Calls to re-establish Childrens Safety Village [Video]

For over two decades, the Children’s Safety Village was a staple of hands-on education run out of the Fanshawe Conservation Area.

“Absolutely a wonderful opportunity, an amazing opportunity for that hands-on, touch and feel approach that I believe is so critical to any learning, I mean, especially for youth,” said David Hodgins, who was the Fire Chief when the village opened in 2001, and had a road named after him in the village.

Hodgins said he is dismayed at the village’s demise, “I was shocked. And actually, after it sunk in, I was very much outraged to learn that this what happened.”

At one time, thousands of children would come through the village every year. But declining attendance, and eventually the COVID-19 pandemic, led to the Safety Village Board to dissolve.

Operation of the village did not return following the pandemic.

Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) area’s Coordinator Damian …