Today we received information from the province that as of September 22, 2021, Ontarians will need to be fully vaccinated (two doses plus 14 days) and provide proof of vaccination along with photo ID to access certain public settings and facilities.
Some of these settings include facilities used for sports, and sporting events. The communication from the province indicates that this will not include youth recreational sports, but we have not received enough information to know if the exemption applies to children under the age of 12 who are not old enough to receive the vaccine or everyone involved in youth recreational sports.
In addition to this new requirement set out by the province, OMHA has advised that they are also going to release a mandatory vaccination policy for its members, and we have been advised to expect a memo by the end of the week with their rules.
Both OMHA and the province will allow exemptions for medical purposes and the provincial rules state that a doctor's note will be required.
This information is being released to our membership tonight so that people can take the necessary steps to get vaccinated prior to September 22nd or decide if they want to participate in hockey at all this season.
Even if the province does exclude mandatory vaccinations for everyone involved in youth recreational sports, OMHA will require it for hockey.
If these rules make you want to withdraw your child from hockey, we ask that you wait to see what the complete provincial rules and/or OMHA rules state. Vaccinations are not available for children under the age of 12.
If you're not vaccinated and would like to get vaccinated prior to the start of the season, there are pharmacies in our area that will schedule an appointment for you. Booking an appointment as soon as possible may help prevent any delay to the start of the season.
We will post an update again once we have received more information from OMHA. If you have any questions for OMHA, please direct them to our OMHA Contact only who will contact OMHA on your behalf. Do not contact our Regional Director directly.