Ontario Sailing's COVID-19 Response
Premier Ford's May 14th Announcement
Today the Government of Ontario announced another positive step towards enabling sailors in Ontario to have a summer that can take place on the water. Ontario Sailing has been working hard to stay on top of each government announcement and how they may impact all of our member organizations. We have been working with the leaders of each member organization as information comes out and this situation evolves.
While Premier Ford did discuss opening boat clubs in his daily press conference this afternoon, it will take at least several hours for more detailed information to be available and could take a few days to get the actual wording of the legislation and what that may mean to you. We are still awaiting more guidance from the government and public health on what may be permitted. Even with that information, as many of you have encountered, each local municipality may interpret the announcement differently and therefore implement differently.
None of the government announcements have been black and white; this cannot be taken as a green light to jump on the water tomorrow. It is a great step towards that however and a step to celebrate! It is a sign that we can keep the forward momentum towards more on-the-water activity and continue to prepare systems so that we can enjoy the prime summer months on the water.
Ontario Sailing will work as efficiently as possible to help provide clarity to the grey areas and share information with our member organizations. Each Board of Directors will then need to evaluate their risks and the systems and protocols required as well as consider individual specific factors such as insurance and municipal interpretations. There is a plethora of changes required at each of your organizations to meet the required guidelines and they will take time to implement before your Board of Directors can commit to proceeding with any reopening activities. It is essential that the clubs have completely put the systems in place to protect the health and safety of all participants before opening.
The choices each and every one of us makes in the days ahead will absolutely define what the 2020 sailing season looks like for the entire Ontario sailing community. We encourage you to heed that thought as you move forward. We need to set the tone for compliance and ensure our organizations are able to meet, and exceed when possible, the guidelines as we open to be able to continue to see more and more opportunities for sailing this summer.
Stay Safe, Stay Patient and Stay Tuned!
Sincerely,
Glenn Lethbridge
Executive Director, Ontario Sailing
execdir@ontariosailing.ca
COVID-19 UPDATES
Updates regarding COVID-19 can be found on the front page of our website at https://ontariosailing.ca/feature/the-2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-information/.
We update this page on a regular basis so be sure to check back often.
Although the Ontario Sailing office is closed as staff participate in social distancing, staff can be reached directly by email. A list of staff email addresses can be found at https://ontariosailing.ca/about/ontario-sailing-staff/ along with staff responsibilities.
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