A $2.3 million provincial grant has been approved for more than 40 playground projects in Saskatchewan.
Three schools In Saskatoon, St. Paul's School, Bishop Filevich Ukrainian School and St. Anne's School will receive funding. The government says the aim of the grants, launched in the autumn, is to help parents build new playgrounds for their children on school grounds.
St. Anne's Project Manager Brittany Hiebert collects accessible playground for school. Hiebert told Global News that her daughter was in an accident that left her in a wheelchair.
She says she took on the project because of her daughter and she understands that there are very few accessible playgrounds on school grounds in Saskatoon.
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“This needs to change, and I wanted to give children of all abilities the opportunity to participate in the game,” she told Global News.
Hiebert says typical playgrounds have sand and a lot of stairs, both of which are not suitable for people with mobility aids. She believes accessible playgrounds should be the standard.
“Just being able to participate brings joy,” she said. “It's normal that they want to be able to participate, so having access to playgrounds is really normal for them. It shouldn't be normal for them to not be able to participate.”
St Anne's new playground will feature ramps, lowered features such as bars and a rubber surface suitable for children and even parents in wheelchairs. The current play area at St Anne's will remain and an accessible play area will be built behind the existing one.
Saskatoon currently has accessible playgrounds, but only one on the John Dolan School property.
“Schools are still very inaccessible for kids, kids in wheelchairs, kids with disabilities, so I think it's really important that we start working on that,” Hiebert said. Other available facilities in the city are playgrounds where families have to travel to get to the playground.
The school has raised about 80 percent of the playground funding and fundraising continues. They hope to complete construction in the summer of 2026.
Look above to see why accessible play areas are important on school grounds.
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