City adds new COVID-19 preventative measures to enhance safety of City facilities

Email icon Back to Search
Harmony Square ice rink

Brantford ON - With the number of COVID-19 cases rising provincially during a secondary surge of the virus, the City’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) announced additional measures to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our region. Please note the following  enhanced measures now in place at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre and Brantford Civic Centre:

  • To keep the numbers of visitors to City facilities as limited as possible at this time, only individual players or coaches (as opposed to an entire team) that live in a region designated as Red-Control or Grey-Lockdown that were previously registered with a Brantford Sports Association will be permitted to play at the WGSC or Civic Centre in Brantford. Learn more about what control area you reside in.

  • Effective Monday, December 7, 2020, pre-registration is required to use the indoor track. Registration will open each Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. for the following week (Monday to Sunday) at brantford.ca/RecConnect or by calling 519-756-9900.

  • Effective Monday, December 14, 2020, back-to-back bookings of activities  including pool, weight room, fitness classes and indoor track will not be accepted (i.e. patrons cannot book use of the pool followed immediately by use of the weight room).

Gretzky Centre passholders and fitness participants

Passholders and fitness participants at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre (WGSC) will continue to have their passes remain on-hold unless otherwise requested. Anyone with their pass on hold will be notified prior to their passes being reinstated. We recommend purchasing a 10-Visit Facility Punch-card for those not wishing to use their passes to attend an activity as they do not expire.

With the new 10-person indoor gathering limitation in place, we are urge all fitness participants at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre to attend your pre-booked time slot. If you must cancel please call WGSC at 519-756-9900 or email us at least 24 hours in advance of your pre-booked appointment.

We greatly appreciate the public’s cooperation in helping ensure the safety of City facility users and staff.

Harmony Square Ice Rink

To provide an opportunity for safe outdoor recreation, we are pleased to announce that the Harmony Square ice rink in Downtown Brantford will open to the public on Friday, December 11, 2020 (weather permitting) with enhanced safety protocols in place as follows:

  • City staff will be on-site to collect contact tracing information from skaters and to ensure physical distancing is being observed while on the ice. Skaters are also asked to keep a distance of 6 feet from each other while waiting to skate.
  • The hours of operation are 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily, weather permitting.
  • At this time, 35 skaters will be allowed on the ice at one time, if the community moves to Red-Control in the Keeping Ontario Open and Safe Framework, the rink will have a maximum skating capacity of 25 skaters at any given time.

Access to City Trails

The City is also pleased to announce that enhanced clearing of snow on paved trail paths, from Lorne Bridge to Waterworks Park to Wilkes Dam, will take place over the winter months so that residents can continue to safely enjoy the trail system.

Neighbourhood Rinks

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the City’s decisions have been guided by the priority to protect the public’s health and safety, while balancing the need to continue to provide essential services and safe access to City assets that promote health and wellbeing. At this time, the City will not be opening neighbourhood rinks as it is not safe to do so. If the number of COVID-19 cases go down in the community and Public Health moves Brantford to a lower level of the Keeping Ontario Open and Safe Framework, staff will review reopening the rinks at that time.

Brantford Lights at Glenhyrst

Residents can enjoy the annual Brantford Lights at Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant from the comfort of their warm car as the event will be offered in a drive-thru format only. The Brantford Lights at Glenhyrst take place December 4, 2020 to January 1, 2021 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. nightly. While the event is free, donations to the Brantford Food Bank are greatly appreciated.

Let’s take care of each other

As the effects of the secondary surge of the pandemic continue to evolve, the City’s Emergency Operations Committee (EOC) is following the city’s COVID-19 case counts very closely and working with Public Health officials to ensure that any required protocols are in place.

The City of Brantford stresses that all residents and businesses play a very significant role in keeping our community safe and preventing Brantford from moving into the Red-Control level where additional restrictions would have to be implemented. Please continue to follow these important COVID-19 guidelines:

  • Stay home when you can and avoid close contact with others outside of your household
  • Wear a face covering
  • Wash your hands frequently
  • Stay home if you are sick, even with mild symptoms
  • Download the COVID alert app

Additional updates regarding City programs and services, and the continuity of services are shared regularly on the City’s Facebook and Twitter pages and at brantford.ca/coronavirus.