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This article was published 15/1/2015 (2074 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editorial

The City of Calgary's website says tobogganing is "fun" and "free," but only if you restrict your pursuit of happiness to 18 government-approved sites. The fine is $100 for playing on unauthorized hills in Alberta's largest city.

Cities across North America have been banning one of winter's favourite pastimes because of liability concerns, protecting their own posteriors at the expense of families and children. Only a few cities have absolute bans against sledding on city property, but an increasing number are restricting it to selected sites.

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The bans have sparked protests, demonstrations and even songs and videos from outraged Canadians. These "freedom sliders," as they were dubbed, stormed a hill recently in Orangeville, Ont., to mark their right to have fun.

Mercifully, the City of Winnipeg has no plans to ban or restrict sledding. The attitude of civic officials here is people toboggan at their own risk, regardless if it's down a city-owned riverbank or a wooden slide. It's no different than the city's attitude about summer playgrounds. You take your chances.

The city's website lists 11 official tobogganing sites, but kids and their parents use hundreds of hills small and large in their neighbourhoods to get their winter fun. It's not unusual, for example, to witness children sledding down a berm toward Bishop Grandin Boulevard.

Canadians have grown up on toboggan hills, speeding downhill on wooden sleds or sheets of cardboard.

It can be dangerous, and seven people were killed in Canada between 2003 and 2007, according to Catastrophic Injuries in Sports and Recreation by Dr. Charles Tator, a member of the board of an injury-prevention charity.

Eight years ago, a boy from Gilbert Plains, was killed after hitting his head.

The death of a Toronto boy the same year prompted Ontario politicians to call for the mandatory use of helmets for tobogganers, but the campaign went nowhere.

A turning point in official attitudes occurred in 2004 when a man injured on a toboggan hill successfully sued the City of Hamilton for $900,000, even though the city had a long-standing ban on tobogganing. The victim said he never saw the 'No Tobogganing' signs, which had been removed or damaged by vandals.

It was a landmark case, but also a rare one. Some lawyers have said cities shouldn't worry about liability in normal situations because sledders accept the risk when they hop on their toboggan. (The problem is more acute in the United States, where people are far more litigious and multimillion-dollar judgments for injury are not unusual.)

Cities are responsible for ensuring their official sledding sites don't pose unreasonable hazards, but no level of government can eliminate risk or idiot-proof society.

There are also more dangerous pursuits, such as snowmobiling, downhill skiing, swimming and even skateboarding where people have been injured or killed.

Unfortunately, the move by some cities to ban or restrict a classic Canadian winter activity is more evidence of the rise of the nanny state. Government rules, regulations and restrictions have increasingly intruded on the ability of people to take responsibility for their own welfare and safety.

If the government is concerned about tobogganing safety, it should launch an education program aimed at parents and children. Banning or restricting it goes too far.

"Let us toboggan," sledders shouted during one of many protests in Hamilton.

OK, it's not the Alamo, but the toboggan hill is under attack.

Freedom sliders of the world, unite!