City of Mississauga Under Fire for Controversial Ruling on Children Playing Hockey in the Streets

Councillors with the city of Mississauga, Ont. have voted to keep in place a law that makes it illegal to play sports like hockey and basketball in the streets

If you grew up in Canada over the past 50 years, chances are you played road hockey on a street near your house at some point. One city in Ontario has doubled-down on making sure it doesn't happen in their streets.

There has been a ban on playing sports like hockey and basketball on residential street in Mississauga, Ont., since the late 1970s. The City recently asked for staff to develop a report on the bylaw to see if any changes were needed.

Councillors in Mississauga had other plans, voting to ignore the report from staff and keep the bylaw in place as it is and has been for decades.

The report stated that complaints about street hockey in Mississauga are very rare, "accounting for less than one per cent of the more than 18,500 complaints received by the city last year."

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish said she would be more likely to lift the ban on sports in the streets if there were "airtight" measures in place to protect the city in the event of someone getting hurt or worse by a vehicle while playing.

Parish and six other councillors voted against the motion to lift the street hockey ban. In Toronto and Ottawa, sports are allowed to be played on residential streets provided the speed limit is 40 km/h or less, and only between the hours of 9 AM and 8 PM.

While I certainly understand the concerns of Mayor and Council regarding liability, surely some kind of solution can be found to allow road hockey and other sports on Mississauga streets where it's safe to do so. Kids don't seem to get out much anymore, and limiting the options they have will only make things worse.

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