Barrier-free recreation activities will be continuing in northern Vancouver Island.
The District of Port Hardy received a $35,000 grant last year from the provincial government through the BC Alliance for Healthy Living, which helped fund barrier-free recreation activities from June 2024 all the way to June 2025, and now the district has teamed up with The Regional District of Mount Waddington to finance more free swims and skates at its recreation centre for the foreseeable future.
"We get about $75,000 a year from the Regional District of Mount Waddington, which is helping to offset some of the cost, and then we have a little portion that's coming out of the council's budget in order to support these free swims and skates," noted Chief Administrative Officer Heather Nelson-Smith, when asked to comment on the financial's involved. "We're still looking for funding from the provincial government to help offset the cost even more, and we'll continue to keep looking for grants because then there's other things that we could be covering through more barrier-free opportunities."
Nelson-Smith confirmed it is all public swims and skates that are going to continue to be free to attend, and they will be adding some more family and adult events to the schedule for free as well.
Port Hardy's recreation manager Naomi Heith said she was thrilled to see the continuation of barrier-free recreation.
"These free programs provide significant savings—families visiting our facility three times a week can save approximately $163.44 per month. To better understand the impact of these barrier-free opportunities, we conducted a survey and received powerful feedback, including: 'I can put that money towards insane food/grocery store prices instead of having to choose between food or recreation for my kids' and 'Inflation has caused financial strain on all of us. Allowing free swim/skates has helped us stay healthy, have fun and create memories!'"
Port Hardy mayor Pat Corbett-Labatt agreed with her staff, stating it was important for her and her council to ensure barrier-free recreation was going to continue.
"Barrier-free recreation means that our pool and our facilities are accessible to any income level," she said, noting council just wants to make things "easy and friendly and accessible for all residents."