Paralympic hockey player calls for greater accessibility in Ontario ice rinks

Billy Bridges has witnessed so many advancements in the Paralympic movement from when he first started playing para hockey more than two decades ago. 

He’s also watched as rinks across Canada have evolved into accessible spaces for persons with disabilities.

That’s why what happened at his seven-year-old daughter’s hockey practice a couple of weekends ago was that much more jarring. 

“Nothing says ‘you still don’t belong here’ in hockey quite like being assigned a city rink to coach my daughter, that is still 100 per cent inaccessible,” Bridges said in a Twitter post on Dec. 3.

Bridges attached a video of himself in Team Canada gear having to traverse a number of steps in his sled from the ice to the main level of the rink. 

“As soon as I wheeled in I noticed it was completely inaccessible. There are about six stairs that go down to the only doors that go down the ice,” Bridges told CBC Sports. “I think I was just taken aback. I hadn’t seen that in so long and luckily my disability allows me to overcome it but I really felt the need to address the situation.” 

It just so happened to be United Nations’ International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Bridges’ tweet has been liked and retweeted hundreds of times, and there have been just as many responses, including from Oakville officials.

WATCH | Billy Bridges on need for more accessibility in ice rinks:

Billy Bridges discusses how to make hockey rinks more accessible across Canada

A six-time Paralympian, Billy Bridges was recently in a hockey arena that was inaccessible, and he’s speaking out on how to fix that.

Colleen Bell, Oakville’s commissioner of community services, wrote to Bridges acknowledging they have “work to do with some of our older facilities.

“I want to assure you that we have capital plans in place to invest in continued improvements to meet our Oakville Universal Design Standards,” Bell wrote. “With respect to Kinoak Arena, an accessibility audit was done in 2019 to identify how the facility can be updated. Improvements to Kinoak Arena are planned for 2024 and include upgrades to multiple doors, public seating, change rooms, washrooms and more.

“In the meantime, our team will ensure that the automatic door operator is working properly and that there is a ramp to access the ice. “

Bell said an immediate change is asking anyone booking rink activities in the city to share any accessibility accommodations so officials can direct them to a facility that can provide those needs.

But there have also been hate-filled direct messages sent his way. 

“Some of that feedback reflects the systemic issue of accessibility in Canada and unfortunately sometimes in hockey,” he said. “There still isn’t a place for every single person to fully belong in hockey and it’s been a little unfortunate the DMs that I’ve received.”. 

Bridges is tired of empty words that fall short of action — he’s lost count of how many times he’s been told he’ll just be put in a different rink to solve the problem. 

“I’m kind of a little sick and tired of hearing that answer. I’d much rather have all public Ontario facilities to be a 100 per cent accessible for everybody who wants to use them.” 

That’s why he took the moment to make a point of this experience in a very public way. 

“I want every person who wants to to be able to take that first push on the ice and just fall in love with the sport the way I did,” Bridges said.

For the last 22 years Bridges has been at the forefront of Canada’s para ice hockey movement, even when many of the rinks he was practising in weren’t accessible and when Hockey Canada didn’t support the men’s para hockey program. 

Born with spina bifida which limits his mobility, Bridges found a sense of belonging and purpose in his sled on the ice and playing wheelchair basketball. 

His one-handed slap shot has been clocked at 80 mph and he’s the most prolific scorer in the history of the sport. Bridges has competed at six Paralympics for Canada, and won gold at his first Games in 2006. 

Just days ago Bridges was named The Toronto Six accessibility coordinator for this Premier Hockey Federation season. His wife, Sami-Jo Small, who is a two-time women’s hockey Olympic champion for Canada, is the president of the team. 

For Bridges and Small, this has always been about giving back and making hockey a more inclusive and accessible place for all. That’s why the two also coach their daughter’s hockey team. 

“We just want every Canadian to be able to access this great sport in the great facilities that we have,” Bridges said. 

Bridges is also critical of what’s transpiring with the women’s para hockey movement in the country. Currently, para hockey is considered a mixed sport at the Paralympics, and only three women have ever competed at the Games in the event. 

WATCH | Women’s Para hockey team calls for equal funding after sweater mishap:

Women’s Para hockey calls for equal funding after sweater mishap

The national women’s Para hockey team is calling for equal funding, and treatment, from Hockey Canada, saying they were given recycled jerseys that had originally been made for the national women’s stand-up team in 2018.

Now there’s a movement afoot to help grow women’s para hockey in Canada and around the world. Just last week the organization called Women’s Para Hockey of Canada, launched a campaign to raise funding from Canada’s corporate community.

The “Sticks In” campaign is hoping to raise $1 million to fully fund the national women’s program for the first time in history. The hope is that the women’s tournament is added to the Paralympic program for the 2030 Games.

Hockey Canada does not currently support the women’s para ice hockey program.

There are some similarities between when Bridges was first starting out and now the women’s program in its early days. 

“I just hope that they find nothing but doors opening for them. I made the national team in 1998 and Hockey Canada took until six years later to fund us,” Bridges said. “I still see the women struggling with all of that and they really need the support of Hockey Canada.”

Bridges said he knows how difficult the financial burden can be and he hopes corporate Canada and the sport governing body in the country supports them. 

“I feel like there’s nothing but opportunities for these women to be able to play at the highest level that they deserve to be playing at,” he said.