BARRIE -- The province recently announced that day camps might get the green light this summer, leaving several organizers scrambling.
On Wednesday, the city of Barrie announced the cancellation of all city-run summer day camps and registered programs.
Steve Lee Young, manager of recreational programming for the city of Barrie, says if they were able to run the summer day camps, they wouldn't be what parents had signed up for initially and so refunds are being issued.
"If we are able to offer day camps this summer, we will provide full details of the new programs and parents can decide if they would like to register their child," he explains.
The city has over 3,000 registrations for summer day camps and programs.
Staff expect that if the province does permit the camps to go ahead, health and safety requirements would likely reduce the number of residents wanting to participate. They also imply that the number of kids they could allow would probably be significantly decreased from previous years because of physical distancing.
The city says staff is working to figure out what programs and camps would look like in the event they do go ahead, but say it would take about five weeks to hire staffing, train and prepare, suggesting it would be unlikely.
The city says refunds will be issued automatically to anyone who registered for summer camps or recreational programs.
