Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 24/03) - Most of the community's public buildings are deficient when it comes to accessibility.

That was the finding of some Grade 10 and 11 students at Thomas Simpson school. The 16 members of Dave Wright's Humanities class spent last Wednesday sizing up Fort Simpson's government offices and privately-owned stores. They were looking for things such as wheelchair accessible ramps, user-friendly doors and wide hall ways and aisles.

Travis Cazon, a Grade 10 student, did an assessment of the local bank. He suggested that more carpeting could be used inside the building because the floor is sometimes slippery. He also found the counters too high. As well, the bank is without a wheelchair ramp and has stiff, heavy doors, he noted.

"It would really improve with automatic doors and a wheelchair ramp," said Cazon, who still gave the bank a respectable grade of B+.

Grade 11 student Samantha Konisenta found the post office less hospitable for those with physical disabilities. It lacks a wheelchair ramp and has too many stairs, she said.

"It would be hard for people in wheelchairs or with canes to go inside," Konisenta said. "It seems very crowded, too small of a building."

She gave the post office a D. The village office, was found to be similarly inaccessible.

The Nahendeh Kue building, the health centre and Thomas Simpson school were the highest rated structures, earning marks in the A range. All three buildings are wheelchair accessible.

Overall, the students gave Fort Simpson a grade of C.

Konisenta and Cazon agreed that they will be more aware of accessibility issues now that they've evaluated some of Fort Simpson's public buildings.

Teacher Dave Wright recommended the exercise to his class after they finished a unit on citizenship and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"I just wanted to apply what we've been talking about to the real world and give it a local application," Wright said.