Wilmot council in favour of disbanding Canada Day committee in favour of staff-led approach

Wilmot Township council members serve free cake to residents during the 2025 Wilmot Canada Day celebration, an event that drew thousands and is now set to shift to a staff-led planning model. Sharon Leis photo

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wilmot council will likely disband the volunteer-based committee that has organized and run the annual Wilmot Canada Day event for the past two years in favour of a staff-led approach.

At the Sept. 8 committee of the whole meeting, Wilmot director of community services Chris Catania told council staff is recommending the dissolution of the Canada Day committee of council to allow staff to take the lead in organizing and running the event going forward, which he said would foster better communication among organizers and more efficiency in the overall event-planning process.

“The Canada Day Taskforce has played a pivotal role in the Canada Day celebrations for both 2024 and 2025,” Catania said. “The dedication, hard work and enthusiasm of taskforce members has been instrumental in the success of this event.”

“ … Under this new approach, staff would work collaboratively and closely with local organizations and community groups to plan, coordinate and deliver an inclusive and community focused celebration. This recommendation is informed by the feedback of both taskforce members and staff highlighting the potential for improvement in coordination and streamlined processes. The staff-led approach will enhance operational efficiencies while maintaining strong community engagement and community support.”

The 2024 Canada Day celebration, held at William Scott Park, exceeded expectations with an estimated attendance of approximately 5,000 people. Building on this success, the committee implemented changes to the 2025 event based on feedback. With the relocation to a new venue and enhanced programming, the 2025 event saw even greater success, drawing an estimated 7,000-8,000 attendees.

While the committee did its best to address all issues identified from the 2024 event, it continued to struggle with the structure of meetings, as it was seen as prohibitive to the planning process. According to the council report, the main issues the committee struggled with were not being able to discuss items that weren’t on a meeting agenda and not being able to communicate officially with committee members between meetings.

“I was surprised … that there isn’t flexibility in subcommittees to address items that aren’t on the agenda,” Coun. Stewart Cressman said. “Usually there’s a section called ‘other business.’ I’ve chaired a number of meetings in my past commodity life and it didn’t seem to be as rigidly defined as that.”

In response, township clerk Kaitlin Bos said the committee is actually an official committee of council, which means it must give the public notice of when each meeting will be held, there must be quorum for each meeting, it has a code of conduct and there are other protocols and rules members must follow, including only discussing items posted on each meeting’s agenda, similar to the rules council adheres to.

“Our intention is … it’s still a community-led event,” Catania said. “We really need the support of our community groups and our volunteers to help the success of this event for Canada Day and right now, we have really a good event. We know what we’re doing – not just staff but volunteers. We’ve had a couple of years, we know the different successes. With this type of process moving forward, staff can make it more efficient. We can start engaging with some of our vendors earlier, signing off on certain agreements. We have these things in place, but we definitely rely on the community and the volunteers to help really run it, specifically the day of.

“So, we’re not really changing anything in that regard, we’re just trying to make the process a little more efficient for staff so they can still continue on with their core duties as well, and to make it a success for the rest of Wilmot.”

According to the council report, staff oversight is critical to maintaining accountability for public funds and ensuring adherence to legislative and insurance requirements. Staff are experienced in working within the framework of the Waterloo Municipal Insurance Pool and have access to the necessary resources and professional advice, including reviewing contracts with high-risk vendors (fireworks providers and inflatable amusement companies) to ensure appropriate liability coverage and risk-management protocols are in place.

Additionally, staff are well-versed in public-health regulations, emergency response planning and first-aid requirements for large-scale community events.

In recent years, staff have secured funding through the Federal Celebrate Canada Grant – $8,000 in 2024 and $12,000 in 2025 – to support the Canada Day celebrations. Staff are responsible for preparing the grant application, ensuring compliance with all federal guidelines, managing the disbursement of funds and submitting final reports to the federal government.

Staff also maintain responsibility for the overall event budget and are accountable for providing transparent and accurate financial reporting to both council and the public.

As the Canada Day event enters its third consecutive year, much of the foundational work has already been completed. Advertising templates, event signage, vendor and performer contacts and logistical plans are in place, allowing township staff to quickly move forward with securing vendors, entertainers and other services without requiring specific direction from a committee.

Volunteers, meanwhile, can assist with a variety of tasks, including planning certain aspects of the event, securing vendors, fundraising, coordinating children’s activities, providing visitor support and helping manage vendor logistics on event day. For this year’s Canada Day event, volunteer members of the taskforce secured more than $18,000 in donations and sponsorships.

“This is not ending the Canada Day events as we know it, it’s just making it logistically, I think, a lot easier,” Mayor Natasha Salonen said. “ … A huge thank-you to everyone who has volunteered and been a part of our taskforce. I know a lot of you have been on it for the last two years. … It really has paid off.”