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Thread: 11.G Other Business

  1. #21
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    Sep 2010
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    Obviously, at a minimum, each tournament organizer needs to adhere to what their own province's COVID-19 restrictions are -- so CFC doesn't need to do anything about that. I think the question is, does CFC feel that it is important enough, or care enough about the health and welfare of all our CFC Players, that we want the CFC to lawfully use whatever authority it has to enforce what we deem to be good safety COVID-19 practices. If so, the decision making process could look something like this:

    Step 1: Does CFC think it should recommend stricter guidelines than what individual provinces are mandating?
    a. If no, end of discussion.
    b. If yes, one way would be CFC can choose not to CFC rate events that do not adhere to its recommendations.

    Step 2: If yes, to above, then what would those stricter guidelines be?
    - It might be more effective to create a small committee to draft up these guidelines/recommendations and then present to CFC Executives/CFC Voting Members for approval vs. trying to hammer out these guidelines/recommendations via group postings during this AGM; or some other more efficient way to get this done.

    Step 3: Communicate these recommendations to tournament organizers either via CFC Forum, CFC website, CFC Facebook, shout it out from the rooftops, etc.

    Like Aris, I also would like to offer my input for this initiative, as I think this is a vital, and in some case a potentially life-threatening, issue that CFC can help make a positive impact on the lives of all it's CFC Members, both young and older.

    Richard: Is FQE allowing Players under 12 yrs old to play in the Sept 5 OTB youth tournament, and if so, what precautions are being taken with this unvaccinated group?

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Victoria Doknjas View Post
    My first reaction to this would be the CFC could either:
    1. Take the stance that its minimum set of COVID-19 criteria would be the same as the province with the strictest regulations because if CFC's stance is less than that, it would not meet the requirements of the province with the strictest regulations. However, in those provinces' with less strict regulations, what power does CFC have to enforce this (or the organizers) other than CFC refusing to CFC rate these events.
    - I am not as familiar with the current requirements in all provinces, so would chess tournament organizers have the right to mandate a stricter set of COVID-19 criteria than what their province has mandated? Likely the answer is "no", e.g., vaccine passports -- either your province has a mechanism in place for this or it doesn't.

    OR

    2. Take the stance that its minimum set of COVID-19 criteria is the same as what each individual chess tournament organizers' province is mandating, and refer these organizers to their local province's website, etc.

    Aris: Are you asking what CFC should be mandating; or are you asking what CFC should be recommending (but know cannot legally enforce)?
    - And again, the only authority that I see that CFC has is it can refuse to CFC rate a tournament if that organizer does not adhere to CFC's mandate and/or recommendations.
    So there have already been some cross-health-jurisdiction entities that have mandated restrictions across their operations. Then, if a jurisdiction has even higher restrictions, then those of course also have to be enforced. That's the kind of leadership position from the CFC that I am asking about here. I'm not 100% SURE this is doable/desirable, but I'm hoping that most of us agree it's both. Let's use a more tangible example. Richard (Quebec) indicated that their events would enforce vaccinated players (>12 years). That's nice for the Organizers/Arbiters because they seem to have that already stated by their provincial government and by their provincial chess association. I salute both of them for this! Then say the next weekend, I try to run a national event IN ONTARIO, where such supportive regulations have NOT been implemented by the provincial government. Well, now it becomes more challenging for me to have the same health restrictions that Quebec had the previous weekend. There will be challenges issued (albeit probably by a minority). On the other hand, if the CFC has already declared that it expects all national events to require vaccinated (again >12 years for now), well then an Ontario Organizer can easily say "following national CFC directives".

    I hope this paints a better picture of advantages of CFC national directives (and which will be MINIMUMS!)

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
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    110

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    I have also posted this under BIDS FOR 2021-22 EVENTS.
    This is to let voting members - especially in Ontario - know that (assuming the given conditions are met),
    the Ontario High School Chess Championship teachers organising committee will hold an over-the-board tournament in April 2022 in Toronto.
    Please let teachers, students, and parents in your Ontario region know.
    Thank you very much.

    The Ontario High School Chess Championship will be held
    in Toronto, in April, 2022
    under the following conditions:
    * the government of Ontario allows large gatherings;
    * schools and school boards allow extra-curricular activities, including chess clubs, and school trips;
    * parents and students are comfortable with attending
    An announcement will be made on the website as soon as possible.
    http://www.ohscc.on.ca
    The organising committee (OC) can be reached at
    high.school.chess@gmail.com
    It is asked that a representative of each school chess club - teacher, parent, or student - email the OC when the above conditions have been met for your school, and you know that players from your school will be able to attend.

    A few notes about the OHSCC:
    Why April? It used to be May, but now many schools run the IB programme, and many others run Grade 12 AP courses; both IB and AP courses have international exams in May (the IB exams start Apr 28).
    The championship has 3 sections:
    Championship (Open to all, 5 rounds);
    Intermediate ( rated < 1500 or unrated, 6 rounds);
    Beginner (rated < 1100 or unrated, with less than 2 years of tournament experience, 6 rounds)
    4 rounds are played on Friday (Ch - only 3), 2 on Saturday
    Time control: Ch Rds 1 and 2 1 hr / player; Rds 3-5 90 min / player + 30 sec incr
    Int and Beg Rds 1 – 3 1 hr / player; Rds 4 – 6 90 min / player

    The organising committee of teachers is working hard to complete arrangements for the tournament site. They will also make arrangements for hotel discounts at one or more nearby hotels for out-of-town students and staff.
    They will not hold the tournament Easter week-end (Apr 15-16 – normally this would conflict with the Toronto Open !) or Apr 29-30 (IB exams).
    The date and site will be announced on the website as soon as possible.

  4. #24
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    Jul 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aris Marghetis View Post
    I suspect that I haven't done a good enough job yet in wording my request: I am hoping that the CFC Executive explicitly defines a minimum set of COVID-19 criteria for our national championships (which will cross multiple provincial health jurisdictions). "Minimum" implies the practical reality that some locations will entail "higher" requirements. These may be from regional health units, from provincial regulations, even perhaps the fully privately-owned playing venue. So, do people agree or disagree that this is something the CFC Executive should undertake? I offer to provide my input to such an initiative. My concern is that if the CFC does not take a leadership position, then events in provinces like Ontario might suffer from players who won't attend due to concerns their health isn't protected.
    I agree with Aris that this would be an important rôle for the CFC executive to undertake.

  5. #25
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    Jun 2013
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    Ottawa
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    Provinces determine health regulations. I would disagree with CFC going beyond a provincial mandate.

  6. #26
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    Tecumseh, ON
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    I have had many discussions about covid with my siblings one of whom is an orthopaedic surgeon who is on the Covid committee of two different hospitals in the Dallas, Texas area and another who is a family doctor in the Windsor area. Two other siblings are dentists. My sister was a physiotherapist. One niece is a homeopathic doctor. A nephew and a niece are in medical school. I am the black sheep of the family with an MBA, a couple of undergrad degrees and an electrical-electronics engineering technology diploma and being president of the CFC.

    I would look to FIDE which has more access to experts to develop the response to COVID. For me to offer anything beyond what the governments and health experts are telling us would have to be very strongly science based. We don't have the expertise to make that determination. I am skeptical of the utility of plastic barriers and wiping down surfaces as most of the reported studies do not support their efficacy. Plastic barriers may be detrimental because they restrict air flow. Even masks are only useful to the extent that they stop people from coughing in each others faces. The virus is airborne. Most masks allow the virus through them. The masks that don't allow the virus through them have their own issues. The original variant was not that easy to catch. You needed a prolonged exposure. The new variants are less deadly but more easily transmissible.

    We are in an evolving situation where we just have to pay attention to what governments and health authorities are telling us. This situation is novel and evolving for them also. Guidelines from one month to the next can be contradictory as they acquire more information and try to apply that information to navigate their current understanding of the current reality.

  7. #27
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    ok, lemme try to jumpstart this initiative with these 2 ideas:

    1) over 12 years vaccinated!
    2) others quick-tested onsite?

  8. #28
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    Jul 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aris Marghetis View Post
    ok, lemme try to jumpstart this initiative with these 2 ideas:

    1) over 12 years vaccinated!
    2) others quick-tested onsite?
    This is clear and straight-forward.
    Organisers would have to arrange for quick-testing.

  9. #29
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    Kanata, Ottawa, Ontario
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    Quote Originally Posted by Christopher Field View Post
    This is clear and straight-forward.
    Organisers would have to arrange for quick-testing.
    Thanks Chris. Note I'm not saying these should be the actual conditions. I just wanted to trigger someone Exec to take charge of building a team to examine this.

    Again, I offer (as has at least Victoria), to provide input to Exec(s).

  10. #30
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    Aug 2016
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    I don't agree that the CFC Executive should define a minimum set of Covid-19 criteria for national championships, which will cross multiple provincial health jurisdictions.

    The CFC shouldn't place itself in a position where it will potentially be over-ruling individual provincial and territorial health authorities with respect to what pandemic protocols are needed in their province or territory.

    A provincial health officer's judgment shouldn't be subject to second guessing by a non health authority like the CFC executive. Simply because other entities are applying this heavy handed policy doesn't justify it.

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