By TERRY PUGH
The City of Warman is taking steps to improve accessibility at city-owned buildings over the next few years.
The initiative is required under The Accessible Saskatchewan Act, which came into effect on December 3, 2023.
The provincial legislation requires municipalities to address shortcomings in city-owned facilities that can impede access for people with disabilities.
The deadline for municipalities to have an accessibility plan in place was December 3, 2025.
However, the provincial legislation does not specify any penalties for municipalities which have not met that deadline; rather, the intention of the legislation is to encourage municipalities to continually implement and enhance accessibility measures on an ongoing basis between December 2025 and December 2028.
The City of Martensville accessibility plan was formally adopted by Martensville City Council at a special council meeting on December 2, 2025, as reported in the December 18, 2025 edition of the Clark’s Crossing Gazette.
The Martensville plan was prepared in consultation with an advisory committee made up of residents of that city.
The City of Warman has not yet formed an advisory committee.
The potential creation of such a committee was discussed by Warman City Council at its committee of the whole meeting on December 8 and the topic will come up again at a meeting in January.
However, a lot of groundwork regarding accessibility improvements to existing civic buildings has already been completed, thanks to a comprehensive report by a consulting firm, P3A Architects, compiled earlier this year.
Warman partnered with nine other municipalities to access funding from the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association to offset the cost of the P3A Architects report.
At the December 8 Warman City Council committee of the whole meeting, the full accessibility report was discussed. It contains a large number of recommendations for short and long-term accessibility upgrades to Warman City Hall, the Warman Home Centre Communiplex, the Brian King Centre, Warman Diamond Arena and other civic facilities. It also provides cost estimates for those improvements.
A short summary of the accessibility report is available online at the City of Warman website. The summary states that the city is committed to “identifying, removing and preventing accessibility barriers in our services, facilities, bylaws and programs,,” and “working toward continuous improvement through annual review and public reporting.” The city also pledges to have meaningful consultations with people who have disabilities.’
Warman Mayor Gary Philipchuk said the comprehensive accessibility report prepared by the consulting firm “provides a good starting point to see where there are deficiencies in our public buildings.”
But, he noted, the goal is not to do all the recommended upgrades at once. The city will need to set priorities and seek funding from senior levels of government to implement the most pressing improvements first.
“This provides an accessibility lens through which we can review initiatives and projects,” said Philipchuk.
Warman City Councillor Richard Beck questioned the need for a separate advisory committee, suggesting it would create another level of bureaucracy and could even undermine council’s authority.
“Why leave it to a third party to itemize and prioritize?” said Beck during discussion at the December 8 council meeting. “What if this advisory committee wants lots of things done right away? Council should make the decisions.”
Warman City Councillor Tracy Johnson, who served on the provincial Accessibility Advisory Committee that provided advice to government on accessibility standards in the legislation in 2024, said it’s important to have local input from residents with disabilities.
“It opens up the opportunity for people with lived experience to be heard,” she said.
Warman City Councillor Shaun Cripps spoke in favour of an advisory committee, noting the members would bring “specialized knowledge” that would allow council to make more informed decisions.
Councillor Marshall Seed also supported the creation of an advisory committee, but noted that council would ultimately “not be bound” by its recommendations.
Councillor Kevin Tooley said he is in favour of establishing an accessibility advisory committee, suggesting it would have a similar function to other bodies that have citizen representation, such as the recreation advisory committee.