• International travel must be cancelled or postpone until further notice.
• Individuals abroad must return to Canada. The Sport Medicine Advisory Committee has, over the last several days, invited the National Sport Organizations (NSOs) to evaluate situations on a case-by-case basis and consult with their Chief Medical Officer or team doctor. All our National Team Athletes still abroad - including the USA, have been asked to return to Canada. As of March 19th, National Team Athletes were all back in the country. Based on Dr. Leclerc recommendations, athletes are following appropriate self-isolation protocols. Our medical staff is closely monitoring health and wellbeing of the athletes.

• On March 25, 2020, WPC has made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the 2019-2020 National Championship League (NCL) season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Over the past few weeks, we have evaluated the scenarios related to hosting its 2020 NCL events under present conditions. Given the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place by government authorities, in particular the closure of sports facilities and the ban on holding rallies, WPC has now determined that all remaining 2019-2020 National Championship League events, including Conference Championships and National Finals, must be cancelled.
• Water Polo Canada is investigating the possible alternatives for NCL clubs, including partial reimbursement of the teams’ NCL fees. Given the amount of uncertainty around the current situation, WPC asked clubs and provincial organizations for their patience during this process.
• Full press release can be found here.

• Background: Over the last 5 years the WPC Registration Fees have been increased at a rate of 2.5% per year (except for the Clubs & PSOs fees that have been kept stable)
• Decision: For 2020-2021 there will be no increase (same as the current registration year). Status quo as well for the Safe Sport Surcharge introduced for this current registration year.

• Background: The AGM was scheduled June 12-14 in Calgary
• Decision: WPC in-person AGM weekend in Calgary is cancelled
• The AGM portion itself (typically a block of 2 hours) will take place on Sunday June 14 in the afternoon Eastern time zone and via a web-based platform
• The other components of the originally scheduled AGM weekend are postponed to a later date TBD during the 2020-2021 fiscal (most likely in October or later) except for the Registration Management System / Database discussion with Jason Robinson (Senior Consultant at Sport, law and Strategy Group) that will be held via a web-based platform at a date and time TBD but during the month of June.

Water Polo Canada staff, programs and administration:

WATER POLO CANADA 2019-2020 CLUB ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (CAP)

• Details on the 2019-2020 CAP are here
• The submission deadline was January 31st and once the COVID-19 crisis hit, we had substantially completed the analysis of applications received.
• Given the situation we are facing; WPC Executive Director has requested to put this program on hold. WPC will review this file and will advise as soon as possible but the message here is that WPC is committed to protect 100% of the funds assigned to this program (up to $30,500) in order to invest back in our organizations (clubs & PSOs in some cases) in order to help recovery as a sport once the crisis is over.

Contact information for public health authorities by jurisdiction:

Government of Canada novel coronavirus information line: 1-833-784-4397

British Columbia: 811

Alberta : 811

Saskatchewan: 811

Manitoba: 1-888-315-9257

Ontario: 1-866-797-0000

Quebec: 1 877 644-4545

New Brunswick: 811

Nova Scotia: 811

Prince Edward Island: 811

Newfoundland and Labrador: 811 or 1-888-709-2929

Nunavut: 867-975-5772

Northwest Territories: 911

Yukon : 811

[1] The Sport Medicine Advisory Committee is comprised of Chief Medical Officers from the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, and the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network