Health professional leads grassroots fight

By MONTY MOSHER Sports Reporter/WINNING WAYS
Dalhousie University associate professor Susan Kirkland comes by her activism for sport and recreational opportunities honestly.

A health professional working in the university's department of community health and epidemiology, she knows exactly where sedentary lifestyles and the health care system collide.

Her passion for broader sport and recreational opportunities in the Mainland North area of Halifax has placed her at the forefront of a grassroots community organization called Build It Right.

The group, founded in 2005, is pushing for an expansive multi-purpose recreational facility, a community centre that could be the beating heart of the Clayton Park/Fairview/Rockingham area for the next 30 years and beyond. Its members envision a centre built in the fashion of Cole Harbour Place.

Kirkland, Build It Right's chair, lives in one of the fastest growing areas of the province. The population within 20 minutes of the proposed facility is 200,000 and more than 100,000 live in the immediate community.

The area has an outdated 25-metre swimming pool at Northcliffe Centre, the aging Centennial Arena, and little else for public indoor recreation.

"I have both a personal and professional interest," said Kirkland, who heads a 10-member executive fighting the same fight many community-based recreation groups face around the region. "My kids have grown up in this area. I grew up out west and I have to say B.C. and Alberta tend to do far better in terms of recreation facilities than Nova Scotia.

"Through the work I do I understand the importance so deeply of investing in public infrastructure. We really have to take the bull by the horns and do something about public health in Nova Scotia because if not we will pay for it. We already do pay for it. We pay every single day in terms of health care services and treatment."

Build It Right has pushed municipal officials for a plan that would see a versatile complex with a rink, field house/gymnasium, meeting rooms, fitness centre and weight room, running track and swimming pool — something it estimates would cost more than the $14.5 million proposed.

All areas would be adaptable for recreation and competition. "It allows the greatest use for everybody."

She's a realist. Money for sport infrastructure is hard to come by and federal and provincial governments are tight-fisted if municipalities and their respective communities don't share a common vision.

HRM has proposed a pool and dry-land complex covering 57,000-square feet.

But that plan doesn't offer a regulation 50-metre pool, something Kirkland regards as critical, and not nearly the capacity of the 152,000 square-foot Cole Harbour Place.

A 50-metre pool would allow for all the recreational and teaching needs of the community, she said, but could also be used as a competition venue and generate money as a host site for regional and national competitions.

"From our perspective, what we need to do is build facilities that will address the full recreation spectrum — that you can start at the entry level and maintain your interest in a sport or recreational activity throughout your lifetime.

"This is absolutely critical. Nova Scotia is at the breaking point. I'm a health professional, and we're seeing the ramifications in so many ways. We're one of the leading provinces in terms of rates of chronic disease."

Build It Right has a mailing list of more than 1,600 for its newsletter and a 7,000-name petition seeking enhanced recreational opportunities for the community.

But HRM hasn't budged from the scaled-down plan.

"The immediate answer is all budgetary," said Kirkland. "We've had a very hard time getting our vision across. I guess it comes down to politics. People don't think long-term in politics."

However, recent events have brought Build It Right and the municipality closer together, she said.

The 2011 Canada Games will plunk a field house into the Mainland North Common. It will be the centre for table tennis and badminton during the Games. "This is great news for our community," she said.

Build It Right is encouraged by the development as long as the new construction is compatible with its other interests for the area.

"I actually think what was originally proposed for the dry-land portion of the recreation centre could … be incorporated into the field house and the money set aside for the overall facility could then be put into an adequate size pool," she said.

Russell Walker, Fairview-Clayton Park councillor and deputy mayor, said the municipality will look to link a new recreation centre to the Canada Games field house and existing indoor soccer facility to form the nucleus of a new multi-purpose centre.

But Walker said a 50-metre pool was to come with the Commonwealth Games and died with the bid failure.

"They want a 50-metre pool and nothing less, but unless you had the Commonwealth Games you weren't going to get that," he said. "We have two 50-metre pools now and Toronto only has two 50-metre pools. It's all about money."