News release

For immediate release

Stay active while maintaining distance this long weekend

Saanich, BC – The District of Saanich encourages its citizens to stay safe, healthy and active this long weekend while observing provincial health orders and recommendations. It’s recommended to stay home and explore your own neighborhood as much as possible.

“We want families to have fun and enjoy themselves as much as possible during this challenging time,” said Mayor Fred Haynes. “There are many ways to stay active and still follow physical distancing and provincial health orders. I know we all appreciate that our personal behavior over this coming weekend will directly impact how we can flatten the COVID-19 curve and keep our communities and loved ones safe.”

Closures

The gate on Churchill Drive at Mount Douglas Park will be closed over the long weekend from April 10 to 13. This closure will ease vehicle congestion and increase pedestrian safety in anticipation of an increase in park visitors. The gate will reopen April 14 with regular hours of noon to 11 p.m.

All of Saanich’s playgrounds and outdoor recreation facilities remain closed to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The closure includes all outdoor facilities such as lacrosse boxes, tennis courts, basket and sport courts, as well as the Cedar Hill Golf Course(including the golf cart path) and the Lambrick Skate Park. It’s imperative that residents respect the closures and stay off the course and out of the skate park for their own safety.

Explore your neighborhood

Even with these closures, there are plenty of ways to get outdoors and exercise in your community. Saanich’s beaches, more than 170 parks and 100 kilometres of trails remain open for citizens to enjoy. Please remember to keep two metres between you and anyone outside of your household and always respect the natural environment. Especially over the long weekend, Saanich recommends citizens avoid busy areas and explore their own neighbourhood parks and trails. There are many great outdoor spaces you can walk to from your own home.

Enforcement

Saanich has established a COVID-19 enforcement team to coordinate efforts in enforcing the District’s recreation facility closures and assisting with enforcement of the provincial health orders related to gatherings of people larger than 50 and food, beverage and personal service businesses. To report a concern, please call 250-475-5456 (M-F, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), email bylaw@saanich.ca, or fill out the Report a Problem form on Saanich.ca.

Learn more

Saanich recently launched a new webpage that includes a large variety of financial and community resources to assist citizens. You can view all of the resources and information about services disruptions at Saanich.ca/covid-19.

Updates and reminders are also available on Saanich’s corporate social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter).

Saanich’s customer service team at municipal hall is available Monday to Friday (except holidays) 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.at 250-475-1775 or reception@saanich.ca.  

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Media contact:
Information Officer
Emergency Operations Centre
250-475-5581
eoc.info@saanich.ca