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Camp Bickell hopes to come back 'bigger and better' next year

Ontario has announced overnight summer camps won't be allowed to operate in 2020
2018-06-05 Camp Bickell2 MH
Camp Bickell in Timmins. Maija Hoggett/TimminsToday

There won't be overnight or day camps at Camp Bickell this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The popular camp in Timmins usually offers camps for kids ages seven to 14 from late June through August, as well as June programming with the public school board.

Today, the provincial government announced overnight summer camps will not operate in 2020. If public health indicators continue to improve, indoor and outdoor summer day camps may be allowed in July and August with strict health and safety guidelines. 

The decision to cancel the Eco Camp Bickell program, which runs in partnership with the District School Board Ontario North East in May and June, was made back in early April, said Camp Bickell's board’s chairman Joe Campbell.

The camp’s board of directors was going to wait until May 31 to make a decision regarding the rest of the summer in case the situation improved but then came to a conclusion to not operate in July and August either. 

Health and safety of the staff and campers is the number one priority and the board isn’t going to put anybody at risk, Campbell said.

“There is no way we could run the program and guarantee social distancing,” he said. “We have no choice, we can’t operate.”

“As long as the (coronavirus) is lingering around at the level that it is, we’re not going to operate the camp.”

Parents who have already registered their children for the camp will get a refund.

Camp Bickell won't be operating as a day camp this summer, though.

“For parents to drive their kids out for a day and back, it’s not feasible,” Campbell told TimminsToday. “We’ve never run a day camp nor would we want to.”

Campbell said even if the province allowed overnight camps to operate, the board would have still likely cancelled its operation for the summer.

“There’s no way any summer camp where you have kids sleeping at dorms can operate under the current situation. There’s no way you can practice social distancing.”

With 120 children and 30 staff staying at the camp every year, it wouldn’t be possible to maintain physical distancing and sanitize all the facilities in a safe manner, he said.

Campbell said some students will be hired to upgrade the website and do program developments but expressed hope they will be able to “move on."

The camp will come back “bigger and better” next year as long as it will be safe to operate.

“We’re hoping by the time it comes next May, this (pandemic) is behind us and we’re able to operate. If it’s not, then I suspect we won’t be operating at that time either.”


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Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

About the Author: Dariya Baiguzhiyeva

Dariya Baiguzhiyeva is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering diversity issues for TimminsToday. The LJI is funded by the Government of Canada
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