Regina Mayor Michael Fougere accepting the certification honour from Rick Hansen on August 24, 2019. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

By Brady Lang/CKOM News Staff

Mosaic Stadium ‘Certified Gold’ for accessibility prior to matchup with Ottawa

Aug 26, 2019 | 10:17 AM

Mosaic Stadium was awarded with the highest certification for accessibility in Saskatchewan Saturday.

The ‘Accessibility Certified Gold’ rating under the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification program made Mosaic the first stadium to receive the honour, and first in the province.

Some of the accessibility features that led to the rating included transport, signage and way finding, assistive listening devices and stadium access.

Rick Hansen, who led the ‘Man In Motion World Tour’ from 1985 to 1987 totaling 40,00 km through 34 countries to raise awareness about accessibility, spoke at a press conference prior to the Saskatchewan Roughriders game against Ottawa Saturday.

Hansen said the way that the stadium blends so many different facets into being universally standard is exciting to see.

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“The consistent and integrated design of visual, hearing and mobility as a universal standard is very unique.”

Although the certification process seems black and white, with innovative technologies, Hansen said there are always ways to get better, and create a different experience for people of all abilities, so their certification is consistently changing as well.

“We don’t want to create a fixed, endpoint game that becomes tomorrow’s handicap. The standards that were envisioned in the 70’s were all about just getting in a building. In today’s world it’s about being included and participating in a building.”

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said when they originally began creating a plan for the building, they wanted to make sure they could get as many people into it as they could, regardless of ability.

“You wanted to make this truly an iconic building .. we want everybody to be at the stadium. If we’re going to do that, we’re going to make sure that people with varying degrees of disability can get into the stadium, and have a great experience.”

The city of Regina invited the accessible advisory committee to consult in the construction phases.

They continued to make adjustments after the opening night at Mosaic to ensure fans received the best possible experience the city could provide.

Overall, the stadium was awarded a score of 82 out of a possible 100 points in the certification process.