What does Declaring a State of Emergency Mean?

Posted On Thursday March 19, 2020

The declaration of emergency does not dramatically change the situation, we are already following our emergency management plan;
It provides the municipality with certain legal protections, and also provides volunteers who may be involved in our response to this emergency with protection in the event we need to draw on volunteer resources in the coming days;
It provides the municipality with flexibility to suspend normal practices to facilitate decision making for the organization to respond to the emergency as it unfolds, if necessary;
It does not allow municipalities to “lock down” society or break laws or act outside of the normal municipal business;
The County will continue to look for guidance from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health and the Brant County Health Unit on the steps it needs to take to help keep our residents safe, and the declaration puts us in a strong position to respond to the guidance provided by these agencies.