Regina Pats trade scoring leader and captain Tanner Howe
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Tanner Howe was was the third youngest captain in the Regina Pats' history.
There are two sides to every protest — at least that’s what one group of people wanted to get across in Regina on Wednesday.
A group of visually impaired people was outside the proposed location for the Brandt/CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) building in Wascana Park to show support for the building’s construction.
A group that opposes the construction of the Brandt/CNIB building in Wascana Park gathered in Regina on March 11, 2020. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)
Just a few steps away on the same sidewalk, a group of people was protesting against the building.
Bob Huber has had to use a variety of CNIB programs over the past eight years to help him learn to live with his sight loss, including mobility classes and independent living classes.
He said there is disappointment the new building hasn’t gone up yet.
“We think it’s petty politics. There are real people being hurt by this,” Huber said.
The proposed site of the building has drawn a lot of criticism due to its location in Wascana Park. The project requires permission from the Provincial Capital Commission.
Huber said Brandt Industries was the company that stepped up in Regina to help the organization build a new home after its previous one was demolished due to safety reasons.
The CNIB has been renting out a space at the corner of 14th Avenue and Broad Street as it awaits its new building.
“We moved into this space three years ago and it was a temporary move,” said Christall Beaudry, the executive director of the CNIB Foundation Saskatchewan. “We were hoping to be in a new building a couple years ago and now we’re here three years later and we still don’t have a definitive timeline of when our building will be up and running.”
Beaudry said the constant delays have been costly to the foundation and not just in terms of dollars.
“We haven’t cut any programming at this point but it certainly hasn’t allowed us to grow programming in any way. We’re currently paying rent and we’ve done so for a longer period of time than we expected,” Beaudry said.
She said the money currently being used on rent could be used to improve a wide variety of programs.
Meanwhile, the people protesting the construction of the Brandt building said the issue they have isn’t with the CNIB portion of the building.
“CNIB is welcome in the park from the perspective of no business in the park,” said Florence Stratton, who has been a part of a weekly protest against the building for a few years now. “It is Brandt that should not be in the park.
“CNIB is going to have 4,000 square feet out of a 75,000-square-foot building. That’s ridiculous. If Brandt wants a new office building, there’s lots of vacant lots downtown.”
Stratton said if Brandt wants to help out the CNIB, it could rebuild the old building or give the organization space downtown for free.
“CNIB is totally welcome in the park as far as we’re concerned,” Stratton said.
But Huber believes getting the building built soon is the best course of action.
“It’s time that people understand (the delays) are hurting us,” Huber said. “They’ve put a line in the sand and it’s hurting the blind and the disabled and I cannot for the life of me understand why.”