Municipal budget cuts aren’t stopping some Peterborough residents from skating on the Trent Canal.
Community members are taking it upon themselves to clear the ice of snow so they can ensure the beloved activity remains an option for skaters and families of the region.
“It’s something that we can share with our neighbours,” says Trevor Hesselink, a Peterborough resident who, alongside his wife and local musician Victoria Yeh, has been clearing the frozen canal near their home just north of Maria Street. “We’re just getting out there so we can skate.”
Though he lived away for two decades before moving back to Peterborough with Yeh three winters ago, skating on the canal is a special activity that connects Hesselink to his hometown.
“As a kid, I learned to skate just under the lift locks by clearing a rink on the canal, so this is coming home,” he says, noting Yeh also learned to skate on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. “Canal skating is very important to our family.”
Peterborough city council has approved a staff recommendation in the city’s draft 2025 budget to save $100,000 by no longer monitoring ice conditions or maintaining an ice rink on the Trent Canal below the Peterborough Lift Lock.
City staff have noted that skating on the canal has been limited for the past few years due to warmer weather, with the canal not open at all for skating last winter due to poor ice conditions.
Hesselink, however, says their decision to create a rink themselves was not influenced by the budget cuts. In fact, they’ve done it for the past couple years whenever the weather has not allowed the city to maintain operations. Given their home backs onto the canal, Hesselink says they feel a sense of “custodianship.”
“Because we both grew up skating on a canal, it’s special for us both historically and nostalgically,” he says. “But also, being outdoors has such a unique appeal and doesn’t smell like hockey gear, unlike an indoor arena.”
He says he and Yeh spend a total of about six hours clearing a few hundred metres located south of the lift lock and north of the first rail bridge, about halfway to Maria Street.
“We have this gem and it’s so picturesque with the locks and the trees and the rail bridges,” Hesselink says. “It just has a great aesthetic, and we can see people enjoying it right from our window.”
Since the duo began clearing the ice when the weather allowed, they have seen many community members making use of the ice and some have even expressed their gratitude in having the snow already cleared away.
Among the many groups they’ve seen using the rink were young kids playing hockey at night and young adults travelling all the way from Markham to enjoy the canal.
“They came down in the early evening from work because they’ve been looking for a nice place to skate,” he says. “We just met them quickly before they got to skating, but they came all this way for it.”
For Hesselink, these connections that are formed are a part of the reason he values outdoor rinks.
“It’s a great way to get people outdoors in the community, and people talk a lot more when they’re outside and around each other,” he says. “It’s just another cool community thing to do.”
Since they began clearing off the snow, Hesselink has noticed other neighbours and residents supporting their efforts. Beside the rink, a neighbour has added a loop for skaters to use.
“At one point, someone else came down with a blower too, so it’s this domino effect which is great to see,” Hesselink says. “It’s coming together and maybe more people with jump in next year.”
While recent warmer temperatures and rain mean the canal may not be suitable for skating until colder weather returns in the new year, Hesselink remains hopeful the rink will stay intact for the winter.
“If the weather cooperates and the conditions are good, we’ll keep doing it,” he says. “And in the meantime, we’ll be out and using it while we can.”
Editor’s note: When the City of Peterborough was monitoring ice conditions on the Trent Canal, a green flag was raised if the ice was safe for skating and a red flag was raised if the ice was unsafe for skating. As the city is no longer monitoring ice conditions until a final decision is made on the city’s draft 2025 budget, the flags will no longer be flying. People skating on the canal do so at their own risk.
