Durham College - The Chronicle

We think it’s going to be a drawing card. We think once you see it, a student-athlete, it’s going to confirm your decision to come here.

Volume XLVI, Issue 1

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

– See page 6

November, 2020

Golf business booming Stories of the impact of COVID-19. See pages 8-21.

Photo by Julia Sandy

DC, Sheridan partner up page 3 Photo courtesy of Mauricio Cuellar

Campus closure kills burger company page 19 Photo by Michael S. Patrick

NEB's new normal

page 10 Photo courtesy of Jeff England

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The Chronicle

November, 2020

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

Community

Photo courtesy of Kris Nelson

Thelma Baker, 90, has the unique experience of living through two distinct global crises, namely the Second World War as a 10-year-old, and the global COVID-19 pandemic this year.

From dodging German war planes to dodging COVID-19 Musthafa Azeez The Chronicle

Most people would say 2020 is the worst year they’ve ever lived through.

However, Thelma Baker, a Whitby resident, might have a different opinion. After all, she’s 90 years old, which means she’s lived through some interesting times.

Baker was born on June 27, 1930 in Ilford, Essex, in East London.

This means when Thelma was around 9 or 10 years old, like many of her countrymen she had a terrifying encounter with the enemy.

“I was playing with the girl in the house where I was billeted, and we were on the hills behind the house because it was a country area,” she recalls, the memory still fresh in her mind 80 years later.

“And, suddenly, there was this ‘dang, dang, dang, dang’, and it was a German plane flying

I don't have any time for people who don't wear masks. overhead. We threw ourselves right on the ground, which is what you’d been told to do, and it missed us! I guess he had some extra ammo and he saw people on the ground, and he decided to fire on us!

She’s able to chuckle about it for two reasons – it happened so long ago and her country ultimately came out victorious in the Second World War. But perhaps more importantly, she was just a child back then and didn’t realize the gravity of the situation.

This time around, when we’re in the midst of another global crisis, the stakes are much higher for Baker.

She’s scared to venture out of her retirement home at Lynde Creek Manor in Whitby, especially now that the number of cases is rising back up again. There is one striking similarity between the two global crises Baker has faced.

Both involved masks.

“Gas masks were given out to us immediately. And you never went out anywhere without this smelly

rubber thing that was in a cardboard box with a piece of string so you could hang it round your shoulder,” she explains, remembering how the U.K. government feared that the Germans would use chemical weapons against the civilian population.

Eight decades later, Baker finds everyone around her covering their noses and mouths once again.

“Well, yeah there is a difference,” she points out. “Because the masks we’re wearing are much easier to wear than a full rubber mask that you’d have to put in to not be gassed.”

That’s why Baker cannot understand why some people still protest having to wear masks, especially when it protects everyone.

“I don’t have any time for people who won’t wear masks,” she says with a sigh.

Baker is one of about 80 residents living at Lynde Creek Manor Retirement Community

in Whitby. Before the pandemic began, she used to enjoy the entertainment events during the evenings.

“One time a band came in with 10 people, they were fabulous,” she says, recalling a memory that seems further away than six months ago.

COVID-19 has put a stop to all of that now. A representative at Lynde Creek Manor Retirement Community confirmed they are adhering to the new visitor restrictions that were announced by Premier Doug Ford last month.

While the Ontario government is trying to battle the second wave of COVID-19, Baker hopes everyone will follow the rules, especially when it comes to wearing masks and social distancing.

“I just don’t want to catch it,” she says. “I want to die a normal death, not something that’s happening because somebody was careless originally.”

Campus

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

November, 2020

The Chronicle

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DC professor wins award of excellence Aidan Cowling-Mcdonnell The Chronicle

Some teachers take a few weeks off during the summer after a long school year, but not Durham College Plumbing professor Edward Logan. He was busy doing what he loves to do, teaching.

And he’s being recognized for that effort.

Logan, 46, received a Minister of Colleges and Universities’ Award of Excellence for his teaching efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was nominated by Dr. Rebecca Milburn, executive dean of the School of Skilled Trades, Apprenticeship, and Renewable Technology (START) at Durham College.

This award was given to Logan because of his dedication to his community and providing his students with quality education.

Logan says he was humbled and grateful to receive a nomination, let alone win the award.

“I felt good, as most people would feel good about being recognized for the work they’ve done.

It felt really good. I was shocked and surprised, but I felt good about it,” says Logan.

Jen Crawford, 28, was taught by Logan from January to August of this year. She was pleased he received this award.

“I think it’s really good for him and he definitely deserved it. He definitely goes above and beyond,

Photo by Edward Logan

Edward Logan is a former Durham College student who has been teaching at the Whitby campus since 2015.

especially with the pandemic going on,” says Crawford.

Throughout the school year Logan was very helpful and tried to do all he could to make learning easier

for his students, she adds.

“He was constantly in contact with us. He made sure we knew exactly what was going on and he was constantly in touch with us and

saying if we need any extra help to let him know,” says Crawford. “He goes above and beyond. You can tell this isn’t just a job for him, it’s a passion for sure.”

Since March, Logan has been teaching Plumbing, Dual-credit, Apprenticeship, and Math programs exclusively online.

“I think the award shows appreciation for the work I did during the pandemic,” says Logan.

Outside Durham College, Logan has organized several virtual community practice sessions for Skilled Trades professors across North America. These events were designed to bring teachers together and discuss what skills and methods could be effective for students, while they teach remotely online.

Logan says he has tried to create an easy online learning experience, but acknowledges it’s challenging, especially in a hands-on program like Plumbing.

“I’ve created a lot of more interactive activities, videos that I haven’t used before so the students can learn on their own, but if they did come to our class it would be more like a discussion than a lecture,” says Logan, who incorporates weekly Kahoot quizzes and video tutorials into his online teaching.

As for this school year, Logan continues to teach online.

“I’m excited because I’m fortunate that I’m one of the teachers who’ve been teaching online strictly,” he says. “I’ve developed things that I didn’t have before to help with me teaching and to help my students learn.”

It’s a reality: DC, Sheridan partner up Andrea Eymann The Chronicle

Two Ontario colleges, Durham College and Sheridan College, are teaming up to use augmented reality to capture movement.

Durham will use its Mixed Reality Capture Studio (MRC) and Sheridan will use its Screen Industries Research and Training Centre (SIRT).

The two schools formed a partnership in August.

“SRIT’s has been around for about a decade, actually starting mainly in film and television, but about five years ago we got more heavily into augmented reality and virtual reality,” said Vicki Mowat, director of research at Sheridan College.

John Goodwin, Durham’s Game Art program coordinator, said the MRC has been a pilot program for about two years and officially launched in January.

Goodwin said the MRC is a “lab like no other in the province and one of the only few in the country.

“It’s a win-win-win situation,” said Goodwin, noting smaller businesses get access to technology they would not be able to afford and students get the opportunity to work with small businesses in real world projects.

Students are working as research assistants with the smaller and medium-sized companies on campus and already have working projects on their resumes, said Goodwin.

This project is getting $100,000

in funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP).

The students are working alongside another funding company called Farm Ventures – a mobile software development company.

The company and the students have created was a mobile app, called Catch Drive VR, which develops a human interface as a virtual horse racing game, said Debbie McKee Demczyk, dean of Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, at Durham College.

Students are creating custom hardware and software for an arcade human interface device. The software will look like the reins are actually attached to the horse.

The technology they use is virtual reality and emotion capture which are directly related to the gaming industry.

Durham will create a couple of projects themselves; Sheridan will do their own projects and then they both will create one collaborative project, virtually.

Durham’s role at the college is to work with these small and medium-sized companies to provide them with experience and technology to put their ideas into motion, said Goodwin.

Goodwin said the students do a lot of motion capture work both in capture directing, but also in data clean up, data broadcasting to real time engines.

Goodwin said the schools were doing something collaborative

Photo courtesy of Mauricio Cuellar

Durham College Game Art program coordinator, John Goodwin, helps a student in the Mixed Reality Capture Studio.

without even realizing it.

Added Mowat: “The NRC IRAP was looking for an opportunity to support funding multiple colleges together to provide a specific set of research services to industry partners.”

Half of the money will go towards Durham and the other half towards Sheridan.

“It will be divided into five equal pockets,” Goodwin said, “a small percentage will go to equipment, but (the) majority of

the money will go towards hiring students and researchers on projects to work with the small and medium-sized companies.”

The students “already learn quite a bit about augmented reality in the classroom but now they get to sink their teeth into it and do a deeper dive into the techniques or the area of focus they want to do,” said Goodwin.

“For the college, the opportunity to work with these smaller companies is about building rela-

tionships within our community.

It’s about sharing back and forth and for our faculty to keep current with industry trends, best practices and the challenges being faced by businesses today,” said Goodwin.

Mowat said, “I am hopeful this is a start of just a fabulous collaborative relationship… MRC at Durham College and SIRT at Sheridan College will undertake similar areas of research but yet offer unique perspectives as well.”

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The Chronicle

November, 2020

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Entertainment

Words inspire art in Oshawa neighbourhoods

Stephanie Lacarte The Chronicle

Oshawa’s LivingRoom Community Art studio building recently closed because of the pandemic but the organization is still working online virtually to connect with residents for a community-based art project called ‘Listening to Our Neighbours.’

The project aims to portray a variety of people and experiences that make up living in a priority neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods in Oshawa that are considered a priority are, (Lakeview, Gibb West, Downtown Oshawa, Central Park, and Beatrice North.)

These areas have been identified by the Durham Region Health Department as communities in the city that require focus on their health and well-being.

Mary Krohnert, executive director of The LivingRoom Community Art Studio, invites people living in these neighbourhoods to take part in a survey online (on a phone or computer) that will inspire five separate neighbourhood portraits soon to be created by local artist and Durham College professor Dani Crosby.

Crosby says she will be creating these portraits in one of the five priority neighbourhoods, Central Park, where she lives with her young son.

She has converted her living room into an art studio.

The project was inspired by conversations held at The LivingRoom Community Art Studio prior to the pandemic.

Kronhert says the conversations were about the Durham Region Health Neighbourhoods Report. She says the project’s goal is to help address the stigma people living in these areas often experience.

Other collaborators of this project are Stranger Listening

Photo courtesy of Mary Krohnert

Mary Krohnert, Founder and Executive Director of The LivingRoom Community Art Studio, is one of the three collaborators of the community-based art project, ‘Listening to Our Neighbours.’

and Reciprocity Media Collective (RMC).

Crosby says ‘Stranger Listening,’ involves collecting stories from others and creating a visual representation of the experiences and identities in those stories.

RMC was founded by Anthony Grani and Ann Tipper who have been collaborators with The LivingRoom Art Studio.

They also work with other non-profit organizations to help create professional quality media to expand their reach and messaging.

The portraits created will each

be accompanied by a soundscape produced by RMC that will incorporate elements of the recorded responses – so as people view each piece, they will also hear the voices of those who know these neighbourhoods best, Krohnert says.

Survey answers can be submitted in writing, as an audio response or, for those who don’t have access to technology, personal pop-up mask visit arrangements are currently being planned for when its safe to do so, Krohnert says.

But she encourages the community (if they feel safe to do so)

to take on the initiative to help give someone a voice. If they know somebody who lives in one of these areas who does not have available technology or WiFi to ask others to help give them access or let them know about this project so they can participate, too.

She also requests, “if there are parents out there with little kids who would like to participate it would be amazing to hear from them!”

Towards the end of the year, it’s possible this artwork could be available to view online, but it relies on having a bigger response

from the community, Kronhert says.

“We are trying to provide opportunities for everyone to be represented,” she says.

For the next two months, stories will continue to be collected.

“The faster we get people’s stories, the faster Dani can start to work on this project, and maybe even we can see some examples of what she has been working on,” Krohnert says Once this project is finished, it will be shown online and, in the community where social distancing can be achieved.

Photos courtesy of Dani Crosby

Dani Crosby painting in her living room that she has turned into an art studio.

Entertainment

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

November, 2020

The Chronicle

Locals shine on Riot Radio

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Shaun McLeod The Chronicle

After creating the Durham College (DC) Musicians Club – and then being hit by the pandemic – J. Atlas was looking for a way to get his members to perform virtually for an audience.

He reached out to Durham College Students Inc. (DCSI) in the early summer and collaborated with them to create a unique show called the Locals Only Showcase.

Turns out it proved to be popular.

After all the hard work put in by Atlas and other students, Locals Only ran Sept. 16 as the highest-viewed broadcast on the Riot Radio stage during the DCSIFEST 2020 with more than 250 viewers and is in the top live streams on the RiotRadio.ca platform ever.

“We put together a lineup of local musicians, a local showcase,” said Atlas, who is also a secondyear Music Business Management (MBM) student.

For fellow MBM students, the opportunity represented a chance at redemption after the annual Oshawa Music Week was scrapped during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It all got cancelled due to COVID, unfortunately,” said Atlas. “So when DCSI reached

We put together a lineup of local musicians, a local showcase. out, I reached out to a few MBM students and everyone was very happy to push this one out together because we didn’t get that opportunity last year.”

The DC Musicians Club encountered some pandemic-related problems of its own.

“It was going well, right before COVID started and we had one jam session with about seven or eight musicians and then nothing happened,” said Atlas, leader of the DC Musicians Club.

Atlas took the lead on finding and coordinating the artists, social media, and spreading the word about the show. Performances were recorded, sent to Riot Radio where Evan Halbert edited them together, and Eldin Atkin hosted the event.

Getting musicians to be part of the show was fairly painless as they were all eager to be in the

Photo courtesy of Riot Radio

Ajax native Hunter Sheridan performs during the Locals Only Showcase on RiotRadio.ca.

showcase. Atlas says putting the show together was not an easy process.

“I think the proudest moment was when we had the poster with

all the artists put together and it was all finalized,” said Atlas. “To see everything come together.”

This likely won’t be the last you see of the MBM students on Riot

Radio, either. “We’re working on a few things,” says Atlas.

“Nothing’s finalized but a virtual talent show for Durham College.”

Pandemic makes it hard for local musician to find gigs Derek Knoblauch The Chronicle

Will Surphlis, a 27-year-old musician from Courtice, played as many as 130 shows at pubs and bars across the Greater Toronto Area in 2019.

In the pandemic year of 2020, that number has been trimmed to about 30.

“Before the pandemic you had freedom to pretty much go and play where you wanted,” says Surphlis.

But that changed when bars were ordered closed by the Province When stage one of lockdown was in effect, Surphlis would go to Lakeview Park Beach in Oshawa with Trevor LeBlanc and busk by the water.

Together they are a duo, aptly called Will and Trevor.

Both sing, Surphlis handles guitar, LeBlanc percussion. Will and Trevor busked at the beach for roughly three weeks in May until a bylaw officer kicked them out citing COVID-19 as the reason.

“I’ve talked to councillors from the City (of Oshawa) and they looked at me and were like: no, the City official shouldn’t have done that.”

This left Surphlis unsure where to turn.

“We’re like, how are we going to be able to play music for people in a positive way? We were trying to bring positivity to people in erv-

Photo courtesy of Dot CA Media Hut

Will Surphlis preforms live at Lakeview Park Beach in Oshawa on May 24. ery rough time,” says Surphlis.

With some connections from previous shows, Surphlis got creative and arranged with bar owners to livestream shows from closed bars like The Music Hall in Oshawa.

“We weren’t charging the establishment,” says Surphlis. “We didn’t want these places to close down.”

These livestreams on Facebook were meant to raise awareness for the struggling establishments, in

some cases encouraging viewers to order takeout meals from them.

Now, both the Music Hall and the Corral, two locations for the livestreams, have closed. The Music Hall will be moving to a new location while the Corral no longer operates.

“Trevor and I were the last two people to ever perform on the Corral stage. That wasn’t our goal. Our goal was to keep the place going,” says Surphlis.

A big adjustment for Surphlis

has been finding different ways to work.

With everything being more open with stage three, Surphlis got involved with playing retirement home shows.

“I was doing outside gigs to people on their balconies. That was kind of neat. I had never done anything like that before,” says Surphlis.

“Afterwards people come up and they say to you: ‘I haven’t heard live music in so long’. Ob-

viously big concerts aren’t happening right now. I am a very spiritual person and I believe that music heals,” says Surphlis.

Surphlis has found more regular work at a bar near Stayner, Ont. called Hangar 26.

“They hired me five or six times,” he says, including a three day patio stint for Will and Trevor during Labour Day Weekend.

“I was working five days a week last year doing gigs. This year, that’s five gigs in three or four months,” says Surphlis.

Surphlis says the biggest challenge of the pandemic came at the beginning.

“At that point, like a lot of other people in this country, I got really depressed. I put my guitar down for like three weeks.”

Surphlis teaches online lessons for both guitar and drums.

He says the number of students dropped by 50 per cent during the stage one lockdown.

Since playing shows again during stage three, there is more of a distance between Surphlis and the audience, which is both a positive and a negative, he says.

“I feel safer on stage. You’re very vulnerable on stage. You get drunk people coming up and trying to grab your equipment,” says Surphlis.

On the other hand, the new normal can create a disconnect between the musician and the crowd.

“I am becoming more used it now,” he says.

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The Chronicle

November, 2020

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Sports

DC’s $2.2 million field of dreams Michael S. Patrick The Chronicle

Durham College’s new $2.2 million softball field is ready for the school’s women’s team to ‘play ball’ – there’s only one catch.

COVID-19 is preventing the team from getting on the field, pending approvals from public health officials.

The facility is 100 per cent artificial turf – no dirt, no grass and it’s virtually maintenance-free, said Ken Babcock, the school’s athletic director.

“It will be more than just a softball facility for our institutions,” added Babcock.

“We can easily play Ultimate Frisbee on this facility.”

The new diamond is equipped with concussion padding, LED lighting, sheltered dugouts.

A double bullpen for the home team and single for the visitors.

Two batting practice stalls for warming up, and a portable pitcher’s mound that can be brought out for younger teams.

There’s even a brand-new scoreboard out in left field.

Babcock said construction to finish the exterior of the facility – seating for 400 people, including 100 VIPs behind home plate, a press box and camera equipment -will begin next spring.

“There will be coaching video capabilities on the roof for practices and game film, as well as broadcast capabilities for all the home games,” he said, adding he’s hoping people will tune in just like they do for basketball, volleyball and soccer games on campus.

Babcock said the $2.2 million cost of the project is “on budget.”

“We’re hoping that it’s looked upon in the community as a starting point for some other facilities to be added,” said Babcock. “We’re excited about it; we think it’s going to be a drawing card. We think once you see it, a student-athlete, it’s going to confirm your decision to come here.”

Rosemary Theriault, assistant women’s softball coach for 18 years, said she’s “going to be very, very proud to walk on that field and say, hey, this is Durham College, and this is our home.”

Theriault, along with head coach Jim Nemish, oversees a powerhouse program, which has won four Ontario championships in the past five years and six in the past decade.

Theriault said she hopes Durham will be able to eventually invite former players back to see the new field.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the girls that left a lot of themselves on that old field.

Photo by Michael S. Patrick

Durham College Athletic Director Ken Babcock stands on the school's new ball diamond.

OUA, OCAA cancel athletics for winter semester Shaun McLeod The Chronicle

University and college varsity athletics in Ontario have been put on ice for the rest of the school year.

The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) and Ontario University Athletics (OUA) have announced they’re cancelling sports for the 2020-21 winter semester.

Sports affected by the OCAA cancellation are badminton, basketball, curling, indoor soccer and volleyball.

The OUA will not offer basketball, hockey, swimming, track and field, wrestling and volleyball.

“I hate the fact that I had to wake up to this news, I wish things could’ve been different,” said second-year Ontario Tech basketball player, Graddy Kanku.

“It’s hard on a lot of players because it’s like ‘what now?’ basketball has always been available to us as an escape to everything but now it feels like it got taken away.”

Kanku says he wishes the OUA would’ve tried to take more precautions like the successful NBA and WNBA bubbles.

“Now, we just have to try to stay focused and tough it out for these upcoming months,” said Kanku.

The decision comes after a re-

Photo by Shaun McLeod

Durham Lords guard Sierra Oliver crossing over George Brown's Rachel Steer during an Ontario Colleges Athletic Association women's basketball game at Durham College on Jan. 21.

cent spike in COVID-19 cases in Ontario and was influenced by a “number of factors” including new restrictions from provincial sport regulatory bodies and orders from Public Health that do not al-

low for regular sanctioned competition, according to the OCAA. “The reality is that there are far too many obstacles to allow the OCAA to operate while providing a safe and quality varsity experi-

ence for our student-athletes,” said OCAA President, Nathan McFadden, in a news release.

Ontario Tech Athletic Director Scott Barker referred to the decision as “not news anyone in the

sporting world would be happy about.

“It’s devastating for the student-athletes, it’s devastating for the coaches and certainly it’s devastating for the staff and administrative staff that work to put on university sport for campuses and fans in the community,” said Barker.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow but at the same time, it’s understandable.”

Barker said Ontario Tech will be honouring scholarships of student-athletes.

Durham College Athletic Director Ken Babcock was not immediately available to comment on the cancellation of OCAA sports.

But in the news release, the OCAA said they’re making the decision now to allow their student-athletes time to make decisions about their education in the January, 2021 semester.

This decision also means there will be no U SPORTS national university championships in the winter 2021 semester, as U SPORTS requires at least three conferences competing in a sport in order to offer a national championship.

The OUA is one of four conferences within U SPORTS and Canada West has also cancelled its winter semester of athletics.

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

The Chronicle

November, 2020

7

Sports talk

The NHL is socially unaware The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name accompanies this column.

Aidan Cowling-Mcdonnell The Chronicle

Dumba delivered his powerful speech about systemic racism on Aug. 1, the first day of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Dumba’s speech was powerful and needed in the year 2020.

It shouldn’t take one of the few minority players in the NHL to speak up for the league to start taking systemic racism seriously.

On Aug. 26, the NBA postponed three playoff games in protest of the systemic racism displayed in the United States following the shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man who was shot in the

back seven times. The NHL did not postpone any playoff games but instead waited until Aug. 28.

The NHL has done nothing to promote equality since.

Not only was the NHL late to postpone games, but they’ve chosen to have a “business as usual,” attitude during the most crucial racial period in recent history.

“Racism is everywhere, and we need to fight against it. On behalf of the NHL and the hockey diversity alliance, we vow and promise to stand up for justice and what is right,” said Dumba.

It’s almost been two months since Dumba’s speech and since then, there has been no effort made by the NHL to promote change.

They have said all the right things, but it all looks like a publicity stunt unless they take things

We have to do more.

like voting and protecting minorities in hockey more seriously.

One the other hand, the NBA has proven to be the most socially aware sports league in the world.

The NBA has done everything from writing “Black Lives Matter” on the courts they play on, to allowing players to put social justice messages on their jerseys like “Jus-

tice” or “Vote.”

Speaking of voting, NBA teams have opened their home arenas as voting centres for the upcoming American election.

The league continues to donate millions of dollars to causes that promote voting and racial equality.

The bottom line is the NBA gets it and the NHL doesn’t.

Cancelling a handful of games or saying “Black Lives Matter” only does so much.

While those things are good to a degree for the NHL, if they did even a quarter of what the NBA has done, this column would look very different.

As of 2019, only 43 of NHL players were not white.

Unfortunately, this could explain why the NHL continues to ignore the importance of using their platform to promote equality and unity at a time where it seems the world is as divided as it’s ever been.

The NHL hasn’t ignored promoting racial equality.

They’ve acknowledged how big of an issue it is in today’s society.

But at some point, the NHL has to look at itself and say, “We have to do more.”

The Raptors really missed Kawhi The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name accompanies this column.

Taylor Gilbert The Chronicle

What the Toronto Raptors missed most in this year’s NBA playoffs was Kawhi Leonard, and what Leonard missed most was the Raptors.

In 2019, with 4.2 seconds left on the clock in the NBA playoffs’ semi-finals, Marc Gasol stood on the side lines, scouring the court.

The play was likely drawn up months prior and was sitting idle in head coach Nick Nurse’s back pocket. With such little time on the clock, it was clear only one player would get the chance to hold the fate of the Raptors season in their hands. Not everyone could be the hero, but the ‘team first’ mentality of the Raptors allowed the

players to accept their role and play it well.

Gasol inbound the ball to Leonard, it was always going to be Leonard, and the rest will live on in Toronto sports history forever.

Fast forward one tumultuous year…

The Toronto Raptors are in the midst of defending their championship title. Game 7—playoffs semi-final—do or die. They’d been here before, but this time Leonard was absent. With a minute left to go and the Raptors trailing by two, the question loomed… who was going to step up in Kawhi’s absence?

There were a few options.

Kyle Lowry showed flashes of his superstar ability which he demonstrated throughout the series: look no further than game 6’s fadeaway jumper.

Pascal Siakam led Toronto in scoring this season but failed to produce to his usual calibre since entering the COVID-19 bubble.

Bench player Norman Powell “saved our season,” according to Fred Vanfleet in a postgame interview after their win in game 6.

So who was the ball going to?

The confusion lead to a lackluster final minute where no player in particular appeared to have the confidence to carry the team down the final stretch. The Raptors lost 92-87 and were subsequently eliminated from the playoffs.

No one player deserves the blame for the Raptors loss, but it was Siakam who was poised to be the guy to replace Leonard this season.

“I have to be better,” Siakam said. “It was definitely a learning moment for me, just learning from this experience and just learning that you’ve got to be ready and that I wasn’t able to really help my teammates, so, yeah, I take a lot of the blame, man. I take a lot of the blame.”

It was the absence of a true superstar

that cost the Raptors a chance at back-toback NBA titles.

Conversely, for Leonard, who went home to join the L.A. Clippers, it was an absence of any sort of team chemistry and play making that cost him a chance to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy this year.

“We just couldn’t make no shots,” Leonard said.

“That’s when it comes to the team chemistry, knowing what we should run to get the ball in spots or just if someone’s getting doubled or they’re packing the paint, try to make other guys make shots, and we gotta know what exact spots we need to be.”

Leonard was always capable of making the shot, but without a disciplined team around him he never got the chance.

It begs the question, had Leonard decided to return to the Toronto Raptors, what might have been?

Perhaps those missing pieces would have found each other once again.

Canadian basketball reaching new heights The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name accompanies this column.

Derek Knoblauch The Chronicle

There is no doubt Canadian basketball is the strongest it’s ever been.

The biggest hotspot for young talent in Canada is the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

This area has produced NBA regulars such as Tristan Thompson and Kelly Olynyk. As of 2018, the NBA has as many players from Toronto as New York City, according to the New York Times.

More recently, the Toronto Raptors played a huge role in the development of Canadian basketball, winning the 2019 champion-

ship. The Raptors have made the NBA Playoffs in seven straight seasons.

This has captivated Toronto audiences and people across our great country.

The NBA Championship in 2019 was the pinnacle and inspired many young kids with visions of playing in the NBA, which will lead to a new generation of Canadian basketball talent.

One of the rising stars in the NBA is 23-year-old Jamal Murray out of Kitchener, Ontario. The Denver Nuggets’ point guard has tallied four games of 40 points or more in the 2020 playoffs.

Even before Jamal Murray, Canadian basketball players have become NBA starters.

Andrew Wiggins from Toronto

was drafted first overall in the 2014 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. With high expectations, Wiggins was able to win NBA Rookie of the Year in 2015 before experiencing growing pains as a player for the next few years.

Wiggins was traded to the Golden State Warriors in February 2020. He will try to resurrect his career on the west coast.

RJ Barrett also from Toronto was drafted third overall by the New York Knicks in the 2019 NBA draft.

Barrett had a successful rookie season in the NBA on a bad team.

Averaging 14.3 points per game, he’s a player Knicks’ fan can hang their hat on despite a dismal 201920 campaign.

Wiggins, Barrett and Murray’s

impact on the NBA over the last six years has put Canadian basketball in a spot it hasn’t been before.

More Canadian stars are being offered scholarships from highly acclaimed NCAA basketball schools. Wiggins went to Kansas, Murray to Kentucky and Barrett went to Duke. All schools that commonly have aspirations of National Championships year in and year out.

This trend will continue as basketball in Canada continues to grow.From a younger perspective, youth basketball in the Greater Toronto Area is growing year after year.

From ages five to 14, basketball is the third most popular sport in Canada behind soccer and hockey, according to the 2014 Youth Sports

Report. With 354,000 participants in 2014, this is the talent pool that might create future Canadian basketball stars. One can only imagine this numbers will continue to increase.

Jamal Murray’s playoff performance this year not only brings hope for the Denver Nuggets’ future, it brings hope for Canadian basketball as a whole. Young Canucks with dreams of the NBA can look up to Murray and can see a path to greatness.

Only hard work and dedication stands in the way.

With Canadians becoming bigger names in the NBA and the sheer interest in the game of basketball skyrocketing in the country, Canadian basketball has never been in a better spot.

8

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November, 2020

Community

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

Golf in Oshawa booming during pandemic COVID-19's impact on the community

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Brooks Armstrong The Chronicle

As some businesses in Durham Region struggle to survive in this COVID-19 pandemic, Kedron Dells Golf Club in north Oshawa has had a busy summer serving stir crazy customers wanting to golf.

Kedron Dells general manager, and owner since 2009, Philip Brown, said it was a slow start to the season due the provincialgovernment imposed lockdown in the spring.

“As soon as March 13 hit, we had zero revenue for two months, until the 16th of May,” when the Province allowed golf courses to open, said Brown.

When mid-May hit, the restrictions loosened up for customers to start the season. During the preceding two months Kedron Dells did get help from the government.

“The wage subsidy helped us through those two months (March-May). After that we did not qualify,” said Brown.

When golf got the green light in Ontario “it was like letting the horses out of the barn,” said Brown.

Golfers, inside too long due to the pandemic, were excited that golf – and Kedron Dells – was back in business.

“This has been the busiest year as far as tee times,” said Brown, noting the club had to cap its junior membership because young golfers were snapping them up.

Photo by Brooks Armstrong

One of the greens at Kedron Dells golf course in north Oshawa.

Due to COVID-19, management increased time between the tee offs for customers to have more space on the course and increase social distancing.

Kedron Dells switched from an 8-9 minute intervals for tee times to a 10-minute interval, said Brown, adding that decision cuts 12 tee off times – and up to 48 paying customers – in a single day.

Still, the 10-minute tee interval has proven so successful Brown

may keep it permanently.

Before Brown became general manager and owner of Kedron Dells, he was assistant manager when witnessing a golf legend arrive on the golfing landscape.

“In the year 2000 Tiger Woods came up on the scene,” said Brown, talking about the late 1990s and early 2000s as being some of the most successful years for the business.

Brown relates the business of the 2020 season to the 2000 sea-

son when Tiger Woods was dominating.

Brown said, “2019 was a good year, but again if you are not on top of your business every single day and looking forward, it is something that can get away on you.”

Although golf has been booming, a significant portion of revenue at Kedron Dells comes in the form of catered events and weddings which had to be revised heavily as the provincial

rules around social gatherings fluctuate. Many protocols such as not touching the flagpole and not putting rakes in the bunkers were measures needed for golfers to stay safe during their rounds.

Dividers between to seats in the golf carts were also one priority in the changes being made due to COVID-19.

“There is a lot of responsibility, but that is part of owning a business and taking care of the daily challenges,” said Brown.

Photos by Brooks Armstrong

(Left) Sanitized golf carts with dividers; (right) the entrance to the parking lot at Kedron Dells in north Oshawa at 2400 Ritson Rd. N.

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November, 2020

The Chronicle

9

Oshawa Little Theatre awaits encore COVID-19's impact on the community

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa

Andrew Clarke

The Chronicle .

The stage lights have been turned off and the doors closed at the Oshawa Little Theatre (OLT) due to COVID-19.

The OLT has been a part of Oshawa’s entertainment scene since the theatre’s first show in 1928 and has been located in its current building at 62 Russett Avenue since 1983.

When operational, the theatre puts on multiple productions annually, while also offering summer and youth camp programs as well as rentals for events.

But the theatre closed March 12 due to the pandemic, a week before the theatre was to premier, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which is now delayed until theatre operations resume.

Former theatre President and current Executive Producer, Michael Schneider, says the theatre had a packed summer schedule before COVID-19 changed those plans.

“We had the whole month of June for our community dance recitals,” says Schneider. “Many of the local dance schools book our facility to do their year-end shows.”

Along with having to cancel recitals, Schneider says the theatre also had to cancel external touring shows which had rented the space as well as moving the theatre’s summer camps to a vir-

Photo courtesy of Oshawa Little Theatre

The Oshawa Little Theatre has been closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. tual platform.

With all events being postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic, the theatre has fallen victim to both vandalism and property damage.

“We were robbed,” says Schneider. “We had people break into the theatre and steal our safe.”

The thieves left with little to show as the safe contained little in value.

“They did a lot of work to get a lot of coins and loose change,” he says.

The theatre has also become victim to a large inf lux in another type of unwelcome guests – rodents.

“They’ve been tearing at the

place getting into and destroying sections of the roof and things like that,” says Schneider.

With COVID-19 cases surging in Ontario in recent weeks, Schneider expects nothing to change anytime soon.

“To be honest, I can’t foresee anything happening until at best next summer. That’s the best-case scenario,” says Schneider.

With many local businesses closing for good, Schneider hopes the community ultimately will help and support the theatre in avoiding a similar fate.

“We are exploring things we can do to try and engage the community but there are challenges,” explains Schneider, “because we’re a volunteer organization,

it’s very hard. You have to commit people to do it and their time has also been deeply affected by the pandemic.”

Schneider says the theatre will still hold its annual general meeting, held virtually, where they will be asking for donations in support while the theatre remains closed and revenue isn’t coming in.

“We’re fortunate we were in a fairly decent financial place that we can keep the place going but that’s not going to last indefinitely,” says Schneider.

As communities and businesses wait to see what the future holds with the COVID-19 pandemic, Schneider explains why theatre is vital and must be supported.

“I really believe the arts are

Photo courtesy of Oshawa Little Theatre

The Oshawa Little Theatre located at 62 Russett Avenue has been located at its current location since 1983.

a fundamental pillar of a community and they are going to be most seriously impacted,” says Schneider. “When you’ve got an organization like this which depends on the community to keep itself going, the impact of COVID-19 is catastrophic.”

Despite uncertainty of when business will go back to how it was pre pandemic, Schneider says the theatre will be ready.

“When we do come back we’re going to do everything we can to do it safely and keep people safe,” says Schneider, “but theatre is so indispensable and we hope that people remember us when we do try to engage and reach out to them to reach back and keep us af loat.”

We’re fortunate we were in a fairly decent financial place that we can keep the place going but that’s not going to last indefinitely.

10

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November, 2020

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Community

Photo courtesy of Jeff England

NEB's Manager Jeff England using a sanitization mister to help clean the bowling alley.

NEB's bowling is back

COVID-19's impact on the community

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Aidan Cowling-McDonnell The Chronicle

NEB’s Fun World (NEB’s) reopened more than two months ago, on July 24, and has not had to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic since.

But for 127 days NEB’s manager Jeff England was at home with his family, making sure they were safe and explaining to his two kids, ages 4 and 6, why the world had changed so quickly.

“It’s been a little challenging.

The kids didn’t really understand what was going on they were upset they couldn’t see their family members for three months. And my wife is high-risk as well so there was a bit of added stress as well,” says England.

England, 34, is the fourth-generation manager of NEB’s, a bowling alley located at 1300 Wilson Rd. N., in Oshawa.

Although NEB’s has reopened, there’s a 50-person limit inside the bowling alley, not including staff.

With only 50 people allowed in a 100,000 square foot building, England says layoffs were unfortunately necessary for the company’s financial security.

“We employ around 100 people. Unfortunately, we had to

Photo by Aidan Cowling-McDonnell

The arcade at NEB’s is usually buzzing during the day but during the pandemic; this is what it typically looks like. lay off around 90 so it was kind of sad. A lot of these people have been with us anywhere from a year to over 50 years,” says England. According to Statistics Canada, from March to June an average of 485 businesses per month in Oshawa, including NEB’s, were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since reopening in late July, NEB’s has implemented several safety measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

England says NEB’s has invested in things like sanitization foggers, misters, and plexiglass.

They’ve also made masks man-

datory, due to public health protocols, for everyone inside the building, introduced online bookings for customers, a scannable QR code that lets people see the menu, and curtains between bowling lanes.

For employees, daily temperature checks are required, and they appear to be working as there have been no positive tests from any NEB’s employee, according to England.

Before the shutdown, NEB’s had planned a major expansion including building a roller-skating track, laser tag, and the largest indoor playground in Canada.

Although it wasn’t easy, England says they were able to allow construction of the expansion to continue.

“It was a little bit difficult,” he adds. “We were able to continue during the shutdowns. It wasn’t easy, we had a lot of family working and things like that, but we all came together and got it done.”

England understands the nature of the second wave of COVID-19 hitting Ontario and although NEB’s has big plans for the future, he recognizes these plans may have to wait.

“As a forward-moving company, if there’s a second wave our

forward plans will be put on hold and we’ll just have to hunker down until everything’s better,” says England.

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is unclear at this point but England is taking a positive approach when thinking about the future of NEB’s. Although the bowling alley is seeing less customers right now, he feels there are better days ahead.

“Very optimistic. You can feel that the need is still there. You can feel that socializing is ingrained in humans and once we get past this and things get better, things will be good,” says England.

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November, 2020

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11

Photo by Nicole Fisher

The front of mental health resource centre, Tristan's Place.

Mental health centre really ‘busy’ COVID-19's impact on the community

Our youngest client has been 12, and our oldest has been 78.

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Nicole Fisher The Chronicle

COVID-19 has created challenges for some businesses but others are finding their silver lining during the pandemic.

Tristan’s Place is a wait-list free, mental health facility in Oshawa Ont., offering 24-hour crisis supports, therapy programs, safe beds and more to help mental illness in the community. It was created with a vision in mind to help those in need by Darlene Dobbs and Kevin Taylor, owners of Tristan’s Place.

The goal of the establishment is to inspire hope and empower people affected by life’s adversities and to enrich their quality of life through psychotherapy, according to the Tristan’s Place brochure.

It’s a safe, non-judgmental place where anybody can come and do therapy and get linked with some others who might be experiencing similar things, so that way they know they aren’t alone,” said Dobbs.

“We got insanely busy, so while most businesses slowed down, we got crazy busy after April, beginning of May when people were starting t to feel isolated”.

The name itself comes from

Photo by Nicole Fisher

Colourful painted rocks with inspirational quotes surrounding a Tristan’s Place sign in the garden at the front of the house.

Tristan Connolly, former Durham College student, who lost his battle with mental illness after many challenges including being wait-listed for psychiatric help.“Everything in our system is wait-listed,” said Dobbs. “We decided to open somewhere with no wait-list at all.”

Dobbs and Taylor both saw a rise in visits to their location as a

response to the pandemic.

“Our youngest client has been 12 and our oldest has been 78. Generally, in between 20 and 35 is what we usually see as an average, but we get them as young as 12,” said Dobbs.

Statistics Canada surveyed approximately 46,000 Canadians on mental health during COVID-19.

It was discovered that 46 per cent of Canadians reported fair or poor mental health during COVID-19.

Later, when asked about mental health conditions, 52 per cent reported their mental state worsened since the onset of physical distancing.

“The pandemic impacted mental health a lot which has made us

extremely busy,” said Dobbs.

They have been able to recover mostly since the outbreak first shut down businesses but are now facing new challenges.

Between February to April, 5.5 million Canadian workers were affected by the COVID-19 shutdown according to Statistics Canada.

This resulted in an employment drop of 3 million and an increase in COVID-19 related work absences.

Tristan’s Place is experiencing a staffing shortage as a result of the virus because some staff who worked two jobs pre-pandemic now are only able to work one.

With COVID-19 cases on the rise in Ontario, some worry about a second wave of the virus.

We’re concerned about hiring more people because if it does hit and we do have to go back to virtual care, we won’t be able to service everyone who calls with the staff we have,” said Dobbs.

While some businesses cut staff or shut down indefinitely as a response to the pandemic, Tristan’s Place is finding themselves with an increase in work and a demand in services for months to come.

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November, 2020

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Brew wizards prepare for battle COVID-19's impact on the community Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Taylor Gilbert The Chronicle

Dungeons and Dragons, or DND, is a fantasy role-playing game narrated by a designated Dungeon Master. Together, you and your friends tell a story, guiding your heroes on quests for treasures, battles with foes, daring rescues and courtly intrigue.

Like a cruel twist from an experienced Dungeon Master, the COVID-19 pandemic has sent restaurant wizards like Kyle Kornic into fight or flight as they adjust what once was their normal day-to-day operations into a constant battle of good versus evil.

“First thing we did for the lockdown, I guess phase one it would technically be, or whatever they were calling it, we shutdown a lot,” says Kornic, owner of Brew Wizards Board Game Café located at 74 Celina St. in Oshawa.

In the early days of the lockdown Kornic was forced to limit staff, as well as close Brew Wizards’ doors for a short period, to better assess the coming storm brought forth by the pandemic.

The reopening has been gradual and things are still not quite back to normal.

To aid in the battle against COVID-19, Kornic and company reduced their seating, shortened hours of operation, cut their food menu by half, which limited the number of suppliers to rely upon, and sacrificially went from having

Photo courtesy of Brew Wizards

Kyle Kornic, owner of Brew Wizards Board Game Cafe.

16 Ontario craft brews to only five beers on tap.

This reduction in suppliers has had a trickling effect on restaurant supply chain businesses.

According to Restaurants Canada, restaurants generally spend upwards of $30 billion per year on food and beverage purchases, playing a vital role in Canada’s

Photo courtesy of Brew Wizards

Board games go into 72 hour quarantine.

farming and agriculture.

As the COVID-19 battle continues, the weapons of choice provided at Brew Wizards Board Game Café come in the form of a sign-in station upon entry, hand sanitizers at every table, bleach solution for table wipes after every use, socially-distanced table spacing, as well as table limits of fourto-six people and a 72-hour board game quarantine system.

In DND, and in life, it’s often the company you keep that can help you in the most troubling of times.

“A lot of our regulars we’ve become actual friends with,” says Kornic. “Our little community, they’ve been super, super supportive. Our regulars and stuff like that have been basically what’s been keeping us going.”

Kornic worries about what kind of impact a second wave may have, not just on him but on fellow employees at Brew Wizards.

“I think a second shutdown like we had in the spring is going to be devastating to the local business community and the small business community as well as the economy as a whole.”

However, he accepts the government’s decisions if elevated case counts lead to another shutdown.

“I understand the importance of having to do it. I just hope we do it better than we did it last time in terms of government support,”

Photo courtesy of Brew Wizards

Hand sanitizer and sign-in station upon entry. he says. Kornic and company received a small boost from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).

However, this covers only part of employee wages and they did not qualify for Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance as they do not own the building in which they are located.

The food service industry continues to be one of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic resulting in more lost jobs in the first six weeks of the lockdown than the entire Canadian economy in the

2008-2009 recession, according to Restaurants Canada.

While DND is simply a fun fantasy role playing game, the seriousness of COVID-19 and its consequences are far from fiction.

“We don’t want to be the cause for outbreak, like we don’t want somebody coming in and getting a whole bunch of people sick because we weren’t doing our due diligence,” Kornic says.

“Our community’s health is far more important than us making a couple extra bucks.”

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November, 2020

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13

Generals stickhandling through tough times COVID-19's impact on the community Editor's Note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Derek Knoblauch The Chronicle

On March 13, 2020, the Oshawa Generals loaded the bus headed to Ottawa to play the 67’s late in the season. That’s when word came down from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) that the remainder of the season had been suspended due to COVID-19.

They turned the bus around and told the players the news.

“We didn’t have a lot of information, so we didn’t think it was going to be a long time. Obviously, it’s turned into that,” says Generals’ President Rocco Tullio.

The OHL plans to start the new season in December with training camp starting in mid-November. The league is currently working on a detailed outline of protocols to be issued to the teams.

The Generals have already purchased sanitizing equipment that will disinfect dressing rooms.

“Everyone will have their own towels and their own separate water bottles,” says Tullio.

Whether there will be fans at the OHL games this season is yet to be determined.

“Early on we could be playing in front of no fans or maybe 40 to 50 per cent fan base,” says Tullio. Going into this uncertain season, the safety of players and fans is priority number one for the Generals.

“Nothing will change in terms of how we run our hockey team,” says Tullio. “We’re going to have to make decisions as a league very, very soon and then implement those protocols to make sure everybody is safe.”

Players coming from outside Ontario will follow protocols from the Province.

“I expect they’ll have to quarantine for two weeks and follow those protocols before they can join. So, we are still working through some of those things,” says Tullio.

In terms of marketing, things are on hold until the season gets underway.

“Season tickets are good.

They’ve always been good. Our fans are very supportive but we’re not spending any of that money.

That’s basically been put in the vault until the season starts up again,” explains Tullio.

The team’s marketing hasn’t been affected much with sponsors being supportive.

“It hasn’t really hurt us yet, but we need to get our season going,” says Tullio.

The organization is feeling the

Photo courtesy of Goodall Media

Generals' President Rocco Tullio embraces with 67’s goalie Michael DiPietro after Ottawa swept Oshawa in the OHL playoffs in 2019.

effects of the pandemic in other areas.

“It’s cost us a lot of money. Its cost team owners a lot of money.

We still have bills,” says Tullio, adding these expenses include items such as utilities. “You can’t just shut down an active business but that’s the price of owning your own business: take the good

with the bad.”

If the upcoming OHL season is cancelled, the Generals will need to re-evaluate their financial situation at that point in time.

“We haven’t gone to the City (of Oshawa) for any concessions at this stage. We will broach that if there’s not going to be a season,” says Tullio.

Tullio hopes this is all a “shortterm blip on the radar.” He thinks things will eventually get back to how they were but acknowledges it may take six months to a year.

“I think we will see fans of 6,000 in our arenas again,” says Tullio.

Tullio and the Generals are working through the ‘what if’s’

surrounding the OHL season until they have direction from the government.

“Hopefully they understand importance of junior hockey and what it means to the integrity and the fabric of our communities. Hopefully they help us out in some form or another,” says Tullio.

Photo courtesy of Brandon Wright

Tribute Communities Centre sits vacant. It’s unclear if there will be fans in the stands this upcoming OHL season.

14

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November, 2020

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Community

Zip lines are running full speed at Treetop Eco-Adventure Park COVID-19's impact on the community Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Stepanie Lacarte The Chronicle

“This year we had the busiest August and the busiest September we have ever had,” says Tyler Richards, general manager of Treetop Eco-Adventure Park in Raglan (part of north Oshawa). “I was a little short of staff and a little stressed out and I had to sort that out quickly.”

Treetop Eco–Adventure Park closed in March due to COVID–19 but re-opened May 26.

The aerial park includes zip lining and high ropes.

In August the park had about 80 people a day during the week, about 200 people a day during the weekend, Richards says.

Last year, he says the numbers were about 50-60 people during the week and about 120–150 people during weekends.

He says keeping customers safe during COVID-19 “made it a little bit more stressful in that you’re always worried and looking over your shoulder.”

As the manager he says he is always making sure his staff are keeping up with the sanitary protocols that have been put in place and people are spread out.

“One of the business’ biggest changes is that we used to only wash our harnesses once a week,” he says. “Now we have to do it after every use, which we will probably continue even after all this is over.”

Kerry Moeller, of Hampton, Ont., visited Treetop Eco-Adventure Park for her first time Sept.

26.

“It was a lot of fun. I had no idea what to expect, but it was a beautiful space and the weather was absolutely perfect,” she says, “It was a great experience, and I would definitely recommend it.”

She says she watched the staff clean the harnesses before and after each use, and that social distancing and the use of masks during her visit made her feel “very safe.

“There were tons of safety protocols,” Moeller says, adding the staff are, “only taking a certain amount of people and having you stay in your groups.”

Treetop Eco-Adventure Park is owned by Richards’ parents Randy and Karen Richards and has been open since 2012.

Photo courtesy of Tyler Richards

Assistant manager Mara Spence at Treetop Eco-Adventure Park wearing a protective face shield while harnessing up a young customer.

Photo by Stephanie Lacarte

Trillium Trails and Treetop Eco-Adventure Park's entrance sign on Simcoe Street North, Oshawa.

It’s on the same property as the Trillium Trails Banquet

and Conference Centre, also owned by Richards’ parents,

which opened in 1988 but is now currently closed because of

COVID-19. Although technically two separate businesses he says, “the aerial park is keeping the property af loat.”

Richards says the banquet hall has had to rely on available government subsidies for financial support.

“The aerial park kind of offsets a little bit of the loss of the banquet hall but not really because we are losing out on all the revenue we have,” he says.

Central Counties Tourism is a not-for-profit organization in the area that helped the business out with some PPE supplies, he says.

About 50 per cent of Treetop’s soap and cleaning supplies have been donated by the organization, he notes.

Richards says he tries to support other local businesses in the area by encouraging customers on social media to grab a bite to eat or to stop at the nearby White Feather Country Store and other businesses in the area.

Community

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November, 2020

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15

Photo courtesy of Baseball Oshawa

Baseball Oshawa returned to play during the pandemic, instituting new social distancing and sanitation guidelines.

The old ball game returns COVID-19's impact on the community Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Shaun McLeod The Chronicle

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a period of adaptation for Baseball Oshawa. With the pandemic hitting during its largest registration period of the year, the club has been scrambling to make things work since.

“It really affected amateur sport registrations,” said Ken Babcock, president of Baseball Oshawa. “Our registrations were down more than 50 per cent.”

A normal season would have about 1,100 participants for Baseball Oshawa, but this year, it was down to around “550 or less,” according to Babcock.

The drop in registrations led to issues for Baseball Oshawa as they purchase all of their jerseys, baseballs and equipment for the next year about six months in advance – in this case, in October of last year.

“All those are committed for ahead of time, and we didn’t have the registrations and revenue,” said Babcock.

Baseball Oshawa turned to online programs and Zoom guest speakers, including former MLB player and Oshawa native, Andy Stewart, to keep the kids engaged with the sport during the delayed start.

“We tried to provide as much online content, and skills content, things that coaches could share with their team,” said Babcock.

“It’s all we really could do.”

Baseball Oshawa was able to return to rep baseball training on July 2, and on July 9, were one of the few house league programs to return to play in Ontario.

“The ability to play a season for a couple for months was really a decision made by what our members wanted,” said Babcock. “The house league players, parents and coaches wanted to play.”

Returning to play meant up-

dating the way things looked on the field and in the dugout, according to guidelines from public health, sport governing bodies and local government.

The first of the two major rule changes saw the umpire calling balls and strikes from behind the mound. The other rule change was aimed at creating less contact at first base – no lead offs in the ages 18 or under, according to Public Health.

“It created a little difference for ages 12 and up who have lead offs and can steal (bases),” said Babcock. “So, it was a little bit of a change.”

Off the field, only coaches were

allowed in dugouts and they created a “NASCAR pit” type line down the right and left-field line for the players to socially distance until restrictions eased up.

They also were able to trace contact through an app called “OnDeck” which Baseball Ontario featured heavily in its return to sport plans. The app allowed the programs to track attendance at practice and games but also allowed them to notify public health immediately in the event of a positive case. For Babcock, it only took one day back at the baseball diamond to see if all the changes were worth it.

“Seeing the kids back on the

field…seeing them smiling and having fun, doing something they love was really an important moment,” said Babcock. “It really justified why (I) spent the time, all our volunteers and coaches spent the time, to try to get back to the diamond.”

Babcock feels this experience with a COVID-19– shortened season and implementing all the new changes puts them in a good position to have a full season next year.

“If things stay the way they are, and even if maybe the restrictions are the same, we’re confident we can deliver a pretty good baseball season,” said Babcock.

Photo courtesy of Baseball Oshawa

Two players during a game with the umpire moved behind the pitching mound calling balls and strikes.

16

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November, 2020

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Community

Photos by Julia Sandy

Teeing off at the 18th hole in front of the clubhouse (left) and a view of one of the Oshawa Airport golf greens (right) on a fall day.

Airport golf club thrives during pandemic COVID-19's impact on the community Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Julia Sandy The Chronicle

Many businesses have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic but, golf courses have been soaring like a Tiger Woods’ drive.

“In the golf industry it’s been the biggest boom that’s ever hap-

pened,” said Bob Perkins, owner of Oshawa Airport Golf Club.

The club has been booked solid since they opened at the beginning of May, he said.

“I have been sold out of teetimes five days out of seven this whole year,” said Perkins.

Perkins said the golf club has seen a revenue increase of 50 per cent this season.

“It’s been very busy,” said Brian Langford, a starter at Oshawa Airport.

“The hockey players can’t play hockey, the curlers can’t curl, baseball was a no-go, the only game in town was pretty much golf.”

Golfers aren’t ready to pack their clubs up yet, either.

“The traditional period of slowdown was always the week kids went back to school,” he said.

“(But) September was probably one of our best months ever.”

This year looked a bit different for golf courses due to the pandemic.

“We had to do a lot of changes to meet all the requirements,” Perkins said.

Golf courses across Ontario needed to make changes like adding cup risers to each hole, adding plexiglass in the clubhouse and additional sanitization to reopen.

“It was quite costly,” said Perkins.

“Obviously, the revenues made up for (it) now but, we didn’t know where that was going to go when we first started out.”

Perkins said he has also taken other safety measures by spacing out tee times.

“We make sure there is an entire hole between each group” to limit the number of people gathered at the front, he said.

Although the golf course is “booming” they have also seen some challenges.

“The difficulty this year was actually finding staff,” said Perkins.

“When the federal government gave all the students money to stay home, none of them were out searching for jobs.”

Perkins’ staff usually consists of university students.

He said he remembers “scrambling for money in the summers as a student.

“I usually got 100 resumes every spring, I bet you I only got five,” said Perkins.

Added Langford, the starter: “We’ve been looking for marshals

and starters all year.”

“I’m normally on a Monday afternoon but, all year we’ve had to get people to do a double shift on Saturday afternoons.”

Perkins said, his staff is worn out, noting “it’s been crazy hours and crazy busy.

“I’ve always been good at predicting things,” Perkins said.

“It’s part of the business you learn what’s going on. This year everything I’ve ever known in my 30 years of business got thrown out the window.”

Perkins said he is hopeful, but not certain things will turn out the same next summer.

“I have to look at worst-case scenario and assume it will go back to what it used to be. If it’s better than that – great,” Perkins said.

Photos by Julia Sandy

(Left photo) Golf traffic typically slows down in early September but, Bob Perkins, owner of Oshawa Airport Golf Club, said he has not seen any slowdown yet.

Meantime, (right) cup risers have been added to each hole.

Community

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

November, 2020

The Chronicle

17

Photo by Musthafa Azeez

The blvd Restaurant and Bar at Niagara Drive and Simcoe Street North is currently open for business, and hopes to stay that way.

Oshawa's 'blvd' of hopeful dreams COVID-19’s impact on the community

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Musthafa Azeez The Chronicle

“We don’t have a patio, so it was quite a struggle when everything did hit,” says Tessa Canaris, supervisor of The blvd (pronounced as “boulevard”) Restaurant and Bar, referring to the challenges of running a restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A small establishment located at Niagara Drive and Simcoe Street North in Oshawa, adjacent to the campus of Durham Col-

lege and Ontario Tech University, it hasn’t helped that most of The blvd’s business generally takes place between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Since reopening in mid-July after a nearly three-month shutdown, they’ve had to close at 11 p.m.

While their neighbour, St. Louis Bar and Grill, has been able to adapt to regulations by utilizing an outdoor patio, The blvd has been relying on the adjacent restaurant, Nathan’s Jerk.

Both establishments, owned by Subramaniam Natkuwanathan, or ‘Nathan’ to everyone who knows him, share a common kitchen. Though The blvd had to shut down for almost three months in the spring, its sister establishment was able to continue operations through food delivery services such as DoorDash and UberEats, enabling Nathan to cope financially. Relief also came in the form of “Beer2Go”, allowing customers to pick up beer from the bar and drink at home during the lockdown.

“People loved it!” says Canaris, explaining it became a success, especially due to the reduced working hours of beer stores and the fact that beer retailers such as Walmart are farther away for many.

Ever since Durham Region entered Phase 2 (the Ontario government’s reopening plan that allowed restaurants to resume in-person dining operations) in mid-June, The blvd has been welcoming back customers.

Canaris points out most of the customers are regulars, so there is no sense of anxiety.

“This is their favourite place, and they know it’s safe when they come in here,” she says.

It helps that the restaurant is small and therefore quite easy to maintain in terms of health protocols, Canaris explains, adding health inspectors from Durham Region have been regularly coming around. “We’re making sure that we’re up to shape.”

Apart from Canaris, there are

We're making sure that we're up to shape. three other part-time staff members at The blvd, all of whom are former students of Durham College and began working at the bar once it reopened. During the shutdown, the previous part-time staff members returned to their hometowns.

According to Restaurants Canada, an estimated 800,000 employees were laid off or not working as of April, 2020, due to the nationwide shutdown of restaurant operations.

Canaris says business normally increases when the new semester

begins, but the fact most classes are now online and many students aren’t in Oshawa hasn’t helped matters.

“This is a place where they can come to get away and enjoy themselves,” she says, referring to those who’re still living in the city, “especially with COVID and being inside the house all the time having to do online classes!”

Though that sounds like an open invitation, Canaris confesses she doesn’t know if The blvd will remain open throughout winter.

There is speculation further restrictions might be placed on businesses such as restaurants, as the country tries to wrestle with rising COVID-19 case numbers.

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau puts it, “the second wave isn’t just starting. It’s already underway.”

Canaris says: “I would hope that they’re not going to close us up, but I’m scared that they might.”

Photo by Musthafa Azeez

The blvd faces stiff competition from neighbour St. Louis. "We don't have a patio, so it was quite a struggle when everything did hit," says Canaris.

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November, 2020

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

Community

Photo courtesy of Ingrid Forster

RMG Fridays Drive-In event held on Sept. 4.

RMG goes online artfully COVID-19's impact on the community

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Karandeep Singh The Chronicle

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery closed in late March due to the

pandemic and reopened its doors to the public July 28.

Even though they were closed physically, they weren’t inactive.

The gallery transitioned to host virtual programming, online exhibitions and art activities on their website to foster the creativity of the artists and to serve the community.

RMG is a non-profit organization, funded by the City of Oshawa, grants and donations. They also generate revenue from workshops, classes, summer camps and their shop. However, during the closure, they were not able to offer these activities resulting in a loss of revenue.

“We did really feel that impact because we weren’t able to offer any of the onsite programs during the closure,” says Ingrid Forster, communications and digital media lead at RMG. Forster says the loss of revenue is not the biggest challenge they’ve had to face.

“The greatest impact that we’ve had is the impact to our exhibitions and programming and access to those from the community. The loss is really that during the closure, our community wasn’t able to come into the building and experience the programming and exhibition spaces in person.”

RMG’s vision is Oshawa and

Durham Region flourishing through arts, culture and community connection and resilience.

Not wanting to let COVID-19 defeat this vision, RMG adapted to the situation swiftly.

“We did respond very quickly to the closure and moved a lot of our programming and content online,” says Forster. " “Our priority, especially when our doors were closed was to still provide our community and our audiences with these meaningful art experiences virtually.”

Additionally, the RMG Shop started providing customers the ability to safely order their merchandise online on Sept. 7.

On the first Friday of every month, RMG hosts ‘RMG Fridays’ which features musical performances, local film screenings, art talks and food.

During the closure, the gallery had to put a halt to the event.

After reopening, RMG adapted to the situation and remodelled its Friday event to a ‘drive-in’ in their parking lot where people could physically distance and still enjoy the event.

“Those were very successful and they were sold out each time,” says Forster.

“It worked out really well for social distancing and spacing out the vehicles.”

Photo courtesy of Ingrid Forster

The Ugly Horse performing at the RMG Fridays drive-in event hosted on Sept. 4.

Community

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

November, 2020

The Chronicle

Campus closure kills burger business

COVID-19's impact on the community

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Michael S. Patrick The Chronicle

The McCoy Burger company at Campus Corners Plaza in Oshawa, closed its doors for good in September after finding out Durham College (DC) and Ontario Tech would not be holding in-person classes next semester.

McCoy Burger has been employing and serving students and other customers since it opened in 2014 and students accounted for 60 per cent of its Oshawa business, says Stefanie Fegyverneki, the general manager for McCoy’s Oshawa and Ajax locations.

Owner Floyd McCoy was not available for comment, however, a store employee calls the closure sad.

“We never thought the students would not come back to the school, and we would lose our store,” says Vikramjit Singh, a Durham College graduate who has worked for McCoy for almost two years.

“It is very sad news for us. I am also shocked. So many employees have lost their jobs now,” says Singh. He started with some of them when he was just a trainee in Oshawa. He now works at McCoy’s Ajax eatery on Rossland

19

Road West.

Singh says the Oshawa location was really busy when he started in 2018, but sales went down during COVID-19, to maybe to $150 a day. He says the Oshawa store wasn’t even covering labour costs in the end.

“Some of our employees were really emotional, it’s very hard for them,” says Singh.

He says about 10 employees lost their jobs.

“Our sales were totally dependent on the students,” says Singh, adding McCoy is just a small company, “That was our main store, even the Ajax store was less than the Oshawa store.”

So many people have lost their jobs.

Fegyverneki says the closure of the DC and Ontario Tech University campus had a major impact on the restaurant’s ability to remain open.

Students accounted for 60 per cent of the store’s business, she says.

Fegyverneki says although they were able to work with the landlord at beginning, they weren’t able to come to any permanent solutions.

“He didn’t take us seriously until we started to move our stuff out,” says Fegyverneki.

Photo by Michael S. Patrick

33-year-olds Justin Rash and Alayssa Taboy visit McCoy’s in Ajax recently for the first time.

Photo by Michael S. Patrick

Vikramjit Singh, a 24-year-old Durham College graduate, now works the kitchen at McCoy’s in Ajax.

She recalls business wasn’t always bad.

About two years ago they had a big event at the Oshawa store. She says Ted Reader, a celebrity chef and McCoy’s friend, came to the store to promote his new burger.

There was a whole promotion day. They opened at 5 a.m. and they gave away a bunch of Teddy Reader burgers. There was even a band in the store, she says.

“It was great when all that went down,” adding “now, we’re in the process of disconnecting the phones.”

Even with the government assistance programs designed to help businesses remain viable, Fegyverneki says it still wasn’t enough.

But it’s not all bad news for McCoy. Fegyverneki says sales in the Ajax location are almost back to pre-COVID numbers.

“The restaurant is right beside a grocery store, and it’s constantly busy,” she says.

Inside the Ajax store, 42-yearold general contractor Zabi Ghafoori, is waiting on his double cheeseburger. “I’m hungry,” he says with a laugh. Ghafoori says he doesn’t eat here often, “maybe once a week.”

33-year-old Justin Rash and Alayssa Taboy came by for the first time recently. Taboy says “we were driving by and we decided to come in.”

She says they remembered having the burgers a couple years ago when they tried them at Burgermania, at Dundas Square.

Outside the store, 13-year-old Denzel from Ajax sits with his friends having burgers. Denzel says, “in my opinion it’s a really high-quality burger and really nice tasting beef.”

Photo by Michael S. Patrick

Zabi Ghafoori, a 42-year-old general contractor, says he stops by once a week.

Photo by Michael S. Patrick

The McCoy Burger company closed its location at Campus Corners Plaza in Oshawa after seven years in business.

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November, 2020

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

Community

Photo courtesy of All or Nothing Brewhouse

Views of the parking lot for All or Nothing.

Brewery serving community in pandemic COVID-19's impact on the community Editor's note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Allaya Sue

The Chronicle COVID-19 isn’t stopping one Oshawa company from brewing up new business.

All or Nothing Brewhouse on Ritson Road South launched its newest domestic wheat beer, Pure Passion Oatmeal Stout, this week. “[We have] darker beer for the fall, and fruit and sour beers for the summer, and those are always evolving”, said All or Nothing co-owner and Durham College alumni, Jeff Dornan.

Even though COVID got in the way of its first-anniversary celebration at its Oshawa location, they still received a great response from both old and new customers.

During the brewery’s temporary store closure and its shutdown of operations for making beer due to government-imposed restrictions, they used their 5,000-litre distillery to make hand sanitizer for a couple of months.

“We were producing lots of hand sanitizer cans that went to local fire departments, local health care providers, local businesses, which kept them busy from the start,” said Jeff Dornan. Hand sanitizers are currently made in bulks of five-gallon buckets, for business, but are popular with the industrial industry.

The brewery house at All or Nothing.

Meantime, customers started to request more beer; Jeff Dornan explained (keep tenses consistent – said, explained, etc.) it’s their goal to make customers happy.

Brewing operations resumed in May and the retail location and patio opened up in June.

“We’ve seen a steady amount of people, we are very fortunate to have a fairly large patio, which is unique in Oshawa, so I think that drew people out to us and people have been able to socially distance,” said Jeff Dornan.

Having a limited amount of people goes against what a brewery wants, but it was necessary to hit the brakes and be socially responsible, Jeff Dornan said.

“It’s been a delicate balance of having the bills paid and doing our part to ensure there’s no infections or anything like that.”

All or Nothing has to ensure customers are safe through contact tracing. There haven't been any cases of COVID throughout

Photo courtesy of All or Nothing Brewhouse

We'd like to see the continued support of local businesses, it's the backbone of every community. the facility, but they need to get accurate information about the customers who visit and stay at the brewery. The names come from online reservations or paper logs.

Many customers have been using All or Nothing’s website to order beer for curbside pickup, which has been popular. It’s been allowing customers to have contactless service, Jeff Dornan said.

All or Nothing also uses its social media platforms to connect consumers with what’s next,

whether it’s new beer releases or events happening at the brewery.

“Every Friday right now, we are supporting a local urban farmer called City of Greens, he’s doing a farmers’ market, and is the only stall right now, but we’re looking to expand it in 2021.”

All or Nothing started seven and a half years ago by brothers Eric and Jeff Dornan from the Durham region.

For the first three years, the Dornan brothers had to use

other’s facilities for brewing, but still used their recipes and marketing materials.

Later they purchased one of the oldest breweries in Ontario, located in Oakville, formerly known as Trafalgar.

“We commuted from Whitby to Oakville for three years and spent many miles in the car,” said Jeff Dornan.

When an almost 60-year-old beer store, on Ritson Road in Oshawa, went up for sale, and the brothers bought the property.

“Our goal was always to move in back home to Oshawa into our forever home, and this building made complete sense.”

The Dornan brothers also planned to turn the facility into hosting weddings, and other events, pre-COVID, as there is a large beer hall that can host up to 80 people.

“Three weddings were booked, and they had to be cancelled until next year due to COVID.” Jeff Dornan describes All or Nothing as the “community hub,” and wants to ensure the money made keeps cycling to Ontario and the community.

“We’d like to see the continued support of local businesses, it’s the backbone of every community, said Jeff Dornan. Keeping the local businesses employed is critical because many don’t realize how many jobs are generated off of local businesses.”

Throughout the pandemic, Jeff Dornan said All or Nothing isn’t going anywhere.

“We have a full variety of beers that we’ve already planned and started brewing for fall and winter releases,” said Jeff Dornan. “We don’t know if our indoor seating will be closed through government suggestion or not, but we will follow protocols as normal.”

Community

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

November, 2020

The Chronicle

21

Photo by Andrea Eymann

Oshawa airport manager Stephan Wilcox (left) and James Bolitho stand in front of a jet at the Oshawa Executive Airport, on the Enterprise Airline lot.

Flying through the pandemic at Oshawa airport COVID-19's impact on the community Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles chronicling the effects of COVID-19 on businesses and organizations in Oshawa.

Andrea Eymann The Chronicle

Due to COVID-19, some businesses in Ontario had to close their doors to the public for several weeks – but the Oshawa Executive Airport was still allowed to keep flying.

Still, during the months be-

It’s up in the air…

I don’t think any of us know what it’s going to be like next year. tween April and June, there was little flying taking place, quieting the skies.

Airport Manager Stephan Wilcox said people living near the airport got used to the quiet but

by July there was a surge of planes travelling in the sky.

The Oshawa Executive Air-

port is the seventh busiest airport in all of Canada.

In 2015, they had 60,000 aircraft movements and in five years they have grown to have 90,000 movements, said Wilcox.

The airport is owned by the City of Oshawa, but Total Aviation operates and manages the airport.

Transport Canada sets all the rules they have to follow and Nav Canada operates the control tower and manages all arrivals and departures from the Oshawa Executive Airport, said Wilcox.

The airport costs the city about $400,000 a year to operate, Wilcox said, but the airport generates $1.6 million in property tax from the 18 different businesses at the airport.

Wilcox said, “the airport is completely self-funded through the property tax and does not

have a burden on the citizens of Durham Region.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, the airport had to reduce its employees’ hours, but they were still capable of paying them fulltime hours, said Wilcox.

However, flight schools were not allowed to operate, he said.

Since July 1, the airport has had a full working staff working fulltime hours, Wilcox said.

As of Oct. 1, no employees at the airport have tested positive for COVID-19 but some people had to take sick leave for having COVID-19 like symptoms, said Wilcox, who has been in the aviation industry for 45 years.

Closely monitoring the COVID-19 case numbers in Durham Region, they have been preparing for a second wave to hit.

Airport employees continue to social distance and wear face masks

when it is not possible to socially distance.

Wilcox said, “we have a very robust risk management process,” adding they have been temperature testing and screening to make air travel safe.

Due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, Wilcox does not know what operations at the Oshawa Executive Airport will look like in the next year.

But the airport hopes to update its business plan and reduce its noise and traffic management plan.

Wilcox said some people have complained about the noise the airplanes produced, pushing the airport to work at reducing its noise pollution.

“It’s up in the air… I don’t think any of us know what it’s going to be like next year,” said Wilcox.

Photos by Andrea Eymann

(Left) A small plane at the the Enterprise Airlines lot and (right) a small plane on the runway at the Oshawa Executive Airport, getting ready to take off.

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The Chronicle

November, 2020

chronicle.durhamcollege.ca

Opinion

Tracing’s the answer, not lockdowns The government should have been prepared months ago with a plan to trace to manage the pandemic The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name accompanies this column.

Stephanie Lacarte The Chronicle

With the rise in COVID-19 cases surging past the initial number that put us in lockdown in the very beginning, there is a growing concern among the public that the government should be sharing more information regarding COVID-19 preparedness and contact tracing.

Some health experts are warn-

ing we are on the brink of losing the gains made to contain the virus that was achieved through lots of personal and economic sacrifices.

Mayor Doug Ford told the Star in September that the second wave is, “a scenario that we’ve been preparing for all summer long.”

“With the number of cases on the rise, it’s clear that the next wave will come at us harder than the last one.

“It will be more challenging than before because the flu season is starting soon and people are heading indoors again,” Ford said

during an afternoon news conference held at Queen’s Park, Monday, Sept. 14.

Six months into this pandemic and the race for a vaccine is getting longer than was expected and with no assurances of a structural plan presented by our municipal, regional or Canadian government.

Given the historical context of the 2002-2003 SARS pandemic and the 2009 H1NI epidemic, it is concerning the three levels of government are not more prepared with a plan by now involving contract tracing because that is the information that will help lead us to the answer of managing the pandemic.

The municipal, provincial and federal government has continued to provide the public with information on active case numbers, and safety precautions like isolating, social distancing, and sanitary

protocols, most of which is available on Canada.ca.

But with Ontario having almost 58,000 total cases as of early October, the political arguments about whether or not to keep the community open should already be clear.

They are not.

Health experts say the Peel and Toronto Region are failing to track where people are contracting the virus.

An earlier plan to develop efficient systems for data-sharing amongst federal, provincial, and municipal governments could have saved lives.

Municipal governments should have made it protocol for all businesses to track names and contact information for customers.

This would have helped municipal governments pinpoint hotspot areas in their communities.

Allowing communities to re-

main open when hundreds of cases are becoming active daily is not what is going to keep this virus under control.

Neither is encouraging people to eat out at restaurants and dine in at bars or discouraging small personal gatherings at homes.

Having the specifics provided by our municipal governments regarding contract tracing would have sooner helped the public be able to locate where the virus is being contracted and where specific hot spots are located in their communities.

This might have given the economy more hope.

Now we are seeing numbers higher than at the beginning of the pandemic, which leads to the conclusion that the government should have been more prepared months ago with a plan involving contract tracing to manage the pandemic.

Sorry, but our smart move is another lockdown It would stop the virus.

Period.

The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name accompanies this column.

Andrea Eymann The Chronicle

COVID-19 numbers are increasing, more people are dying, and more people believe the pandemic is over. According to Public Health Ontario, as of Oct. 1, there are 52,248 cases.

A lockdown is the only way to end the pandemic.

According to Public Health Ontario, on Oct. 1, there are 538 new confirmed cases, which is a one per cent increase from the day before.

This may not seem like a big increase but if the cases increase by one per cent per day for a week then at the end of a week there will have been a seven per cent increase of cases.

On Sept. 28, the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford said, “Ontario is now in the second wave of COVID-19. We know that this wave will be more complicated, more complex, it will be worse.”

By Oct. 2, Ford had asked Ontarians to put a pause on social circles and only be in close contact with people in their household.

But people living alone are allowed to meet with others while socially

distancing. A full lockdown would stop people from meeting others and passing the virus from person to person.

On Sept. 17, in stage three, the provincial government reduced the sizes of gatherings from 50 people back down to 10 people inside and 25 people outside.

The provincial government is trying to slow down the spread of the virus by reducing the sizes of group gatherings, this action is not enough. Opening up most non-essential stores across Ontario is taking two-steps backwards instead of two steps forward.

Ontario needs to be doing more to get ahead of the curve.

On Oct. 1 at Queen’s Park, Ford said, “It’s the people that make a difference in the fight.”

This is true.

You cannot win a fight by sitting around doing nothing; people need to wear masks, wash hands constantly and properly social distance. To slow the onslaught of the second wave of this pandemic, Ontario needs to be in lockdown.

People need to start to treat this pandemic as an emergency.

The numbers make it clear people are not following the social distancing protocols. According to Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health, there are 40,000 COVID-19 tests available for the public.

As flu season approaches, it becomes necessary to get testing done to find asymptotic people who are not showing any signs of COVID-19.

As of Sept. 25, select pharmacies can give the COVID-19 test, which is making it easier to get tested.

As the cases increase, more people are still going outside, and asymptotic people are infecting others without realizing it. A lockdown is the only way to stop the spread and put an end to the virus.

While we wait for Ontario to go back into lockdown, people are getting affected by COVID-19.

In Ontario, as of Oct. 1, there have been 2,851 deaths caused by COVID-19.

Ontario needs to hurry up, put more actions into place and make it mandatory that Ontario goes into another lockdown before a second wave hits harder than the first.

Let’s stop ‘glorifying’ the COVID-19 vaccine

The following piece is the opinion of the Durham College journalism student whose name accompanies this column.

Karandeep Singh Oberoi The Chronicle

The world has hit a stagnant point economically and socially because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and everyone is hoping that normalcy will return once an effective vaccine is developed.

In the best-case scenario, this might be true, and we will all be back to attending concerts and watching games in packed arenas or cracking open a cold one with friends. The more probable scenario though is that a vaccine will not end the pandemic but rather taking preventive measures will become a part of our daily

routine for the foreseeable future.

Vaccine efficacy is not easy to achieve. Developing a vaccine is a long and complex procedure which usually takes 10-15 years to perfect. With the world racing to produce a vaccine in record time, efficacy can not be promised.

In the best-case scenario, a vaccine may be rolled out so that it puts a stop to community spread, such as vaccines for Hepatitis A and B, polio, and measles did. This will allow us to return to normalcy, but all vaccines do not work this way.

Some vaccines only reduce the risk of getting infected.

For instance, the vaccine for influenza reduces the symptoms the infected person exhibits but it does not make one immune against the flu. With reduced symptoms, the

infected person is less contagious and thus transmission is less likely to take place.

On the other hand, some vaccines do not stop the infection at all but rather reduce the severity of the disease.

For instance, the vaccine for tuberculosis does not eliminate the risk of acquiring the disease, but reduces the severity of the disease and the complications related to it, resulting in fewer deaths and less load on the healthcare system.

If the best-case scenario does turn out to be true, and a vaccine is developed that can put a halt to all person-to-person transmission, the world will still have to take preventive measures for a long time because the vaccine is not likely to be immediately around the globe.

Public Health experts warn that

the volume of vaccine available to fight the coronavirus or SARSCoV-2 in coming years is expected to fall far short of global demand, despite an unprecedented effort to manufacture billions of doses.

The small volume of vaccine that will be available may be used by the country that developed it and the rest will most likely be sold to the highest bidders.

This will leave the less wealthy countries struggling to find doses for their citizens. Such a scenario will not help end the pandemic because as New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo said, “an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere.”

A recent study published online

by Kings College, London suggests that immunity to COVID-19 is short-lived and dwindles rather

quickly: in as little as two months.

If that is the case, a single dose of a vaccine will not be enough to end the pandemic. Everyone will have to take booster shots every couple of months, just the way we do for the common cold and flu.

This is bad news for achieving herd immunity and might force us to take preventive measures for a significant amount of time.

While scientists all over the world work to find an effective cure, it is important to accept the fact that COVID-19 is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Hand hygiene, physical distancing, and face masks are the new normal and should be added to our daily routine to steer clear of transmission as much as possible.Vaccines are not a magic bullet.