By Pepper Parr
June 28th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
The swimming club, Burlington Aquatic Devilrays(BAD) has been around for more than 40 years and now find themselves facing the prospect of losing their pool time – the problem seems to be the requirement that a document that does not exist be made available to the city.
Kimberly Calderbank, volunteer president of the club said: “Someone has made a big mistake – they need to be held accountable.”
The City staff member who handled the paperwork has credentials related to managing procurement issues.
The issue is a document that the swimming club could not provide:
The City rejected BAD’s submission because a requested document: a “current and valid Certificate of Incorporation.”
Club officials explain that the “phrasing was unclear and did not reflect standard terminology or availability in the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations framework.
As verified through communications with Service Ontario on Friday, June 6, 2025, the following was confirmed:
A “current” Certificate of Incorporation does not exist in Ontario’s corporate registry system.
The available and relevant corporate documents are:
o Articles of Incorporation
o Archived Application for Incorporation (1994)
o Articles of Amendment (2024)
o Application for Supplementary Letters Patent (2001)
o Certificate of Status (which BAD submitted)
There is no option to obtain a “current and valid Certificate of Incorporation” under Ontario’s not-for-profit corporate registry. A Certificate of Incorporation, by definition, is a historical document issued at the time of incorporation—it does not have a current or renewable form. As such, it was impossible to fulfill this requirement as worded. In alignment with Service Ontario’s guidance, we submitted a Certificate of Status, which is the only official and up-to-date document available to confirm our active corporate standing. Due to this unclear language, BAD’s application was deemed non-compliant for a technicality that could not have been rectified based on available documentation or processes.
Club president Kimberly Calderbank
Club president Kimberly Calderbank says they applied to renew their pool training time for the fall as usual, but the next thing they got was rejection, no other contact, even after 40 years as pool users, nothing. “We didn’t hear anything the entire time. They say the city told them they needed a current and valid certificate of incorporation as a non profit. The Club says there’s actually no such forum, but it says it submitted documents showing it is a non profit corporation. But then a city councillor told them they were rejected because the city requires that at least 85% of registered participants be Burlington residents. The Devil Rays say more than 85% of their swimmers are from Burlington. Now they say the city appears to be giving the swim time to an out-of-town club from Hamilton.”
“It just doesn’t add up. It doesn’t make sense. This is devastating to our club. We have about 400 swimmers that will need homes if the city of Burlington doesn’t give us our city Pool time.”
Head coach of the Burlington Aquatic Devilrays Sergei Soloukhin.
Devilrays coach Sergei Soloukhin wonders why this is happening. “I feel like our club is an orphan. You know, feel like, well, something is missing, and I’m not very sure what we did is wrong.”
Mayor Mary Ann Mead Ward’s office said Council is forbidden by law for being involved in any procurement process, and referred questions to the Communications Office, but has added we are aware of the significant disruptions and concerns in the community.
The swimmers say the politicians should be paying attention and that at the end of the day, our mayor and our councillors need to understand what their staff are doing and the decisions they’re making,
The swimmers say it doesn’t end here. They’re preparing to go to court to get a judge to review the city’s decision.
All the information was included and submitted on time, the City deemed the application “non-compliant” and denied the club’s participation in the bid.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward: “Council is forbidden by law from being involved in any procurement process”. Would that include picking up the phone and asking questions?,
“This is more than a technical disqualification — it’s a betrayal of community sport,” says Kimberly Calderbank
The club filed an appeal through the City’s internal dispute resolution process, which was denied. BAD has now retained legal counsel and filed an application for Judicial Review, along with a Motion to Stay, to pause any final pool contract being awarded until the Divisional Court branch of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice reviews the case.
What Families Can Do
The club has launched a public awareness campaign and is calling on Burlington residents to take immediate action:
- Sign and share the petition: https://chng.it/GM75gpK9ZT
- Spread the word on social media using hashtags:
#SupportBAD #WeSwimTogether #SaveCommunitySport
One Burlington resident was less diplomatic saying: “Friday certainly was a bad news day for Mayor My Way… First, she had to try and put a positive spin on the announced departure of her hand-picked City Manager, oh sorry, CAO.
“Then she had to put on another brave face with the news that Parks and Recreation are royally screwing over the Burlington Aquatic Devilrays swim team/club. Classic Municipal Goose Stepping.
“This is going to haunt her… hope she still remembers how to dog paddle!”
I am a Burlington Aquatic Devilrays (BAD) swim club Grandparent and a Burlington taxpayer in the Lowville area. I have supported my grandchildren and the activities of the BAD club for many years. This club has done amazing things for thousands of Burlington kids over 40 years as well as promoting community pride and goodwill. It develops kids into responsible, respectful young adults who have embraced a healthy lifestyle and learned the importance of determination, commitment, teamwork and community involvement. They do good things in the community. Please view this recent Halton News video which includes comments from my granddaughter – a BAD swimmer since 7 years of age (now 15) who has two siblings in the program as well. It is a not-for-profit organization that relies on hundreds of volunteers. Allocating pool time to “out of town” people/swim clubs vs our Burlington kids is totally unreasonable in my view. BAD clearly has well over 85% of their swimmers from Burlington and therefore easily meets the City’s minimum requirements. I respectfully ask that everyone who cares about our kids add their support and that common sense be applied over some administrative error or complication that seems to have lead us to a very uncomfortable and unfair position. No reasonable person would allocate pool time to clubs outside of our community to the detriment of Burlington kids and their families. It simply makes no sense in my review —- whatever the matter that lead to this situation in the first place — it is unreasonable. Petitions are being signed and there is considerable outrage that our kids are being prejudiced.
Again , below is a link to a YouTube featuring BAD on Halton News – it came about when they decided to cover a huge BAD event at Nelson Pool last weekend.
This amazing club deserves better.
As a taxpayer, community advocate and grandparent who has observed the amazing activities organized by BAD through their swimming program, competitions and community involvement. I was thinking about this in the context of community pride. The club often attends meets throughout Ontario (and elsewhere) always proudly displaying the Burlington Devilrays banner. They sometimes compete at the Etobicoke Olympium in meets arranged by their competitive Swim Club: E-Swim. That community is so proud of Summer McIntosh, the amazing Canadian Olympic champion. Doesn’t Burlington want that pride too? Every decent size city in Ontario has a similar swim club. These swim clubs develop thousands of kids athletically and in terms of their growth into young adults. A few BAD swimmers represent Burlington in the Western Ontario Championships and some in all Ontario Finals. Some dream of being invited to the National Swim team programs and maybe even Olympic try-outs. They possess amazing community pride and are a fine example for many young people. BAD is affiliated with Swim Ontario and Swim Canada and respect their guidelines with our swimmers registered on the latter’s website. Of course, the vast majority of BAD swimmers don’t reach lofty heights in swimming but the lessons they learn and the disciplines they develop are common to all.
On top of all this, BAD sponsors swim meets in Burlington with teams that come from all over the province and sometimes from out of province. The swimmers’ families spend money while here for accommodation, food and other activities. This is all great for Burlington.
Please help these kids as there is so much stress and worry about their beloved club because of this nonsensical circumstance. Where will they go? Will they be forced to quit or travel to other cities while Hamilton swimmers come here???? We need all concerned citizens to let their voices be heard, for common sense to prevail, and for this to be sorted out. There has been very poor judgement in this case and people must correct it quickly, learn from it, and be fair to our kids.
Video link.
https://youtu.be/eC44G-TAhEM
Think about this. How can a Hamilton club has at least “85% of registered participants be Burlington residents”? This is clearly a cover-up excuse for their screw up.
As a concerned resident and supporter of community-based sport, I feel compelled to speak out about the City of Burlington’s handling of RFP 25-202 and its impact on the Burlington Aquatics Devilrays (BAD).
BAD, a long-standing not-for-profit organization deeply woven into the fabric of Burlington’s aquatics programming, submitted a bid to continue managing swim services in our city.
Despite its record of service and compliance with key requirements, the City rejected BAD’s submission on the grounds that it failed to provide a “current and valid certificate of incorporation.”
Here’s the issue: No such document, as described in the RFP, is routinely available through the Province of Ontario. The registry offers a Certificate of Status or a Profile Report, both of which clearly show that BAD is an active not-for-profit in good standing. The insistence on a document that may not exist in the form described suggests either a misunderstanding or an overly rigid interpretation of bureaucratic language.
According to the Gazette, BAD pursued the City’s internal dispute resolution process but was ultimately denied. The RFP is now marked “Closed,” though as of today, still not “Awarded.” This technical rejection feels disproportionately punitive, especially when the omission was procedural, not substantive. BAD met the spirit and function of the requirement.
When public procurement veers into rigid formalism at the expense of community value and common sense, it raises larger questions: Are we fostering fair, transparent, and inclusive processes? Or are we inadvertently excluding qualified local organizations based on technicalities?
The implications of denying BAD the contract are real and troubling. BAD’s absence could disrupt established programming and coaching, impacting hundreds of young swimmers. Residents may question the fairness of municipal decision-making. The City could face criticism—or worse—if the requirement is found to be materially unclear or unjust.
There are still avenues for reconsideration. Judicial review is one option. Political and community advocacy is another. I urge the City to reflect on the broader consequences of this decision and to consider whether denying BAD based solely on a questionable document requirement truly serves the best interests of Burlington.
Let’s not let bureaucracy drown out common sense.
Support BAD by signing the Petition at, https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-bad-s-pool-access-for-burlington-kids?source_location=search
This does not make sense – rather it’s a total waste of time and money when common sense says Burlington residents, taxpayers, parents, and kids deserve priority over out of town people. This is a club that represented Burlington for 40 years and it has contributed to the healthy development of kids to young adults while doing positive things in the community. This must be fixed immediately.
What an unnecessary waste of tax payer money (to defend this)! The Mayor should be all over this!
And a waste of Burlington resident’s money to have to take the city council to court on this!
Hopefully its not just because people want time off over the summer!
This is clearly political interference by a counsellor who has outside interests in giving the pool time to a different club. As a tax paying Burlington citizen I find this outrageous behaviour by the City towards a nonprofit community swim club blatantly shameful.
I am curious if that document does not exist in Ontario, how come the other club who won the bid successfully handed it in?
My guess is that there was some form of checklist of “mandatory requirements” that respondents had to fill out. BAD filled it in correctly and did not check the box since the requirement was actually redundant. However, the Hamilton club did. Hamilton’s proposal gets opened and BAD’s does not. That’s actually standard procurement practice. This is totally a guess but it fits the facts. The basic flaw in the process is that COB asked for something that does not exist, has disqualified a valid proposal and now refuses to admit their error.
My wouldn’t an easily accessed, publicly available City Staff and Program Directory be handy at the moment so that those responsible for making the mistake, and their supervisory management, were visible to public view. It would certainly aid accountability.
Stop this nonsense. Tom
Before weighing in on something I generally like to do a little due diligence to make sure I’m not talking out of my hat. In under a minute I was able to find the following with regards to BAD:
“Corporation Name
BURLINGTON AQUATIC DEVILRAYS
Ontario Corporation Number (OCN)
1108258
Incorporation Date
December 13, 1994December 13 1994
Type
Not-for-Profit Corporation
Status
Active
Governing Jurisdiction
Canada – Ontario
Registered or Head Office Address
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
The information shown above sets out the most recent information filed on or after June 27, 1992, and recorded in the Ontario Business Information System.”
Based on what has been reported thus far in The Gazette I have to wonder what is going on at City Hall as according to the Ontario registry, BAD is a viable NPO bolstered by the last line of the registry that states, “The information shown above sets out the most recent information filed on or after June 27, 1992, and recorded in the Ontario Business Information System.”
Of course, Meed Ward choses the wording or the interpretation that suits her purpose best. Public Officials are NOT barred from reviewing procurement decisions or processes, they are forbidden from interfering or introducing bias in the selection outcome; something quite different. Bad things happen and sometimes even the best officials with the best training and the purest of intentions make a mistake. That’s life. But you must correct the mistake. For a Mayor to sit back, as she wants to do, knowing that something is not right or perceived to be very much amiss and claim that her hands are legally tied is totally crass and uncaring. At the least, she can ask for an independent Procurement Commissioner to review the process and advise.
I note that when matters affecting the management of the heritage home program, including the parameters around tax discounts and maintenance compensation, are discussed (a recent delegation by David Barker is a case in point), she does not experience any angst around a possible conflict of interest although she owns a heritage property. She participates and expresses her opinion.
Come on Lady – get a set!
In the interests of total disclosure my granddaughter swims for the Devilrays.
Which city councillor told the BAD about the 85% requirement? That seems like an attempt to offset responsibility of the City of Burlington’s issues to the BAD. What a bunch of incompetence all around…
How can Mayor Meed Ward properly run the City of Burlington as she is paid to do?? She is rarely around or present at City Hall to do City Hall work!!
She is too busy doing multiple photo ops; flag raisings and other unrelated visits here there and everywhere and unrelated to City Hall business; multiple trips abroad on the Taxpayers dime and not around City Hall long enough to know what’s actually going on with her staff at City Hall.
This whole issue with the BAD Swim Team should come as no surprise!
Time for a change in leadership at COB.
It’s funny how the mayor who loves the spotlight and seeks out media appearances continually, regularly speaking up about all sorts of issues which are in fact completely outside her role as mayor of Burlington, is so quick to claim that she can’t speak to issues which are negative, even when they are the responsibility of the city which she leads as mayor, and the staff whom she controls as a “strong mayor.”
If she starts tallying up the number of swim families in Burlington and thinks the number of votes they provide is significant, perhaps she’ll come through for them yet. Especially since this is not going away and in fact is growing by the hour. There’s a petition gaining signatures and the story is getting wide coverage. Our council members who are also being less than helpful as they run away from residents should ask themselves what is the purpose of being a councillor if not to stand up and help your constituents when asked.
What about those “Strong Mayor” powers and all of the added staff, shouldn’t we expect that things be better not worse!