User:Zanimum/Amazon in Ontario

Amazon has eight warehouses in Ontario, Canada.

Offices
As of 2018, the company had offices in Kanata, working on Alexa.

As of 2018, the company had a team in Ottawa, to market Amazon Web Services to the federal government.

Ottawa (YOW1)
The building is the largest industrial structure in the area. It was Amazon's first facility in Ontario, outside of the Greater Toronto Area. As of 2018, the intent was to focus the facility on larger items. The Ottawa Citizen noted this included "household decor, sporting equipment and gardening gear."

The first known case of during the COVID-19 pandemic was identified on March 19, 2020. Employees were notified of the positive test on April 4, over two weeks after the employee's last shift. The company claims it only learned of the positive test on April 3.

Mississauga (YYZ1)
Mississauga

Milton (YYZ2)
Milton

Brampton (YYZ3)
Brampton

Brampton (YYZ4)
The facility offers Fulfillment Centre Tours.

COVID response
Between October 2020 and mid-March 2021, 617 workers tested positive for COVID-19 at the facility. Some 240 of those cases arose in the latter weeks, and 10 were known to be more contagious variants. In addition, nine bus operators on the 511 Züm Steeles route of Brampton Transit tested positive, leading to that route being shut down.

On March 12, 2021, Peel Public Health issued a Section 22 order, under the Ontario Health Protection and Promotion Act. This requires all employees of the facility to self-quarantine until March 27.

The public health unit noted that it had been working with the company to try and control the outbreak, prior to the order. The closure would also allow "additional operational changes recommended by Peel Public Health that may help prevent outbreaks in future."

Amazon, Peel Public Health, and the province all had refused to disclose case counts related to Amazon, to that point.

Amazon dismissed the Region's findings, and noted it would appeal.

Caledon (YYZ7)
Caledon (YYZ7 )

Located on Coleraine Drive, in south Bolton, Caledon, the facility was nearing completion as of August 2019.

As of August 2019, the inventory tower was considered the largest in North America, with four floors, each roughly 500,000 square feet. It was expected to employ 800 people.

Scarborough (YYZ9)
Scarborough

Hamilton
Hamilton (opening 2021)

Ajax
Ajax (opening 2021)

Pickering
Amazon plans to build a warehouse in Pickering, Ontario. It is considering multiple sites. One of the sites it considered is owned by Pickering Developments Inc. The property was a provincially-significant wetland, located on Lower Duffins Creek.

Pickering city council requested that the province issue a municipal zoning order, in October 2020. The move was meant to prevent appeals or public consultation. One was issued by Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark. Such orders are meant as a "fast track" in the planning process. Until December 2020, conservation authorities had the ability of to block development on wetlands. That power was removed by the provincial government under Premier Doug Ford.

The Ontario government ordered the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to issue a permit to the developer, no later than March 12. TRCA publicly noted their "duress" in the situation.

Amazon removed the site from its shortlist, at an undisclosed date. Their disinterest was made public on March 12. Environmental impacts were said to be one factor. The developer voluntarily rescinded the provincially-demanded permit.

Mississauga
When Amazon.ca launched in 2002, it used the Mississauga-based warehouse of Assured Logistics, part of the Canada Post-owned Progistix Solutions. The company solicited the fulfillment business of other ecommerce companies in Canada.

Controversy
Throughout most of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon refused to disclose case count information to the public.