City warns residents to stay out of municipal parks

With summer weather upon us, the city of Gatineau warned citizens to stay away from restricted portions of municipal parks and to maintain proper social distancing when frequenting them. According to a press release issued by the city on April 30, city staff monitored 264 municipal parks every day to encourage social distancing. The team included 24 people working on a rotational basis, with 12 employees working per day. Having come across more than 10,000 people during their park visits, the release added, city staff have intervened around 1,900 times to tell people about social distancing rules and which parts of certain parks are closed. Despite this, the city noted that numerous people have continued to use municipal skate parks, which are closed.

The city has installed more than 2,500 signs in parks to remind people about the recommended preventive measures against COVID-19. More signs will be installed at the city’s now-open boating docks. Municipal parks have been barred from public access since March 26, notably play structures and sports fields, municipal furniture and dog parks, except for Parc de la Technologie in Hull and Parc Lamarche in Gatineau.