While Victoria residents were casting their ballots to build a new Crystal Pool Feb. 8, a group of about 250 protesters gathered across town at the University of Victoria to advocate for keeping McKinnon Pool open.
UVic announced the pool would close last July to the dismay of many of its devoted patrons. When Wayne Kelly, a longtime swimmer, former Olympian and educator, heard the news, he started a Facebook group to garner support for the pool. That group now has 611 members, while his online petition has 4,612 signatures.
“It's our hope that we can continue to get McKinnon open, maybe temporarily for five to six years, but our group would like to march forward with the plans to see a brand-new pool up there for our community,” said Kelly.
“The response to the protest was great in terms of people coming and showing up. It was fantastic, there were people from all areas.”
The swimming community came out in force with members of many of the different clubs who use the pool represented.
“On a typical week before the pool was closed, they would have about 350 kids pass through the pool doors to do their workouts and swim, which is really contrary to the claim from UVic that the pool is not well used.”
In an update regarding the pool released Feb. 12, UVic cited a lack of financial resources keeping them from reopening the pool.
“Post-secondary institutions across Canada are facing budgetary challenges, and UVic is not immune to these,” read a statement on the Vikes Recreation website. “We must focus limited budget resources on areas of highest priority: research, academics and student support.”
Kelly says that he was told by UVic staff that the building was “bleeding money,” and costing the university up to $300,000 a year to operate.
“You would not say that about the McPherson Library,” said Kelly.
“You can’t be saying that about a pool when you receive $251 million in operating grants and $161 million from student fees. That is your operational budget, and you are supposed to be taking care of buildings with that.”
UVic stated in their most recent update regarding the pool that it would cost approximately $5.1 million (plus GST) to bring the pool up to required health code compliance, extend the life of the facility and further investigate or recommend improvements to the facility.
Kelly says the university should focus on priority items – code and health compliance – which would only cost $979,000.
The pool's supporters have received offers from organizations throughout Greater Victoria to help raise funds to keep it open in the short term.
In a statement to Saanich News, the university stated: “UVic has had community members come forward to say that they would be interested in helping to fundraise for the pool. Now that we have the results of the comprehensive condition evaluation, we look forward to connecting with community partners and government to discuss what may be possible.”
In its Feb. 12 statement, the university explained it would be willing to keep the pool open until regional aquatic facilities opened “if the community comes forward with an investment to cover upgrades and operating costs.” However, Kelly says that as of yet, the university has not contacted him or any other group offering to fundraise.
While there remains some hope for the pool in the short term, it may become the duty of advocates to provide the funds, and Kelly says UVic still has no plans for a long-term replacement, which worries him as Crystal Pool will eventually have to close for construction. Kelly says if both Crystal Pool and the McKinnon Pool closed, it would put a great amount of pressure on other faculties like Commonwealth Pool which are already limited in their availability.
“My feeling is they are just not interested, and they don’t want to be told anything other than what they want to do,” said Kelly.
"We need UVic to take the lead and reach out to me and my group who are interested in moving ahead with plans to refurbish the pool. We need to establish a working group that will make this happen."
