City cancels day camps amid uncertainty

The City of Ottawa is cancelling registrationfor all summer day camps as it scrambles to rethink the program to conformwith public health measures.

The city summer camps were originally scheduled to run from June 29 to Aug.28. The city has not provided new dates, locations or registration details for whatever programming will replace them.

Any camps that do go ahead wouldneed to have strictphysical distancing rules in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and would likely feature smaller groups, additional staff and health screening protocols for campers and staff, the city said.

It all depends on whether the provincial government allows day camps to go ahead this summer, the city said.The Ontario government previously announced the cancellation of all overnight camps across the province, but hasn't said whether day camps can proceed, or under what conditions.

• Day camps in Gatineau to go ahead with fewer kids, more staff
• Overnight camps going online this summer

Parents and guardians who have already registered their children for Ottawa summer camps will have their registration automatically cancelled and will receive a credit on their account. Parents can use the credit to register for a new summer camp or request a refund at ottawa.ca. Those who paid by post-dated cheque will have them returned uncashed.

Dan Chenier, general manager of the city's recreation, cultural and facility services department, said last monththat more than 10,000 children hadregistered for summer camps at thattime. It's unclear what the capacity of the new program will be.

The City of Gatineau said last week that summer day camps will go aheadbut with fewer kids, more staff and no outings or swimming because of COVID-19.