

This is a time when Canada must harness its community-driven resilience. We’re asking you to share examples of how Canadian communities are responding to the crisis with creativity and imagination. Collective problem-solving and collaboration will be instrumental in how Canada mitigates the local impacts of COVID-19 and creates on-the-ground solutions.
Highlighted Initiatives
Shop Old Town Toronto: A shop local campaign that splits prize money wins between individuals supporting local businesses & the local business
The St. Lawrence BIA and OLD Town have launched a support local campaign. Save & upload receipts of $25 or more (excluding delivery and tip) from local businesses February 8 – April 5, 2021, for multiple chances to win — $500 is for the shopper and $500 for a local business. In addition there is one grand prize of $2K to be split with local business. Prize money is donated by BMO bank
An online platform to help support local business during COVID-19
Local businesses can register for distantly.ca and community can donate funds to support specific businesses. The platform doesn’t charge a platform fee and funds are sent within 48 hours to local businesses.
Downtown Medicine Hat Development Incentive Program
The Incentive Program offers downtown property owners a series of incentives to assist them to redevelop or initiate new developments in the city center and includes five options for financial assistance. Architectural and Visual Enhancement, Commercial Development, Live-Work Residential Development, and Multi-Family Development.
Victoria COVID-19 Business Resources
This website provides links and information related to small business support. It notes that as a municipality, the City “is not permitted to grant direct assistance to businesses, however, Council has directed staff to examine all of the City’s fiscal, legislative and legal powers to support businesses and jobs to sustain the local economy during the pandemic”.
Victoria-based group of tech and marketing professionals offering free assistance to local small businesses, restaurants, and bars
Platform for connnecting those businesses that need support with organizations offering support.
Tiny Victoria Small Business Relief Fund
Google form to apply for support for small 0% non-recourse loans to Victoria-based small businesses.
Downtown Kamloops webpage collects community & City COVID initiatives that support a vibrant and recovering downtown
The colourful website communicates effectively tools and approaches on how community can help and how businesses can recover |
City of Duncan moves forward with downtown projects during COVID-19 shut down
To minimize disruption to businesses when many might reopen later, construction–including sidewalk widening and watermain replacement– is being fastracked to start now.
Coronavirus crisis leads Victoria to offer free hotel rooms to health workers to self-isolate
The Victorian Government has committed $20 million to pay for hotel rooms for healthcare workers who test positive to coronavirus or need to self-isolate while revealing “some wonderful success” in its COVID-19 strategy.
Burnaby hotel offers rooms for front-line workers during COVID-19
Health-care, pharmacy and grocery store employees and other front-line workers can stay at the Accent Inn if they don’t want to put their families at risk during the pandemic.
Kelowna hotel provides 940 rooms to 118 healthcare workers thanks to community donations
Accent Inns announced that it would discount its rooms to $59 per night for those healthcare employees and the community stepped forward to cover the rest. Donations were made through the United Way Hotels for Frontline Workers Fund and so far $62,000 has been raised. That’s covered a total of 940 nights in Accent Inns hotels for 118 essential frontline workers in Kelowna, Kamloops, Victoria, Burnaby and Richmond
Niagara Falls hotels offering rooms to health-care workers to self-isolate
Several Niagara hotels — business has been decimated due to the coronavirus — are offering rooms to health-care workers who want to isolate themselves as the battle to curb the global pandemic continues. “Health-care workers who may, through their job, be exposed to COVID-19, don’t want to go back to their families and risk infection,” said Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, who has reached out to the hotel industry.
Calgary opens hotel rooms for homeless people with COVID-19 to self-isolate
Homeless people who have tested positive for COVID-19 or are suspected of being positive will be able to go into isolation at a local Calgary hotel. The hotel is not being identified for privacy reasons and no longer accepts paying customers.
Older businesses in Toronto’s Kensington Market are going online
Kensington Market Business Improvement Area (KMBIA) says small businesses in Kensington are finding new ways to move their business online.
Local hotel providing free rooms to frontline healthcare workers during COVID-19
Comfort Inn and Suites in North Battleford will offer frontline healthcare workers free rooms to stay in for the next few weeks in order to help them protect their families.
Supporting Toronto’s Queen Street West local businesses through purchase of “goody bags”
Locals for Local TO is an initiatives to support Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood. People can buy “goody bags” for between $80 to $100 (plus delivery). Goody bags include items from local shops like fresh veggies, cookies, coffee and more, and are available for delivery or pick up. A portion of proceeds will go to food banks.
CBC launches Creative Relief Fund to provide support to Canadian creators
The new Fund will provide $2 million in development and production funding for a diverse range of innovative, original Canadian storytelling, including scripted comedies and dramas, unscripted entertainment, kids and young adult programming, podcasts, play adaptations and short documentaries.
Montreal closing streets to cars, but increasing policing to enforce physical distancing
Montrealers need access to green space, but are encouraged to go to parks in their own neighbourhoods, not travelling across the city to visit other parks. Parking lots in Mount Royal Park were closed this week to limit traffic, and Île Notre-Dame has also been closed altogether. These types of measures will continue, and even more will be put in place in other, popular destinations like the Lachine Canal, which has been extremely crowded.
Manitoba First Nation enforcing community-wide curfew
Beginning April 6 and ending on April 20, there will be a curfew in Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. It’s possible this curfew will be extended depending on whether COVID-19 cases in Manitoba and throughout the north continue to rise.
Sheridan Colleges create COVID-19 Emergency Financial Aid Bursary
Sheridan students can now apply to a newly-launched COVID-19 Emergency Financial Aid Bursary, launched with $1 million provided by private donor support and funding from the Ontario provincial government. Canadian and international students can apply for up to $1,500 to help with immediate needs. The fund may also be used to offset expenses related to traveling home.
Interactive map and list of Vancouver businesses that are still open during the COVID-19 pandemic, with information on how these businesses are operating and how the public can support them
Information includes location, hours, physical distancing measures, and services provided. The list is based off of the City of Vancouver’s local area boundaries and are updating it with businesses that are open in each area.
How the Toronto Public Library is transforming branches into food banks
Libraries as community hubs and librarians as public servants… Almost right away, the library decided to redirect resources to help with this critical need. There are 100 library buildings in neighbourhoods all across the city.
1500 repas seront distribués quotidiennement aux itinérants à Montréal
Des organismes-membres de la Cantine pour tous (CPT) distribueront chaque jour quelque 1500 repas pour les itinérants dans les refuges d’urgence mis en place la semaine dernière par la Ville de Montréal, alors que les besoins en sécurité alimentaire se font «de plus en plus criants» dans la foulée de la pandémie de COVID-19.
ShelterSafe.ca is an online resource to help women and their children seeking safety from violence and abuse
Sheltersafe.ca allows you to quickly identify a shelter in a specific geographic area along with its 24 hour emergency phone number. The clickable map serves as a fast resource to connect women with the nearest shelter that can offer safety, hope and support.
Online collaborative tool helps communities and city planners to improve public spaces
In the era of COVID-19, this tool allows one to play with how streets are designed to allow for social distancing. Can be a way to experiment online with low cost initiatives.
Toronto Housing for Healthcare Workers
A volunteer project designed to connect property owners with healthcare workers looking for short-term housing during the Covid-19 outbreak in Toronto. Specifically, the project is looking for property owners that have available furnished suites that can be provided to healthcare workers on a daily basis.
Hospitality union offers help as hotels considered as makeshift hospitals
As governments look to use hotels as makeshift hospitals for some COVID-19 patients, the union representing Canada’s hospitality workers says their members want to help. The union estimates up to 250,000 hotel workers will lose their jobs and 90 per cent of Canada’s hotels will close down amid the COVID-19 crisis. It also says the hospitality industry will be one of the last sectors to recover.
Halifax not laying off City staff amid pandemic
Halifax Deputy Mayor says many employees are working from home during COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean work isn’t getting done. She notes that with the pandemic, Halifax has employees that are doing double duty, working twice as hard as they would if they were sitting at their desks
Windsor inside workers agree to redeployment, layoffs for idled city hall staff
Hundreds of idled city hall staff are expected to be redeployed for needed community projects in the coming days, after CUPE Local 543 leadership off
Construction of supportive housing development that will provide critical supports to vulnerable people will continue (even on Sundays) during COVID-19
The City of New Westminster provided the land for the project, which is being funded by the province through its Rapid Response to Homelessness Program and will house women who have or are at risk of experiencing homelessness. Construction will take place 7 days a week because of a critical shortage of construction workers due to COVID-19
Providing meals to Toronto healthcare workers & supporting the restaurant industry during the coronavirus pandemic
People can purchase a meal to fuel the extraordinary efforts of our city’s healthcare workers and support our local restaurants and their employees with a single donation
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