Dixon Hall poll closed

By Duncan McAllister –

Sackville Green north of Shuter St.

A long-standing polling place has had its Elections Ontario (EO) status revoked thanks to new provincial accessibility standards.

Ironically, the removal of the Dixon Hall polling place at 58 Sumach from the list of voting locations has forced voters to a location that is currently inaccessible due to construction: access to the replacement location at 203 Sackville Green—the South Regent Park Community Centre—has been cut off north of Shuter St. during revitalization.

Area resident and Trefann Court Residents’ Association (TCRA) member Bill Eadie states, “For everyone (physically disabled or not) who lives on Shuter, 203 Sackville Green is not easily accessible, due to closure of Sackville Green from Shuter to Dundas.”

He continues, “Dixon Hall is readily accessible to our neighbourhood. Dixon Hall has a wheelchair ramp, and button to open the door. Why is the province claiming that it is inaccessible?”

Eadie took his questions to EO and was told “unfortunately, Dixon Hall is no longer available to us as a voting location because it is deemed inaccessible under EO accessibility specifications.”

The South Regent Park Community Centre at 203 Sackville Green is blocked off by construction, but Dixon Hall at 58 Sumach St. has got accessibility features.

Alicia Fowlie, spokesperson for EO, sheds some light on this: “Our site inspections, which were conducted in the fall of last year, determined that the alternate location sent to you by Eadie—Dixon Hall—did not meet our site accessibility standards and there was no temporary remediation (i.e. temporary ramp) that we could put in place for election day.”

Eadie feels that the Ontario accessibility bar may be set too high, and that local municipally funded locations like Dixon Hall may not be able to effect a retrofit to the province’s “gold-plated standards”, as he calls them, in time for elections this fall.

Fowlie counters that “although the location passed most of our inspection criteria, the ramp which leads into [Dixon] Hall was too steep and the turning radius was too tight. Therefore, the proposed alternate site for voters living in this polling division is Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, which is fully accessible.”

Currently, voters may be reassigned depending on which side of the construction barrier they are on.

Says Fowlie, “The returning officer is aware of the construction near this site, and as a result, has only assigned voters living to the north and west of the construction to this voting location. The construction should not impede their access. Voters living to the south and east of the construction will most likely be assigned to vote at Enoch Turner Schoolhouse or Oak City Coop, which also passed our inspections.”

Residents have a few more days to voice concerns on the issue, says Fowlie. “While these are the proposed locations for voters in the area, our consultation process will continue until June 3, which we extended past our one month requirement by an additional 30 days.”