Earlier this week, the World Health Organization announced the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, has become a global pandemic. This morning, the Parliament voted to shut down.
While the situation is concerning, we can all play a role in protecting our families, colleagues, friends and our communities by following advice shared by health professionals and governments. Over the upcoming weekend, it is important to be aware of events in your city, province and Canada-wide.
The safety and well-being of our staff, our members and communities are of the utmost importance to us. Over the last 24-36 hours, things have changed quite rapidly. We have turned our face-to-face executive and board meetings (to be held in about 10 days) into virtual events. We have postponed other events to a later time – including our Hill Day planned for early May.
We have already communicated any event changes to registrants to the specific events but wanted to let our members know more broadly.
In the meantime, we continue to monitor and assess new developments pertaining to COVID-19 closely.
Advice
Be aware of announcements from agencies such the city medical officer of health in your city. If you are online, the following site will be useful.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html.
Canadian Chamber Offices
As of March 13, 4PM ET
Our Toronto office is now working remotely. It is possible that other offices may need to begin this process as things change in following hours and days. If you need to reach our team, best bet is via email. You can find our staff directoryon line.
Yesterday, we held several calls with our members and based on those calls, we will be building webinars and/or teleconferences with lead government officials and departments for the coming week. In addition, we will be setting up something for our member that will help you understand the complexities of legal, accounting and insurance issues. Watch for the details on these coming to you shortly.
In the intervening time, we have added some additional resources to our web page on pandemic preparedness and will continue to do so. If you’ve gotsomething to share, please do so.
One resource shared in the last 24 hours is this one on supply chain information shared by our partners at FITT.
Call out for call-out to suppliers for goods and services related to the COVID-19 pandemic
The government of Canada is seeking information from suppliers on their ability to provide products and services that may help in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the Calling All Suppliers – Help Canada Combat COVID-19 page posted on the Buyandsell.gc.ca site, businesses are asked to provide information about products and services they can supply in support of Canada’s response to COVID-19.
A list of suggested products and services is provided and businesses can fill out and submit an electronic form with their information on these or other products and services that may be relevant. As this page will continue to be updated, businesses are encouraged to check back for new information that may be posted. Thank you in advance for your assistance in sharing this information as widely as possible in your supplier community.
Facebook Webinar: How to Keep Your Employees Informed and Connected During a Crisis, Thursday March 19, 10am PDT. Sign up here.
Facebook has also created a Business Resource Hub, especially good for SMEs
We share this information to be helpful and hope that you find it to be valuable.
