Brennan Martin, a filmmaker/former skater for Team Canada, has sparked an online debate about the state of Toronto’s skating rinks.
In a video shared to YouTube on Wednesday, aptly dubbed “Toronto Skating Rinks are Dumb”, Martin opens up about how figure skaters across the city are facing an uphill battle for access to ice time when compared to hockey players.
He uses the $4.5 million Dufferin Grove Skating Rink as an example — it boasts two ice pads, a clubhouse, a Zamboni, and even a couple of snazzy fireplaces. But the allocation of ice time at Dufferin Grove (and citywide) makes it difficult for figure skaters like himself.
For the ice pads at Dufferin Grove — one is exclusively for hockey 82 hours a week, while the other is exclusively for leisure skating. Unfortunately, Martin says he’s been kicked off the ice four separate times for performing figure-skating moves deemed too risky under city policies.
Specifically, he was told that raising a foot more than four inches off the ice is considered “dangerous and against the rules” and, so, he’d have to stop or leave.
“Maybe they thought one of my twizzles would pop the head off of a young girl or cut the carotid arteries of a senior couple skating by, but either way, this ballerina boy got some fangs to skate on figure skating ice,” he quipped in his video.
Martin decided to dig deeper into the city’s ice time allocation and discovered huge disparities.
“In the 104 skating rinks run by the Parks and Recreation Department, there are only 2 hours and 45 minutes of scheduled figure skating time a week — 2 hours in Scarborough and 45 minutes in Mississauga,” Martin said in the video. “If you use Dufferin Grove rink as a template for hockey time across the city and then halve it, you’ll see the city offers 4,500 hours of free hockey time across the city each week, but only 2 hours and 45 minutes for figure skating.”
In a lengthy email, Martin reportedly contacted the City’s Parks and Recreation department about the disparity. He was told that city officials need to ensure that the rules are “respected”, whether Martin agrees with them or not. He was then put in contact with the department in charge of skating, and was told that they will review figure skating programming opportunities when they plan for next year’s outdoor season.
When Martin asked if there was anything the city could do with the 104 rinks to allow a little bit of skating to happen this year, he was reportedly told that it’d be too hard.
“That was a month ago. After repeated requests, I’ve received no responses,” Martin added.
There are other figure skating options at facilities across the city — although they tend to run a bit expensive, especially if it’s a skating club. Martin mentioned the McCormack Arena (179 Brock Ave), but that can run up to $11,000 a month (or $30 an hour) for ice time. U of T’s Varsity Centre (299 Bloor St W) offers free ice time for recreational figure skaters who want to practice individual skating skills, freestyle, and stroking elements (however, the arena has restrictions, for example, footwork jumps, like stag jumps, toe loops, flips, and lutz jumps aren’t permitted).
Although Martin’s video had somewhat of a comedic tone, it doesn’t quite mask the frustration felt by some in his shoes skates. Under a Reddit post featuring the video, users debated over the feasibility of more ice-skating time.
“I feel I’m qualified to weigh in as I have a figure skater and am frustrated with ice time. Also having gone to rinks outside the GTA, specifically the 905 suburbs, we are woefully lacking in figure skating time,” the user noted, adding that there are so many issues with hockey taking priority on rinks.
Still, the user admitted that there are too many competing priorities and limited funds, so the city can’t prioritize everything.
“[F]igure skating is not a cheap sport that is easily accessible…so it’s kind of like complaining that skiers and sailors don’t get enough attention. It is not an economically accessible sport for the vast majority, which is why it is likely not a priority.”
Another user suggested that figure skaters collectively advocate for more time.
“Hockey brings in the money and players] are likely very vocal about ice time. So the figure skating community needs to be more vocal,” the user stated. “The roller skating community went through this a few years back when they couldn’t have skate time on outdoor rinks because of ball hockey. Hockey is first and everyone else has to fight for the scraps. People collectively need to advocate and ideally with data.”
You can check out the full Reddit discussion here and the Martin’s YouTube video here.
