ManitobaWinnipeggers living near the intersection where a writer was fatally hit by a car last week gathered Friday to call for safer streets for pedestrians.Area residents, advocates rally at intersection where writer was fatally hit 1 week earlierArturo Chang · CBC News · Posted: Nov 28, 2025 10:30 PM EST | Last Updated: 4 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Dozens gathered for a vigil Friday night in honour of Rosalie Tennison, who was struck by a car while crossing the street in the intersection of Roslyn Road and Osborne Street last week. Tennison died Saturday. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC)Winnipeggers living near the intersection where a writer was fatally hit by a car last week gathered Friday to call for safer streets.Several dozen people showed up to a candlelight vigil on Roslyn Road and Osborne Street Friday night in honour of Rosalie Tennison and other pedestrians killed by motorists in the city.A car travelling west on Roslyn struck Tennison, 67, as she was crossing the street last Friday afternoon. She died in hospital Saturday.Dolores Tjart said she met the author after moving to Osborne Village three years ago, and they soon became close friends.”She wanted to live in an area where she could walk and go to things where she didn’t have to drive,” Tjart said. “She just wanted to be part of a neighbourhood.”Tennison was an agriculture journalist and the author of Naomi’s Houses, a memoir touching on her roots in rural Manitoba. She’s the ninth pedestrian fatally struck by a vehicle in the city this year. (Rosalie Tennison)Tennison was an agriculture journalist and the author of Naomi’s Houses, a memoir touching on her roots in rural Manitoba. She’s the ninth pedestrian fatally struck by a vehicle in the city this year, according to police.”The driving here, to be honest, is crazy,” Tjart said. “I think we need to be more aware of what’s going on around us when we walk, when we drive, when we bicycle.”The vigil was organized by local advocates and Osborne Village BIZ.In a statement posted on social media Thursday, the BIZ said the city must act immediately to protect people living in the area.”We’ve been pushing for better pedestrian safety for a long while now,” said Alec Dickson, operations co-ordinator for the non-profit. He specifically referenced a proposal for a pedestrian scramble at the nearby intersection of River Avenue and Osborne which was rejected over concerns it would cause delays.”A lot of the sidewalks already are too narrow and the speed limits are just too high,” Dickson said.The City of Winnipeg did not respond to a request for comment before publication.’You can’t have both’Osborne BIZ is calling for slip lanes and high-risk infrastructure to be removed, and for a reduced speed limit in dense urban neighbourhoods.Dickson said local businesses need the area to be walkable to draw in people, and that’s not possible if it’s not safe.”Being the densest neighbourhood in the city, there’s going to be a lot of pedestrians and you want it to be walkable,” he said. “The city seems to think that Osborne is a major traffic thoroughfare.… You can’t have both at the same time.”Steve West, who has lived in the neighbourhood for nearly three decades, said he and his wife have had several close calls.”I think drivers are just getting more distracted,” he said. “This is a commuter corridor from downtown to the suburbs and people seem to want to get out of here as quickly as possible.”West said he hopes the vigil sends the message to drivers to slow down, and for the city to aim for Vision Zero, an initiative adopted in other Canadian cities, where the goal is to move toward zero traffic deaths and serious injuries.A road safety strategic action plan adopted in 2022 aimed for a 20-per-cent reduction traffic deaths and serious injuries by the end of 2027.”If we reduce by 20 per cent, we’re still going to have … 140 people that die,” West said. “That’s 140 Rosalies and her family and her community that are affected.”ABOUT THE AUTHORArturo Chang is a reporter with CBC Manitoba. Before that, he worked for CBC P.E.I. and BNN Bloomberg. You can reach him at arturo.chang@cbc.ca.
Osborne Village residents call for safer streets for pedestrians after writer’s death
