Fall Recreation Registration Postponed - Updated 09.16.2026

On September 16, 2026, the third-party vendor that the City’s Recreation team uses to support the “waiting room” aspect of the registration process experienced technical difficulties.  

This technical difficulty resulted in residents not being able to leave the waiting room and register. Some residents were able to bypass the waiting room and register through direct program links once registration opened, however, this created an unfair experience to those who continued to wait in the queue.  

After registration had begun, staff escalated a concern with the vendor support team, identifying that registrants were not flowing into the registration portal at an appropriate rate and requested investigation to resolve.   

To ensure a fair, stable, and accessible registration experience for all residents, registration for Fall recreation programs, Camp Kidaca PA Day, Winter and March Break programs has been postponed to September 23 to September 25, 2026. 

We sincerely apologize for the frustration this has caused and are working with the vendor to isolate and understand how this could have occurred and how to mitigate this risk in the future, particularly before the new registration dates.  

With registration postponed and rescheduled, we want to make sure that registration for all residents is fair and consistent, therefore:  

• Any registrations that were successfully completed the morning of September 16, 2026 while the software was not functioning as expected, has been cancelled. 
• A full refund will be issued to affected registrants via the payment method they used and will occur prior to September 23.
• All residents will be provided with an equal opportunity to register when registration is reopened. 

 Refund process 

• Registrants processed successfully during the occurrence would have received an email with confirmation of payment.
• Refunds will be issued to these registrants prior to Wednesday, September 23, 2026, a refund processed through the payment used to make the registration.  
• There is no further action required from residents regarding refunds – you will be issued automatically and issued a communication via email. 

Revised Registration Dates  

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q1. What happened this morning? 

A1. We completely appreciate that registering for Fall programming did not go as planned for many users. Unfortunately, the third-party vendor that the City’s Recreation team uses to support the “waiting room” portion of the registration experience, experienced technical difficulties. This resulted in residents not being able to leave the waiting room.  Some users were able to access program links and register which resulted in an unfair experience to those who remained in the waiting room due to technical failure. We continue to work closely with the vendor to examine the cause of the issue and ensure we take every precaution to prevent this from happening again. 

Q2. Why is my registration not being honoured? 

A2. Some registrants were able to secure spots, however, given the majority of users were not able to fairly access registration, and to ensure fair and consistent registration process for all users, registrants whose transactions were processed during the failure will be removed from program and issued a refund.  Refunds will be returned to the original method of payment prior to Wednesday, Sept 23, 2026 to ensure they have time to prepare for the new registration dates.   

Q3. Why did it take so long for the City to discover this? 
A3. After registration had begun, staff escalated a concern with the vendor support team to identify that registrants were not flowing into the registration portal at an appropriate rate. Staff immediately requested an investigation to resolve the issue with this vendor. This was a dynamic situation evolving as registration was ongoing. Once determined that the vendor could not resolve the issue Recreation took measures to lock out the registration portal to prevent continued registration through direct links and initiated communications through service channels to impacted users. 

We will ensure this issue is completely resolved prior to the new dates. 

Q4. What if I was successful registering and am not successful on the revised date?   

A4.  We understand that some users will be disappointed if they are not successful in securing their preferred program during the revised dates. However, programs with high demand often have waiting lists and we recommend users join the waiting list to assist staff with identifying demand and capacity for additional opportunities.  

We anticipate there will be users who do not get a spot in their desired program. With the system not working properly during this registration period, there was an unfair advantage to some users while others waited to access the system.  In order to be fair, consistent, and equitable, a new registration is the only approach that is reasonable. 

Q5. I made work accommodations for registration, now I can't log in during the revised registration reschedule. How will I be accommodated? 

A5. This vendor's technical failure is extremely frustrating, and we understand that folks may have made special accommodations to attempt registration today. Recreation staff are working diligently to be able to provide as much advance notification to users as we can to ensure a fair and balanced process moving forward. Given that the majority of users were not able to access the registration portion, this created an imbalanced opportunity for some to register. In order to be fair, consistent, and equitable, a new registration is the only approach that is reasonable. 

Q6. Were City staff responsible for the problem? 

A6.  The problem occurred from our third-party vendor who supports the “waiting room” aspect of registration. Staff immediately notified the vendor when there seemed to be a delay in users accessing registration and escalated it once an issue was identified. Prior to today’s date, staff took all reasonable measures to ensure a successful registration.  

The issue has since been  identified by the vendor as a version control issue on the product side of which City staff were not made aware. We are now working with the vendor to isolate and understand how this could have occurred and how to mitigate this risk in the future, particularly before the new registration dates. 

Q7 Will additional classes be added to accommodate more users? 

A7. We completely appreciate how frustrating this is for our users. Recreation programming continues to be in high demand and the City continues to look for ways to increase capacity where feasible. However, the city does not have the capacity to increase instructional opportunities beyond what is currently being offered due to program best practice capacity limitations, instructor availability and facility availability. After registration is completed registration numbers and waitlists will be reviewed to determine how program changes may occur to create additional opportunities 

Q8. Will direct program links that bypassed the waiting room continue to be a concern? 

A8. Recreation staff have been working diligently all day, both internally and with the vendor, to ensure that all areas of concern have been addressed. We do not foresee any issues presenting at the next registration dates.