At FortWhyte Alive, we believe in inclusion, value diversity, and recognize the importance of improving access and removing barriers for visitors, the public, and employees. If you have an accessibility request and/or feedback, please email us at [email protected].

Our Accessibility for Manitobans Act policy is available upon request and at no cost to you.

We do our best to make our trails accessible but due to the nature of our site, they can be uneven, rough, or may have naturally occurring obstructions like tree roots, rocks, snow, and ice. The terrain of our trails includes paved paths between the Alloway Reception Centre and Richardson Interpretive Centre, woodchips, and packed limestone. Because of the environment of our trails and their proximity to our lakes, some sloping may occur as well as small potholes and uneven ground.

The path to the dock behind the Alloway Reception Centre is sloped and made of paving stones. The path behind the Richardson Interpretive Centre is sloped and made of packed limestone.

During the snowy months, our main trails are plowed as soon as possible after each snowfall and the path between our main buildings is sanded.

Seating is available around the site, both indoors and outdoors. Wooden benches are located around the site and around our buildings.

There is seating available outdoors at the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre, the Richardson Interpretive Centre, and the Alloway Reception Centre.

The Alloway Reception Centre, the Richardson Interpretive Centre, and the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre are accessible for people using wheeled devices and have automatic door buttons. The interpretive centre has an interior ramp to the dioramas. The Co-Op Community Theatre has two entries, including one with an accessible push button and ramp. The Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre has two floors and an elevator to the second floor of the building.

During the snowy months, building entrances are cleared of snow as soon as possible after each snowfall and icy spots are sanded.

Washrooms in the Alloway Reception Centre, Richardson Interpretive Centre, and the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre have accessible stalls with panic and automatic door buttons.

The accessible washrooms in the Richardson Interpretive Centre and the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre have an adult changing table.

The Richardson Interpretive Centre and the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre have gender-inclusive washrooms.

Many exhibits in the Richardson Interpretive Centre have QR code signage that can be scanned to hear English or French audio readings of the exhibit text. The text is also displayed on your screen as a video clip while the words are being read. Signage in the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre has braille.

In the Richardson Interpretive Centres touch museum, each animal’s nameplate includes a number in braille. This number corresponds with the animal’s English name listed on a braille guide available at the Information Desk, located at the touch museum.

Wheelchairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis at no cost to use for the duration of your visit. Availability can be confirmed by calling ahead.

There are a number of accessible parking spaces designated in front of the Alloway Reception Centre and along the side of the bus loop in front of the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre.

In addition to active transport, FortWhyte Alive is accessible by Winnipeg Transit and can be accessed by vehicle, taxi, municipal handi-transit service, or ride-share service. Bicycles are welcome when you are passing through our buildings.

FortWhyte’s bus stop is outside the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre at the South end of our property. The bus stop number is #62044 (Northbound FortWhyte at FortWhyte) please check with Winnipeg Transit stop details when planning your visit, as schedule times vary.

Entrances are available at 1961 McCreary Rd. and 2505 McGillivray Blvd. Depending on what you are here to visit or if you are here for a program, one entrance may be closer to your destination.

The distance between the Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre and the Richardson Interpretive Centre is 750m. For most of our staff, the walk between buildings takes approximately 15-20 minutes during normal trail conditions.

Some visitors may require assistance and may be accompanied by a support person. Admission is free for the support person.

FortWhyte Alive welcomes service animals that are trained to help with a disability-related need.

While on-site, the wildlife you are most likely to encounter includes geese, deer, woodchucks, squirrels, and various birds. FortWhyte Alive is also home to an operating farm which is home to chickens, pigs, cats, and rabbits.

We are committed to making our site accessible to the largest audience that we can.

To do this, we use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. These guidelines explain in great detail how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities, and more user-friendly for everyone. The WCAG 2.2 guidelines have three levels of accessibility (Level A, Level AA and Level AAA) and this website aims to achieve Level AA.

We have worked hard to achieve our accessibility goals and we will do our best to continue to produce accessible content in the future.

If you encounter any problems in using this website, including having trouble accessing written, video, visual or audio content, or would prefer to be provided content in an alternate format, please let us know. We want to hear from you and value your feedback.