessibility in the future. 

“Staff are aware of the importance of adaptive fitness equipment and do take this into consideration during equipment upgrade cycles. Older facilities do have design-based limitations and staff are doing their best to incorporate adaptive equipment into these,” Domaas said. 

Karim Damani, a Burnaby resident who has been active in advocating for better accessibility in the city and a resident representative on the Access Advisory Committee, responded to the comments made by Domaas.

“I can say that at a number of fitness centres, there are no adaptive fitness equipment available. At, say, the Edmonds Community Centre there are no bicycles for fitness or spin classes,” said Damani. “You have to go to Bonsor Recreation Centre to access spin classes.” 

Damani then suggested that the city add more adaptive equipment throughout the city so residents do not need to travel across the city to access fitness facilities, but can access adaptive equipment at facilities near their homes. 

“Thank you for the excellent feedback, and for sure we’ll take that into consideration during all future upgrade cycles,” Domaas said. 

Resident representative Rod Bitz responded to Domaas. 

“That summation of the equipment is weak. Every community centre should have at least two or three pieces of equipment for a person with a wheelchair or anyone with a physical disability to do a cardio workout and two pieces for strength training,” said Bitz. “It’s not inclusive. If you don’t have it, it’s not inclusive, as simple as that. So that answer you gave is weak.”

The Beacon later spoke with Damani, who is blind and is a member of the Walkers’ Caucus of Burnaby. Damani spoke about his own personal experiences with Burnaby recreation centres as a blind person. 

Damani has been advocating for improvements to signage and wayfinding in recreation centres for more than six years. According to Damani, it is difficult for people with low vision or blindness to find the entrance to recreation centres, which have few signs or other markers to help with wayfinding. Even before he lost his vision entirely, Damani struggled to find the entrance to the Edmonds Community Centre. 

“That's when I still had my white cane, and I could still see the building. I couldn't even find the door. And then I even asked a sighted person, can you help me find the door? They couldn't find it either,” Damani said. “I asked the next person, and luckily, they knew where the door was, so they took me. You have to go around the side of the building to the front door. Inside, of course, there's no way to navigate, to find a way around.”

This was several years ago, but Damani said that things have not improved substantially. Although he has been advocating with the city since 2018 to improve accessibility for blind and low-vision residents, little has improved despite the passing of the Accessible BC and the Accessible Canada acts. 

“We're still finding that there's a failure because they just built a new rec centre pretty close to me, which the other member, representative Odette Brassard, mentioned that she went to the new rec centre that's just off of Griffiths near the Edmonds SkyTrain station, and it's just a black steel and glass building with no sign for where's the entrance, and she couldn't find it either, and she’s sighted but she’s in a motorized wheelchair,” Damani said. 

Damani attends a special aquafit class for blind and low-vision residents run by non-profit organization Aquafit for All at Bonsor Recreation Centre. To get to the centre, he takes the SkyTrain with his guide dog. A sighted person from the non-profit has to meet him at the Metrotown station and guide him to the recreation centre. Without the help of this volunteer, Damani would be unable to find his way to the centre on his own, even with his dog. This is another problem with the city’s recreation centres, they are not located close enough to transit. 

Last year, members of the Walkers’ Caucus spoke at Burnaby Council about the challenges blind and visually impaired residents of Burnaby face, especially when it comes to accessing the recreation centres and crossing roads without getting hit by a car. Damani said members of the blind and low-vision community in Burnaby will be going to council on Nov. 18, 2024 to speak about this issue again. 

The Beacon also spoke with Coun. Daniel Tetrault, chair of the Access Advisory Committee about the concerns of Damani and other residents with disabilities. Tetrault said that the whole purpose of forming the committee is to listen to the feedback of people with disabilities to help improve the city to make it a welcoming place for all. 

“The point of this Access Advisory Committee is to relay some of these concerns. Our staff are trained in inclusivity, and in every fitness centre, we have staff who are trained to assist people with all abilities to find physical activities that work for them,” Tetrault said. “If that's not happening at our facilities, we need to know about it and make sure that we're improving our training and staff so that everyone can access a wide range of programming.”

Tetrault said that the city is developing an accessibility plan that will take all complaints, comments and feedback from people with disabilities into account in designing its facilities. Many of the city’s older recreational facilities are being redesigned to be more accessible. 

“I think we do need to do a better job on our website of promotion and communication of what we do offer,” Tetrault added. 

Tetrault also said Burnaby residents who encounter obstacles can use an online submission form to inform the city. Tetrault said the city handles every complaint on a case-by-case basis, although he did not mention a timeframe. 

“Staff will always respond in a timely manner to the concerns and try to provide more information and try to address it as much as possible, and at times it would come back to the Access Advisory Committee if needed for more input. A lot of that feedback might go into the consultation piece and engagement, part of the accessibility plan in general for the city,” Tetrault said.  

The new accessibility plan will come to council on Nov. 28. In the meantime, if residents have any complaints or encounter any obstacles, Tetrault said they can submit them using the feedback form on the city’s website. 

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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