The following urgent call to action has been issued by Yves Hamelin, Equestrian Canada Interim Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General:
I would like to share some background on the recently published survey gathering equine farm and equestrian facility business profiles to help mitigate any possible concerns around the survey’s purpose and intention.
The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is unprecedented and Equestrian Canada (EC) is operating in crisis mode across all departments. We have heard the concerns of equine farms and equestrian facility owners regarding the financial implications of COVID-19 and the need to find solutions to support their businesses.
As you know, EC has already initiated efforts to ensure that government bodies, financial institutions and industry associations have a proper understanding of the current situation. We need to keep the equine industry on the agendas of these organizations so that we are included in their programs and solutions moving forward.
This is where you come in. We need meaningful data so that EC, the Provincial/Territorial Sport Organizations (PTSOs) and EC national affiliate associations and corporations can present a significant, current and fact-based picture of our industry needs.
We need to come together to:
- Act quickly, as we need to advocate on a timely basis in this current crisis;
- Ensure that the survey gathers accurate data from across the industry;
- Ensure that the survey data allows EC to clearly demonstrate your potential financial shortfalls; and,
- Have enough participation from across the industry to allow EC to demonstrate the magnitude of the potential financial impacts of COVID-19.
We need your help: please support our advocacy by responding to the survey if you are Canadian equine farm or equestrian facility owner.
Amendments to the survey have been made since its original publish date on March 26, 2020, in response to community concerns and feedback. The survey will take approximately 20-25 minutes to complete. There is no cost to submit your information and participation is 100% voluntary.
Individual farm financial data will be kept strictly confidential. It will not be shared with governments, PTSOs or EC national affiliate associations and corporations. Non-identifiable, aggregate data may be shared with PTSOs and registered affiliates to assist in the development of tools and resources to advocate for the needs of our industry in these challenging times and to help identify relevant programs to support our community.
EC is aiming to receive a minimum of at least 1,000 survey responses by April 5, 2020. On April 6, EC staff will asses the number of respondents to ensure that we have received an acceptable level of industry insight to advocate appropriately and accurately. The more people that complete the survey, the stronger our case will be.
Thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey.
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