February 24, 2022

Dr. Penny Sutcliffe

Medical Officer of Health & CEO

Public Health Sudbury and Districts

Sudbury, Ontario P3E 3A3

[email protected]

RE: Business Concerns Regarding COVID-19 Communication  

Dear Dr. Sutcliffe,  

We are writing to you on behalf of the membership of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce to share our concerns and priorities regarding COVID-19 regulations.  Our chamber represents over 700 businesses and during the pandemic has endeavored to communicate business priorities to all levels of government and stakeholders.

We thank you and your team for taking the time to meet with our COVID-19 Advocacy Task Force.  We appreciate your ongoing leadership and your February 5 decision to rescind local COVID-19 restrictions.  Though this announcement is welcomed, the chamber and the business community didn’t receive official email communication from Public Health Sudbury Districts until a few days after it was announced on social media. This is unacceptable, these are businesses and members that while supportive, have been utterly crippled by these policies.  They should be the very first to know when they can get back to business.  Instead, many learned of this announcement through your organization’s Facebook page or indirectly from customers.  The post didn’t even specify what particular restrictions were lifted, which created confusion and mistrust among local businesses such as personal care settings that are affected by this decision.

We would like to reiterate our concerns on behalf of our members that were discussed during our meeting and blatantly ignored.  In particular, provide clear, timely, and consistent e-mail communication in layman’s terms for any future announcements by Public Health Sudbury and Districts.  Additionally, we request you to share any communication with the chamber prior to announcing it to the public.

We trust you will take the above-noted concerns and priorities of our business members into consideration as you manage the pandemic in the coming weeks and months.  Our chamber will continue to communicate the priorities of our members as the province advances toward a safe and efficient reopening. 

Yours truly,

Neil Milner

Chair of the Board