Saanich dog owners protest district's off-leash park strategy
Dog owners in Saanich are protesting a strategy that’s been proposed by the district to reduce off-leash access in parks.
The noon-hour rally was held outside Saanich municipal hall Thursday – encouraging passersby to honk in support along the Pat Bay Highway.
“I’m upset that it feels like I live in a community where they’d rather I didn’t have a dog,” said protester Cherene Cranston.
The "People, Pets and Parks Strategy" has been generating feedback for the last two years and will be considered by Saanich council in a special meeting on June 26.
If approved, the strategy is proposing 57 leash-optional parks out of a total of 172. A dozen of them have been identified for fenced off-leash areas, such as Rudd Park.
“Not everybody is an exemplary owner,” said Rudd Park user Ryan Paisner. “I’ve had verbal altercations after being chased and barked at by dogs with owners that didn’t seem to understand the responsibility of it.”
He also expressed health concerns for children playing on the playground, after observing instances where pet owners didn’t clean up after their dog.
“As usual in these situations, it’s the irresponsible ones making it bad for the majority,” said protester Pam Koiner.
Cordova Bay Beach could become the only off-leash beach year-round.
For one of the district’s largest park’s, staff are recommending PKOLS introduce a 0.4-hectare space that would be fenced in and a 1.5-kilometre trail loop for off-leash dogs.
“There’s 21 kilometres of trails,” said protest organizer Trish Fougner. “I’m really frustrated because I pay my taxes here.”
Fougner calls the trails of PKOLS Park home – and is among others feeling pushed out and unheard.
“It’s a big deal when you have an 11-year-old black lab who’s never been on-leash and I have arthritis,” she said. “It’s very difficult in many areas in PKOLS to have a dog on-leash and it’s dangerous for people to be pulled in the wrong direction.”
Protesters also shared concern with the parks that have been chosen, saying too many of them lack shade or are too close to roads.
The District of Saanich was unavailable to comment Thursday.
The strategy goes before council at 6 p.m. Monday with feedback from the public.
The report from staff says implementation of the strategy would help protect and restore natural areas, give people who are afraid of or wanting to walk in areas where dogs are on-leash a place to visit, and clearly communicate where dogs are allowed to be off-leash.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6450420.1725820142!/httpImage/image.jpeg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpeg)
Bloc Quebecois ready to extract gains for Quebec in exchange for supporting Liberals
The Bloc Québécois says its ready to wheel and deal with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's party for support during confidence votes now that the Liberal government's confidence and supply agreement with the NDP has ended.
Over 200 firearms seized in Waterloo weapons investigation
According to police, during a traffic stop officers noticed firearms and ammunition inside the vehicle.
'It's morally wrong': A rural Alberta town reacts to homeless shelter closure
At the end of a side street in Slave Lake, Alta., Lynn Bowes looks at a grey job-site trailer with boarded-up windows and doors that once operated as her town's only homeless shelter.
Timeline: The rise and fall of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's political fortunes
In the wake of the NDP withdrawing its automatic support of the minority Liberal government, here is a timeline of key events charting the arc of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's fortunes in federal politics.
The controversial plan to turn a desert green
Ties van der Hoeven's ambitions are nothing if not grand. The Dutch engineer wants to transform a huge stretch of inhospitable desert into green, fertile land teeming with wildlife.
Military surplus store in Calgary, destination of celebrity shoppers, closing doors
Cher, Anthony Hopkins, Heath Ledger, Alec Baldwin and Tom Hardy are just a few of the celebrities John Cumming met while growing up in his family's military surplus store.
'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' jolts box office with US$110 million opening weekend
After 36 years of waiting, the juice is finally loose again in 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,' this time racking up US$110 million in its premiere weekend.
Mother of Georgia shooting suspect called school to warn of emergency, aunt says
The mother of the 14-year-old who has been charged with murder over the fatal shooting of four people at his Georgia high school called the school before the killings, warning staff of an 'extreme emergency' involving her son, a relative said.
Trump threatens to jail adversaries in escalating rhetoric ahead of pivotal debate
With just days to go before his first and likely only debate against U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, former U.S. president Donald Trump posted a warning on his social media site threatening to jail those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election, which he said would be under intense scrutiny.