NCC lowered ice thickness standard to push Rideau Canal Skateway open in February

Internal documents show the National Capital Commission struggled to maintain the ice on the Rideau Canal Skateway last winter and took what it called a 'manageable risk' to lower their standards for what qualifies as thick enough ice in order to squeeze a few more skating days into the season.

As another winter approaches, eyes will be on the Rideau Canal with hope that skaters will have a better season on the world's largest skating rink.

The 2023-2024 skating season had just 10 skating days between Jan. 21 and Feb. 25 and was never open for more than four days at a time. It was the second-shortest season on record, behind the 2022-23 season when the Skateway did not open at all.

Internal documents show the National Capital Commission (NCC) struggled to maintain the ice on the Rideau Canal Skateway last winter and took what it called a "manageable risk" to lower their standards for what qualifies as thick enough ice in order to squeeze a few more skating days into the season.

CTV News Ottawa obtained more than 1,000 pages of internal documents, emails, and photographs through an access to information request that detailed the challenges that the NCC had with ensuring the ice was thick enough and safe enough to open the Rideau Canal Skateway in 2024.

Mild weather was largely to blame for the weak ice. Documents show there were several days where the ice was thicker than the recommended thickness, but the quality of the ice was so poor that it was effectively considered to be around 25 per cent thinner.

As the winter wore on, the NCC lowered its usual ice thickness criteria in order to open part of the canal near the end of Winterlude.

On Feb. 16, officials at the NCC proposed a 10 per cent reduction in the required ice thickness as a "manageable risk" to be able to open the canal again to skaters, with measures put in place to keep crowds dispersed and heavy vehicles off the surface.