Coun. Cathy Thicke is calling for more robust recreational opportunities at the Tofino Community Hall.
Thicke is Tofino council’s liaison on the town’s Recreation Commission and, speaking during Jan. 11’s regular meeting, said concerns have been raised about the lack of activity at the community hall to start the year.
“People are feeling very much shut in, for lack of a better word, and they’re really feeling the need to use our community hall,” she said.
She said she understood recreation staff’s capacity may be limited and acknowledged the hall is being used for COVID-19 vaccination clinics, but questioned why more opportunities to use the hall aren’t being made available.
“For example, in Ucluelet, there are many, many programs that are ongoing and are working in this January timeframe,” she said.
Coun. Tom Stere suggested taking a deeper dive into the topic during a future committee of the whole meeting.
“There might be a broader question in terms of access and availability of the community hall for recreational purposes,” Stere said.
The district’s manager of corporate services responded that a new winter/spring recreation guide would be published on Jan. 14 and cited announcements made through the recreation department’s social media channels.
“Thank you for being patient while our recreation team has worked hard to ensure programming can continue in line with current PHO Orders and guidance,” read a post on the district’s Facebook page.
A follow up post on Jan. 14 says registration would open on Monday, Jan. 17. The guide can be found at www.tofino.ca.
Thicke seemed unconvinced and agreed to discuss the issue at a future meeting, though she stressed that action is needed in short order.
“I’d like to talk about the longer-term use of our one and only facility that we have for indoor recreation at this time,” she said.
“We do have some opportunity in the evening for adults, but I’m mostly concerned about children and just how we are providing for them. I really feel for these young parents and we can have these conversations and that is good, but there’s an immediate need here as well. I’m interested in the conversation about the philosophical viewpoints and how we can accommodate that, but I’m just bringing it forward that there seems a very immediate cry for some more programming.”
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
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