EDITOR'S NOTE: The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic March 11 - six months ago. To mark the milestone, we will be publishing a series of stories over the next few days about how COVID-19 has changed our world. Today, we conclude the series by talking to Mayor Brian Saunderson about how the town weathered the storm.
Through six months of a pandemic, Collingwood’s mayor has seen a community come together.
“It really showed me the power of community,” Mayor Brian Saunderson told CollingwoodToday. “What we saw immediately was how our community pulls together and the power of community working together.”
September 11 is the six-month anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
Mayor Saunderson recalls on March 11 and in the few days that followed, several organizations in Collingwood and beyond made quick changes.
The province and Simcoe County declared states of emergency. Collingwood closed its recreation facilities, parks, playgrounds, and town hall. Council started meeting via video conference.
“The town, council, and staff were quick, I think, in understanding the severity of the situation,” said Saunderson.
The town set up an online volunteer portal, and the mayor was moved to see residents offering to shop for people who were quarantined.
“Businesses turned on a dime to support PPE needs,” said Saunderson, noting all of Collingwood’s distilleries started making hand sanitizer. “I think, generally, we saw how caring Collingwood is.”
Saunderson said he was told by the local Salvation Army there was about $50,000 in donations made to their food bank program between April and June 2020; that’s compared to about $4,000 in donations in 2019 for the same three-month period.
When it comes to governance, Saunderson said the pandemic has given him more of a big-picture perspective.
“It’s more of a holistic eco-system,” he said, adding the divisions of municipal versus county versus provincial responsibility have blurred. “I think the boundaries have softened in terms of what various levels of government do.”
For example, the mayor is more motivated than ever to see a community foundation started as a means for residents to support local charities and organizations. He would also like to see a community investment fund program to connect investors with local businesses.
“Maybe where the government wouldn’t go before, we are thinking we should be involved in that now,” he said.
Crowds have become a different kind of issue during COVID-19 all across Ontario, and particularly in popular tourist destinations.
“I think we are a tourist town and we certainly want to be seen as inclusive and welcoming to all our visitors, and I think we’ve done our best … during this COVID crisis to do that,” said Saunderson.
He acknowledged the large crowds at Sunset Point this summer, but noted that’s not a COVID-specific issue.
“Sunset Point Park traffic and parking congestion issues have been increasing annually for the last five or six years,” said Saunderson.
The town did make changes in an attempt to control crowds at its waterfront parks. Early in the summer, staff painted social distancing circles in the grass. Later the town started staffing the parking lots at Sunset Point on weekends, reserving one lot for residents, and setting up notices when the park was at capacity. The town also started charging for parking at Sunset Point.
Most of the measures taken to change parking, noted Saunderson, were already in the town’s parking master plan, but were just accelerated this year.
“I think we are generally in a stronger place than some of our neighbours and even than we had anticipated when we first started talking about the implications of COVID-19,” said Saunderson. “We are a hybrid community … with our grocery stores, our supply chains, our environment – I think we were able to weather [an influx of visitors] better than some of our smaller neighbours.”
As for the next six months, Saunderson is cautiously optimistic.
“We’re still in the middle of this thing, and it’s still a threat. And we need to be mindful of that,” he said. “I am extremely proud of our community. We continue to find our way in this world until we’ve either got herd immunity or a vaccine.”
