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Parents of students at a Montreal West high school are urging police to bring back a crossing guard to an intersection that’s been the source of concerns after collisions in recent years.
The corner of Ainslie Road and Westminster Avenue is a commonly-used path by students of Royal West Academy.
“It is very frustrating. I feel we have gone a step backwards from where we were last year,” said Joanna Duy, the chair of the Royal West Parent Safety Subcommittee.
In the past two years, three students from the school have been struck by vehicles and injured at the intersection.
Back in April, Montreal police stationed a crossing guard at the roadway. It was in place until the end of the school year.
The guard was temporarily assigned with the expectation the municipality of Montreal West would be making changes, including reducing the number of lanes from four to two, according to the subcommittee. The work was to take place during this past summer, along with road changes at the nearby level train crossing.
That hasn’t happened yet.
When the school year ended, the guard was no longer in place, but the subcommittee went to the Montreal Agglomeration Council to ask for the crossing guard to return this school year.
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A pilot project is underway to narrow the roadway, and remove left-hand turns to make the area safer.
“With these improvements, we really think that this will be some kind of calming measures and that there will be more space for kids to cross safely,” said Montreal West Mayor Jonathan Cha.
Though improvements are on the way, parents and advocates say a crossing guard would still be important to have.
Duy said as the intersection changes, driver frustration could increase and create more concerns.
“We are asking for a school crossing guard for one other year. That would give the city the chance to make the improvements that it wants to make, but also to give the time for the dust to settle a little bit,” said Duy.
“We’re all a little concerned that with bringing the number of lanes down from four to two, that driver frustration is actually going to increase and that might have an effect on this intersection.”
Cha echoed Duy’s call for a crossing guard, saying he’s been speaking with Montreal city officials about the urgent need to improve safety.
“We really hope the city will provide us a crossing guard at least until the end of the school year,” he said.
In a statement to Global News, Montreal police said the crossing guard assigned last year was done so “on an exceptional and temporary basis for the 2025-2026 school year.”
Police said the temporary measure was put in place as an “interim solution” while Montreal West assessed the situation and reconfigured the roadway.
Reconfiguration of the intersection is expected to begin Wednesday with the new layout expected to be completed by the first week of October.
—with files from Global News’ Brayden Jagger Haines
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