Winkler Arena Upgrades

The Winkler Arena is a 2,000-seat multi-purpose arena serving as home to the Winkler Flyers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Now five decades old, the facility is in need of accessibility upgrades to be inclusive of all its citizens, guests, and visitors.

1. Why did you decide to break down barriers in your community?

   It’s the right thing to do. As a municipal government, we don’t ever want to exclude our citizens, guests, or visitors from using our services. The arena is 50 years old, and buildings from that era were not built with accessibility in mind. It only made sense, with this opportunity, to make the changes we know we should make.

2. How is this project going to make a difference in your community?

   We are adding value to our facility with a new feature giving people in wheelchairs the ability to view events from the ice surface. When this portion of the project is complete, a ramp and sitting area at the end of the arena will allow people to not only watch the game, but experience all its sounds and feel the cool air. Along with this highly requested feature, people with disabilities will also immediately see changes to the washroom facilities and at the building’s entry/exit points.

3. What’s the best thing about being a Barrier Buster?

   Many of our upgrades will help individuals with disabilities, as well as seniors and parents with young children. This is a significant project directly benefiting over half of our population. Being a Barrier Buster means caring about our citizens and fighting to make things right for them.