The City of Mississauga, is currently in the Grey-Lockdown level of Ontario’s COVID-19 Response Framework and is adhering to all recommendations and precautions set forth by the Province and Peel’s Medical Officer of Health.

Peel Region’s Grey-Lockdown level status has resulted in the closure of City community centres, including pools, fitness centres and arenas and cultural facilities such as the Small Arms Building and Museums of Mississauga, Living Arts Centre and Meadowvale Theatre. All indoor team sport activities, indoor in–person recreation programs including pools, arenas, fitness and culture programs are cancelled.

With these closures, the City of Mississauga has again made the difficult decision to temporarily lay-off approximately 1,100 part-time employees who work at these facilities effective December 7, 2020.

“This decision is especially difficult given the hard year we have all had. The City is facing significant financial pressures as a result of this second lockdown. In order to be fiscally responsible, we must take action to respond to the facility closures and their impact on our operations. This is not where we wanted to be. But I truly believe that Mississauga can come together, right here and right now, to get this situation under control. I am again urging everyone to stay home expect when going out for the essentials, and to please limit their in-person contact to just their immediate households and essential supports,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie.

“As the City had to enter a second lock-down in order to protect the health and safety of employees and residents, we made the difficult decision to lay off part time staff in non-essential services. I know that employees are under a lot of anxiety and stress, especially so close to the holiday season. Due to financial pressures we are seeing on our 2020 financial results, we have to mitigate the financial impact from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lay-offs are a direct result of City program cancellations and facility closures, not having work available for part-time employees during the shut-down of non-essential services. We will continue to assess the impact of the lockdown to City operations, communicate with those impacted and have made our employee and family assistance program available to all staff during this difficult time,” said Paul Mitcham, Chief Administrative Officer and City Manager.

The majority of lay-offs impact part-time employees in Community Services. Many employees are expected to receive benefits through the Canada Recovery Benefit.

The City will continues to deliver services including Fire, Transit, Works Operations and Maintenance, 311 and Dispatch, Parks and Forestry, Animal Services, Regulatory Services, Building Permits/Inspections, Site Plan Applications, Official Plan Amendments and Rezoning Planning Applications, Security Services as well as Administrative/Technical functions.

For information on health and safety recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit peelregion.ca/coronavirus.

For information about the City’s response to COVID-19:

• Visit mississauga.ca/covid
• Follow @CityMississauga on Twitter and Facebook
• Watch Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s weekly COVID-19 press conference
• Contact 311 (905-615-4311)