Every weekday, Melissa Winters bundles up to tackle snow and ice built up at downtown Whitehorse intersections to make paths more passable for passersby. She heads out for a few hours with a small crew each morning and another crew for another few hours after lunch.
It’s part of her work as supervisor and job coach with Opportunities Yukon.
“I think that the community is appreciative, and we're feeling appreciative, and so the team is really caring about what we're doing,” she said. “Not only that, but it has built a strong team that's kind of ready for some new challenges as the season ends.”
The crew leader told the News by phone on March 11 about how Opportunities Yukon has been working hard to improve accessibility in the core, particularly for Yukoners and visitors with mobility issues and using strollers, wheelchairs, crutches and canes.
Winters said it has been interesting to learn about the difficulties and dynamics of snow and water accumulation around cross walks. Her crew relies on businesses doing their part.
Opportunities Yukon serves adults of different needs and abilities. All of the snow clearing crew members face some type of barrier to employment. This new initiative, which started this winter, is a collaboration between Opportunities Yukon and the City of Whitehorse, with the city providing money for wages.
As the season wraps up, Valerie Dykshoorn, the Opportunities Yukon manager of employment support programs, said the partnership is working.
Opportunities Yukon has a deal with the city to assist with snow removal in the central business district, per Dykshoorn.
Dykshoorn described how the Opportunities Yukon crew goes out on foot, with shovels and ice chippers in hand, to do detailed, value-added snow removal that fills in the gaps left behind by bigger machines run by the city and its contractors.
For the past two years or so, Opportunities Yukon has been doing similar work in the summer where they clean up garbage, water plants and keep the downtown streets clean.
They decided to extend that work through the winter.
Opportunities Yukon serves adults of different needs and abilities. All its crew members are experiencing some type of barrier to employment or fit into that category, Dykshoorn said, noting it’s “mutually beneficial.”
A statement from the City of Whitehorse via strategic communications manager Matthew Cameron indicates that the program has helped make snow and ice control downtown better.
“Their work has been well received by the public,” reads the statement.
The statement notes the city values the crews’ work and is keen to continue the partnership into the future.
Dykshoorn hopes Opportunities Yukon will have the opportunity to do this type of work again next snow-and-ice-removal season.
“From our perspective the program has been a success for us and our clients,” she said by email.
“Some of the crew members are looking for more permanent work either full-time or part-time. Many crew members have shown lots of hard work and commitment this season. If anyone has work available for these crew members please get in touch with us.”
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
