The provincial government recently announced the Plan to Safely Reopen Ontario and Manage COVID-19 for the Long-Term. This plan outlines Ontario’s approach to slowly lifting remaining public health and workplace safety measures over the next six months. As of Monday, Oct. 25, capacity limits have been lifted in most settings where proof of vaccination is required, such as restaurants and sports facilities.

Work is underway to assess how the regulation changes will impact Queen’s operations. Below is a summary of the upcoming changes that we know of at this time.

Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC)

As of Friday, Oct. 29, masks are required in the ARC at all times, except while performing physical activity. Please see the ARC website for further changes to facility protocols.

Eating and Drinking on Campus

Seating capacities in dining halls and retail food outlets will be increased over the next few weeks.

The new regulations may make it possible for more options for eating and drinking in certain buildings; however, vaccination status will need to be confirmed to access these spaces. Further details on additional designated eating and drinking spaces on campus will be communicated by faculties and schools as soon as possible. We ask for your patience as the university works through the implementation of these changes.

Student-Led On-Campus Activities

As the university has now successfully transitioned to in-person academic activities, the Co-Curricular Restart Advisory Group (CRAG) will be dissolved and approval of student-led co-curricular activities and events will follow the usual event sanctioning process through the AMS and SGPS. The AMS and SGPS have worked closely with the Executive Director, Risk and Safety Services to develop additional criteria, in alignment with the government regulations under Step 3, for their non-academic activity approval process to help mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Please note that on-campus non-academic activities continue to be limited to 25 people indoors and 100 people outdoors for the time being and all attendees must comply with Queen’s COVID-19 Vaccination Policy. Review of the new government regulations will direct any changes to the criteria for non-academic activities on-campus and the Queen’s Fall 2021 Event Planning Guidelines.

As noted, an assessment is underway to determine how the recent regulation changes will impact campus operations, including the lifting of capacity limits in non-instructional spaces on campus. Additional information will be shared once further details are known.

Thank you to Queen’s students, staff, and faculty for your committed efforts to support the health of our community over the past 18 months by adhering to the public health restrictions and getting vaccinated. It is thanks to your efforts that Queen’s has been able to successfully transition to in-person activities in the fall term.