Inner-city parks should be cleaned each day to keep daycare kids safe, Winnipeg councillor says

The city should clean inner-city parks each morning to ensure a safe place for daycare children, a Winnipeg councillor says.

Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel MacIntyre) says some Winnipeg daycare staff have told her they're finding dangerous items littered around inner-city parks and are having to do daily checks to keep children safe.

"Within the inner city, we have a lot of daycares that don't have any park space available to them," she told Radio-Canada on Tuesday.

"They are finding a lot of needles, and they're actually finding a lot of knives, machetes. There's a huge concern for the daycares around there … especially around Central Park."

Gilroy says she's tabled a motion that, if passed, would "get the city to prioritize those parks first in the morning … that somebody's going into those parks and checking for any knives and needles that may be lying around."

She hasn't heard of any kids that were injured because of discarded needles or weapons at parks so far, but says it's important the city take a proactive approach before someone does get hurt.

Gilroy is open to working with other community groups to clean up parks on a more regular basis. She also hopes the province can step in with funding, since she says addictions and homelessness are part of the issue.

Parks 'should be a place of safety'

Tom Ethans, executive director of Take Pride Winnipeg, says his organization picks up a bit of everything at city parks, including cigarette butts, garbage and needles.

"People have to understand that this should be a place of safety," he told Radio-Canada at Central Park on Tuesday.

"It's not just needles, it's [also] broken glass, so people need to understand that it's a little of everything."

Ethans says needles are found throughout the city, but advises people not to pick them up without training.

He says people need to be responsible and ensure that parks are free of items that can pose a danger to children.

"It's just a problem that needs to be dealt with," Ethans said.

"We need to do whatever it takes."