'It was an absolute nightmare': Woman recounts accessibility issues at Mosaic Stadium
Emily Rae Pasiuk | CBC News | Posted: June 28, 2018 5:30 PM | Last Updated: June 28, 2018
Alicia Baniulis said she doesn't feel welcome at the stadium after the trouble she had
Alicia Baniulis says she did everything she could to prepare for the night of the Eagles concert at Mosaic Stadium.
Her dad has a breathing issue which can make accessibility a problem, especially in a large venue. She called ahead to get information on accessible entrances, purchased a special parking pass and looked around the venue the night before to plan a best walking route.
But all the preparation was for naught, she said.
What it really showed my family is that if you have an accessibility challenge, then you're really not welcome. - Alicia Baniulis
Baniulis was motivated to tell her story after an announcement from the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission called the stadium "a monument to accessibility in Canada."
"When we got there, the parking lot was a complete nightmare, there was no cordoned-off roads, there was not really any staff," she said.
"We luckily ran into this really nice staff member who made us a parking spot where there really wasn't supposed to be one."
That was only the beginning. Baniulis said that when they approached the nearest entrance, they were turned away because it was a VIP entrance and had to walk all the way to the other side of the stadium.
Baniulis said that once they made it into the stadium there was a lack of staff to help direct them to their seats or show them the quickest way. She said that by the time they made it to their seats, her dad was so exhausted he didn't want to have a drink of water because he didn't want to have to get up and walk to the bathroom.
By the end of the concert, Baniulis' father was completely exhausted. Baniulis and a friend ran out to where she had parked and hoped to pick her dad, who stayed behind with her mother, up right near the door.
"Well just as we had gotten to the car, they brought out a big, long fence and they blocked off all of the access to the stadium from the big Evraz parking doors all the way across to the park so we couldn't get any closer," she said.
They waited in the car for her dad to arrive, unsure if he would be able to walk that far. Eventually her mom and dad showed up, after about 45 minutes.
"It was an absolute nightmare," she said.
"What it really showed my family is that if you have an accessibility challenge, then you're really not welcome."
A representative for Evraz Place said "the experience Alicia and her family members had at the concert was not acceptable." The representative added that there were some communication challenges among personnel that night and that they will be working to resolve this issue for future events.
The representative said parts of Mosaic Stadium were blocked after the concert because of safety concerns about the fireworks that night, and the team has already made changes to how fireworks will be handled in the future to protect guest safety without creating congestion. The representative also said they have now reached out to Baniulis to apologize for her family's negative experience.