Town of Aylmer Declares State of Emergency
At 3:00 p.m. Monday, November 2nd, 2020 the Town of Aylmer declared a State of Emergency as a result of the potential for civil unrest and service disruptions relating to protests and demonstrations regarding COVID-19 directions, recommendations and orders set out by the Province of Ontario and Southwestern Public Health.
As a point of notation:
An emergency is defined under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act as “a situation, or an impending situation that constitutes a danger of major proportions that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property and that is caused by the forces of nature, a disease or other health risk, an accident or an act whether intentional or otherwise” [Section 1, definition of an emergency].
Under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, only the head of council of a municipality (or his or her designate) and the Lieutenant Governor in Council or the Premier have the authority to declare an emergency. The Premier, the head of council, as well as a municipal council, have the authority to terminate an emergency declaration [Sections 4 (1), (2), (4)].
An emergency declaration may extend to all, or any part of the geographical area under the jurisdiction of the municipality [Section 4 (1)].
There are four (4) primary reasons the Municipality would declare this state
It protects our Volunteers. Anyone assisting citizens or the Municipality during a State of
- Emergency are blanket covered by this declaration.
- It further protects Staff and Elected Officials from litigious situations that may arise as a result of the emergency.
- It assists with applying or receiving any availability of funding that may come about as a result of the emergency and further it provides our private citizens more flexibility with claims etc. that may come about, during the designated emergency timeline.
- Above all, declaring a State of Emergency conveys the serious of the circumstance to not only the residents of the Municipality, but also creates awareness to the levels of Government and Officials that are so willing to assist.
Mayor, Mary French