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

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Initiatives

COVID-19 IMPACT SURVEY

Arts and Culture

The Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance (GVPTA) is collecting data in order to better understand the impact COVID-19 has had on arts and culture organizations across the province. Aggregate data will be shared with funders, and arts service organizations for regional, provincial, and national reporting.

COVID Disability-Related Resources for Families

General: Sector resources | Public health

Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) will be sharing disability-related resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic on this page, pulled together in one spot for families. New resources will be added as they are developed.

Vancouver Emergency Food Services & Community Supports Map. Updated Daily During COVID-19 Pandemic.

Food | Frontline services | General: Crowdsourced tools and resources | General: Online communities and networks | General: Sector resources | Housing and homelessness | Parks and public space | Public health

A google doc put together by Limage Media Group that maps emergency food services, supervised consumption sites, handwashing stations, parks and facilities and Downtown East Side facilities

Sprawl Calgary is asking kids to share their own stories of what they’re experiencing right now during COVID-19

Arts and Culture | Children | Learning and education

Sprawl Kids is posting specific assignments each week in the form of questions. And kids are the journalists! Here’s Sprawl Kids assignment #2: What is something on your street that makes you feel happy right now? Draw a picture of it. You can see more on Twitter using hashtag #sprawlkidsyyc.

Co-working space is holding online versions of their Learning Series and looking for ways to connect virtually.

General: Online communities and networks | Local businesses

Roundhouse, an Edmonton-based social enterprise and co-working space is offering “virtual coworking” during COVID-19. As a community hub for entrepreneurs and changemakers, they are rolling out a new suite of online programming “Roundhouse From Home”. They will be offering online versions of our Roundhouse Learning Series, Waffle Wednesday and even daily coworking chats. Check out the full schedule for more information.

Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University holds a webinar on inclusive online engagement through an equity lens.

General: Tools for engagement | Learning and education

Creating safe and equitable spaces needs to happen online, just as much as it happens in-person (if not more so). How can we take an equity lens to our online convening? Cicely Belle Blain and Alia Ali, to discuss equity, safety and inclusion in online engagement. This webinar will explore the experience of minority communities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and explore innovations and tips from different communities to create meaningful and respectful online engagement spaces. This interactive session will allow our guests and participants to share their good practices for building equity in online engagement. SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue

Links to some of the amazing online communities and resources to offer support and inspire connection during COVID19.

General: Online communities and networks | General: Sector resources | General: Tools for engagement | Learning and education

This fulsome list is a living document collected by Vancouver’s SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University

Participedia is a global community sharing knowledge and stories about public participation and democratic innovations

General: Crowdsourced tools and resources | General: Online communities and networks | General: Sector resources | General: Tools for engagement | Learning and education

Currently entries are focused on COVID19 responses

Digital inclusion in times of crisis — UK mobile operators give free access to National Health Service websites during COVID19

General: Tools for engagement | Policy leadership | Public health

Digital exclusion goes hand in hand with social, economic and political exclusion. It is also complex: people need the appropriate device, connection, skills, confidence, and motivation as well as the ability to maintain those through changing circumstances.

La société de soins virtuels Maple fournira des dépistages en ligne du COVID-19 (coronavirus) avec un médecin en direct aux résidents de l’Ontario.

Frontline services | General: Online communities and networks | Policy leadership | Public health

Le programme de dépistage COVID-19 en ligne de l’entreprise sera couvert par le Régime d’assurance-santé de l’Ontario (PISO). Le dépistage permettra aux ontariennes titulaires d’une carte de l’Assurance-santé valide de parler à un médecin par le biais d’un chat audio ou vidéo au sujet de leurs symptômes et de recevoir des conseils sur la question de savoir s’ils ont besoin de tests ou de soins d’urgence. Le service vise à alléger la pression sur les salles d’urgence surchargées et à permettre aux patients de recevoir un dépistage en toute sécurité. Maple offre également son logiciel de clinique virtuelle à tous les médecins de l’Ontario et de la Colombie-Britannique (Colombie-Britannique) gratuitement au milieu de l’éclosion.

Virtual care company Maple will provide online COVID-19 (coronavirus) screenings with a live physician to Ontario residents.

Frontline services | General: Online communities and networks | Policy leadership | Public health

The company’s online COVID-19 screening program will be covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). The screening will allow people in Ontario with a valid OHIP card to talk to a physician through audio or video chat about their symptoms and receive advice on whether they need testing or emergency care. The service is aimed to relieve the pressure on overloaded emergency rooms and allow patients to receive screening safely. Maple is also currently offering its virtual clinic software to all Ontario and British Columbia (BC) physicians free of charge amid the outbreak.

Gender and COVID-19 Working Group has developed a google doc of COVID-19 and Gender Resources and Articles

General: Crowdsourced tools and resources | General: Sector resources

Compiled by Rosemary Morgan, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Alberta Innovation Corridor creates questionnaire to source input from startup and scaleup companies

Local businesses

Survey results will inform decision makers on how to support the innovation ecosystem.

University of Calgary biomedical engineers and scientists join international effort to design modern-day iron lung

Learning and education | Public health

Multidisciplinary team works toward creating an emergency pandemic ventilator.

University of Calgary researchers inform City’s COVID-19 pandemic response

Learning and education | Public health

Data scientists are tracking the spread of COVID-19 in Alberta and advising on best interventions to flatten the curve.

Startup Calgary: COVID-19 Guidance & Resources

General: Sector resources | Local businesses

Startup Calgary has created a resource for the start-up community to navigate the impacts of COVID-19.

Toronto, Vancouver look into closing roads to traffic to create space for social distancing

Mobility and transportation | Parks and public space | Public health

Two of Canada’s most densely populated cities are looking at barring auto traffic from parts of their streets so pedestrians can spread out and maintain the proper distance from each other. Toronto and Vancouver are following the lead of other jurisdictions as officials grapple with how to allow for safe movement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how to facilitate outdoor respite for people confined to small urban dwellings.

Lancement d’un effort coordonné pour prévenir la propagation du COVID-19 dans le Downtown Eastside de Vancouver

Frontline services | Housing and homelessness | Public health

La réponse DTES vise à activer les réseaux communautaires afin de créer un plan d’arrêt pour les besoins urgents des plus vulnérables. À l’heure actuelle, le groupe mobilise des ressources et coordonne les opérations.

Coordinated effort launched to prevent spread of COVID-19 in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

Frontline services | Housing and homelessness | Public health

The DTES Response aims to activate community networks to create a stop-gap plan for the urgent needs of the most vulnerable. Right now, the group is mobilizing resources and coordinating operations.

Coalition of small business owners calling on the Canadian government to consider a series of recommendations

Employment | Local businesses | Policy leadership

SaveSmallBusiness.ca is a grassroots coalition of small businesses across Canada united in their opposition to a debt-forward solution to the COVID-19 economic crisis. Suggestions include bailout plans, wage subsidies, grants, and other non-debt solutions.

Small Business BC (SBBC) provides COVID-19 resources for small business

General: Sector resources | Local businesses

Resources include digital meetups, business continuity checklists, resources to create a crisis plan and help navigating provincial and federal support

The Irish-Canadian community of Chateauguay took part in a scavenger hunt to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

Children | General: Online communities and networks

Residents living on 41 streets in this Montreal suburb decorated their homes and yards with shamrocks. Armed with a map — virtual or on paper — participants drove around town, looking for shamrocks.

Local restaurants in Edmonton have started “#EatWithMeYEG”, a virtual lunch that supports local businesses and helps community connections during social distancing

Food | General: Online communities and networks | Local businesses

The Facebook site provides information where you can order a meal and join a call to talk about what’s happening in the downtown and how local residents can support small business. The first #EatWithMeYEG was the YEG Chinatown Take-Out Edition to support businesses and restaurants affected by racism and xenophobia resulting from COVID-19.

Chasse au trésor amicale de distanciation sociale à Regina

Stay’n’Play Parenting à Regina a lancé une « chasse au cœur à grande échelle de la ville », avec des cœurs faits maison affichés dans les fenêtres à travers la ville. Il a été conçu comme un moyen pour les familles de se déplacer à l’extérieur tout en restant distanciation sociale. Site Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StaynPlayParenting/

Social distancing-friendly scavenger hunt in Regina

Arts and Culture | Children | General: Online communities and networks | Local businesses | Social isolation

Stay’n’Play Parenting in Regina has started a “A City Wide Heart Hunt,” with homemade hearts displayed in windows across the city. It was designed as a way for families to get moving outside while still social distancing. Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/StaynPlayParenting/

Concours international de ventilateurs soutenu par des fondations et un centre de santé de Montréal

Public health

Le Code Life Ventilator Challenge, une coentreprise nouvellement annoncée par la Fondation de l’Hôpital général de Montréal, en collaboration avec l’Institut de recherche du Centre universitaire de santé McGill (RI-CUSM), « demande aux équipes de concevoir un ventilateur simple, peu coûteux, facile à fabriquer et facile à entretenir qui pourrait être déployé partout où il est nécessaire pour sauver des vies ». La date limite est le 31 mars 2020 et le défi est soutenu par un prix de 200 000 $CAN. Les trois meilleurs modèles seront rendus gratuits à télécharger immédiatement.

International competition for ventilators backed by Montreal-based foundations and health centre

Public health

The Code Life Ventilator Challenge, a newly announced joint venture by the Montreal General Hospital Foundation, in collaboration with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), is “calling for teams to design a simple, low-cost, easy-to-manufacture and easy-to-maintain ventilator which could be deployed anywhere needed to save lives.” The deadline is March 31, 2020 and the challenge is backed by a prize of CAD$200,000. The top three designs will be made free to download immediately.

Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area solicits support for locally owned businesses during COVID-19

Local businesses

By purchasing gift cards and certificates, the community can help independent businesses cover their critical expenses and gives them a boost during this difficult time.

Canadian companies that are hiring during this time

Employment | General: Crowdsourced tools and resources | Local businesses

A crowd-sourced list of employers who are hiring across Canada, organized by Unbounce, a Vancouver-based software company.

Community program paying off during COVID-19 crisis

Fundraising and volunteering | Seniors | Social isolation

Abundant Community Edmonton is a grassroots initiative fostering neighbour to neighbour relationships. The goal is to cultivate a culture of care and connection, increased sense of belonging and inclusion, and create a more healthy and livable city – one block at a time. Set up pre-COVID, these groups are now mobilizing to provide support to vulnerable residents.

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