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The Township of Wellesley will likely approve the installation of a permanent camera system at the Wellesley Recreation Complex for the livestreaming of Wellesley Applejacks games after a streaming deal was reached between the Applejacks, the Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) and NBC Sportsengine last year.
At Wellesley council’s Sept. 16 committee of the whole meeting, councillors supported the notion of the PJHL installing a permanent camera for livestreaming Applejacks Junior C home games. According to township recreation director Danny Roth’s report to council, as a member club, the Wellesley Applejacks are required to participate in this streaming initiative.
While the Applejacks complied with the agreement last year with the use of non-permanent cameras that were removed from the recreation complex after every game, for this year, the Applejacks and the PJHL are requesting township approval to install a permanent camera system at the recreation complex. That agreement with the township and the Applejacks, Roth explained, requires certain protections against the potential for livestreaming outside of Applejacks games.
“This (agreement with the township) has to do with neighbouring communities where streaming was happening outside of scheduled events, so the patrons in the community centres didn’t know they were being recorded and this was being streamed over the internet,” Roth said. “That’s why we had to put in some protection clauses into this agreement that permitted township staff to be able to shut down the stream if there was any breach.”
Last summer, livestreaming cameras at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex and two arenas in Kitchener – the Lions Arena and Grand River Arena – were left on and streaming while summer camps were using the spaces, meaning campers could be seen online, raising privacy concerns and resulting in an investigation into the matter.
Prior to Wellesley council approving this agreement, the township will have a lawyer review it – at the Applejacks’ expense – to ensure it protects against any potential breach of privacy similar to those in Kitchener and Waterloo.
“The legal review; do you have any idea how long that may take?” asked Bob Caskanette, a member of the Applejacks board of directors, at the Sept. 16 meeting. “I ask because obviously our regular season has now started, so it would be good to expedite this as much as we can.”
“I’m sure you know with lawyers, it’s very, very hard to pin down a time, but we will ask for an expedited review and I imagine we will be able to get that in fairly short order,” Wellesley CAO Rik Louwagie responded.
By having councillors approve the agreement in principle, pending legal review, at the Sept. 16 meeting, the Applejacks can now begin planning and installing the camera system, however no streaming will be permitted until the agreement is vetted and formally approved by council.
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