The recommended avenue to handle issues of dressing room space among Memorial Sports Centre users was not a well thought-out solution.
That was one of the reasons Councillor Wendy Brunetta came out against a proposed dressing room allocation at the Fort Frances arena when council met July 14.
Staff recommended the Border Figure Skating Club be allocated IFK Dressing Room 3 and the coaches room across the hall which is currently assigned to the Lakers hockey team for five years. The hockey team will be directed toward the current Border Skating dressing room for the same five-year commitment.
The proposed direction also asked that council approve renovations to dressing rooms and storage space that will be funded in the 2026 municipal capital budget. The suggested price tag for that is $175,000, and overages less than 15 per cent through the Modernization Reserve Fund.
Brunetta suggested the town has outgrown the arena. She said there isn’t enough space to accommodate users of the swimming pool and pair of ice surfaces.
She suggested council nix the recommendation and send the issue back to municipal staff who should get all user groups together to find a solution.
Coun. Bill Morrison agreed that a cooperative approach is necessary for the best resolution.
The Border Figure Skating Club and Fort Frances Lakers Junior A hockey club each have dressing room space at the Memorial Sports Centre.
The figure skaters lace skates in the larger dressing room and the Lakers contend that their smaller dressing room is insufficient.
Border Figure Skating’s space is 879 sq. ft. while the Lakers dressing room is slightly more than half that at 474 sq. ft.
In 2024, the Facility Rental Policy was updated to include dedicated use and storage space provisions, introducing formal permits and fee structure. Although the policy framework allows for reassignment of space through permit renewal or vacancy, dressing room allocations were left unchanged pending further direction.
“This situation presents a complex challenge in balancing the needs of two long-standing user groups, both of which bring considerable value to the community,” according to a report to town council.
The Fort Frances Lakers are high-visibility Junior A hockey team with growing attendance, notable community engagement and consistent year-round use of both ice and fitness facilities. The Border Skating Club, by contrast, is a multi-program, youth-focused organization with 70-year legacy, deep generational ties, and a long-established presence within the facility.
In a letter to council, John Gibson, the Fort Frances Minor Hockey Association’s (FFMHA) vice-president, said the group’s teams of about 300 players book more than 44 hours of weekly ice-time from September until March.
The association also rolls out the red carpet to eight to 10 teams during eight weekend-long tourneys throughout the season.
“We rely daily on four larger dressing rooms capable of accommodating up to 20 players each, which are critical for managing multiple games, practices, and development sessions,” Gibson wrote in a letter to council.
“In addition, we regularly utilize a fifth, smaller dressing room in accordance with Hockey Canada’s Dressing Room Policy—providing necessary accommodations for players based on gender identity, religious beliefs, body image concerns, and other individual needs.”
But Gibson said he doesn’t shrug off the needs of the local figure skating clubs or diminish their lobby for increased dressing room space.
He said contributions to the local sports culture by the Lakers are significant. He also gave a nod to the figure skating club’s need for space at the arena. But he doesn’t believe the Borders skaters require the larger space.
“This space is one of the four larger rooms FFMHA depends on to support both on-ice teams and those preparing to take the ice,” Gibson said.
“Reassigning this dressing room would significantly disrupt the logistical framework of our programming.”
Further, Gibson urged council not to pony up $175,000 for renovations at the facility that could benefit a single user group. Instead, the municipality should use that coin on facility-wide dressing room upgrades and a possible dryland training area.
“This would modernize the facility without compromising longstanding partnerships or programming commitments,” he said.
In her own letter, Aimee Matheson, the Fort Frances Girls’ and Women’s Hockey Association (FFGWHA) president, suggested using the $175,000 to upgrade general-use amenities and not group-specific spaces.
“Upgrades to common-use washrooms and showers should be a priority, with modern, inclusive designs that reflect current standards,” she said in a letter to council.
“Features such as urinals and gang showers are outdated and do not reflect the needs of today’s diverse users, particularly youth and female participants.”
In a letter to council, the Border club said it should have first choice on all remaining spaces should the club lose its larger dressing room.
“The dilemma we have here now is competing uses and needs versus limited space, and that’s very difficult to address,” said Deputy Mayor Michael Behan.
Coun. Kaleb Firth broached the possibility council wasn’t thinking on a scale vast enough to adequately address users’ space needs at the arena.
“If there’s something I know about our community is that we rise to a challenge and we work together and find something that works for everyone,” he said.
“My concern with this is I don’t think we’re thinking big enough.”
A “quick” renovation wouldn’t suffice, he said.
Morrison said he’s talked to parents of children who skate who told him there could be upwards of 40 people in a dressing room helping skaters lace up for the ice.
Brunetta said it would be a disservice to council to debate which group needs more arena dressing room space or which contributes more to the community.
“I still believe we should get a member from each of those groups in a room together and talk about what their needs are and where do we go from here?” she said. “If we don’t have the space, then how do we get it?”
In the end, council decided to accept the recommendation to switch the larger spaces to the two main user groups for five-year commitments.
