Parents of Royal West Academy students are urging Montreal police to reinstate a crossing guard at an intersection that’s seen multiple students get injured in the past two years.
After more than a year of advocacy, a crossing guard began directing traffic in early April at the intersection of Westminster Avenue South and Ainslie Road.
But the SPVM has maintained the measure would end at the end of this current school year, and parents say the police force recently repeated that once again. CityNews has reached out to the SPVM for confirmation.
The parents and the school desperately want the crossing guard back in the fall.
“The Royal West community is frustrated that the crossing guard will not be renewed for the next school year, especially given that new survey results suggest that it is making a substantial difference in students’ perceptions of safety,” according to the Royal West Academy Governing Board and the Parent Participation Organization Safety Subcommittee.
The survey being referenced – drafted by the parent subcommittee and sent to all Royal West Academy parents on May 25 – was filled out by 224 respondents. It found students felt much safer with the crossing guard at the intersection.
The corner of Westminster and Ainslie became a major concern for parents in November 2024 when 14-year-old Royal West Academy student Charlie Shein was hit by a vehicle on his way to class.
The push for safety grew in February of this year when two more students were struck.
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Early in that movement, parents were told the school did not qualify for a crossing guard under provincial guidelines, which classify children 12 and older as “adult pedestrians.”
That interpretation became a turning point.
With support from Notre-Dame-de-Grâce MNA Désirée McGraw, parents brought a petition to Quebec’s National Assembly. The province later clarified that the rules are guidelines – not strict limitations.
