The City of Ottawa has decided that Mooney’s Bay Park is not safe for sledding and will install a “sturdy temporary seasonal fence” to deter people from sledding there this winter.
An 11-year-old girl died sledding down a hill in this park last December. Nearly eleven months later, the city completed a comprehensive review of the hill and issued 10 recommendations that it hopes will prevent similar tragedies.
On the afternoon of December 27, 2021, José Abi Assal joined some family members to go sledding for the first time. They had just arrived in Canada from Lebanon that summer and she was excited to play in the snow.
Emergency crews were called to the hill at Mooney Bay, along the Rideau River, after her sled crashed into a pole. The girl was rushed to CHEO, Regional Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The family told the CBC that Abby Asal was sledding with her brother and cousin when halfway through she spun 180 degrees and careened into a group of metal sign posts.
Jose’s mother, Marie-Lou El-Cada, said her daughter’s spine was severed when struck by one of the posts.
The hill was originally approved as an official city sledding site in 2007, but over time accidents and injuries led to a series of site inspections. In 2017, the hill was officially closed to sledding.
A review in 2021 — before her death — found no ways to improve safety
In the summer of 2021, just months before Abby Assal’s death, urban risk specialists and recreation staff reviewed the hazards on the hill.
Dan Chenier, the city’s general manager of recreation, cultural and facilities, wrote in a memo to the city council Wednesday that the city has tried to mitigate the risks and make it relatively safe for sledding.
“Staff concluded that there were no additional mitigation measures that could be implemented to significantly improve safety, and the decision was made to continue to keep the hill closed to sledding,” he wrote.
The memo was only shared publicly on Friday.
Josée Abi Assal, 11, died after hitting a sign while riding a toboggan on Dec. 27, 2021, at Mooney’s Bay in Ottawa. According to her family, this is the first time the young girl has sledded since they arrived in Canada from Lebanon six months ago. (Submitted by Nicolas El-Kada)
After the child’s death, the city put up barricades, signs and tree pads, while increasing its online and on-site safety messages. The city says law enforcement officers were stationed on the hill to discourage people from sledding.
The city launched a review of the hill by an outside consultant. In January 2022, he concluded that due to the steepness and size of the hill, as well as a number of hazards found at the bottom, no part of the hill “offers an acceptable level of risk for sledding”.
The regional coroner conducted his own review and made five recommendations.
A sign has already been posted at Mooney’s Bay warning people that sledding is prohibited. (Celeste Decaire/CBC)
Subsequently, a comprehensive review was conducted by the city, which ended with 10 recommendations being made.
All recommendations have been or will be implemented for the winter sledding season, with the exception of an amendment to the city’s parks and facilities bylaw, which must be considered by council.
The 10 recommendations are:
- Issue a “no sledding” warning during periods of inclement weather.
- Amend the Parks and Facilities Ordinance to allow sledding only in designated areas of municipal parks.
- Development of standardized protective equipment, products and materials to increase safety.
- Undertake an annual review and update of the sledding hill information on GeoOttawa and the City website.
- Apply comprehensive protective measures on unapproved hills where sledding is known to occur.
- Conduct annual inspections for all approved hills.
- Create a descriptor system for sledding hills on the city’s website that indicates hill quality and provides observations of conditions and hazards to be updated after annual inspections.
- Install a strong temporary seasonal fence on Mooney’s Bay Hill to discourage sledding.
- Partner with Ottawa Public Health to create an annual safe sledding marketing campaign.
- Post helmet use signs at all approved sledding locations.
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