Kitchener added to list of arenas capturing summer camps through active livestreaming cameras
Posted Jul 24, 2025 07:02:50 AM.
Last Updated Jul 25, 2025 06:28:20 AM.
Privacy concerns have been raised, and an investigation is now underway after sports livestreaming cameras were left turned on at a local arena during active summer camps.
The issue was originally centred around the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex (WRMC), where cameras were used to capture local hockey and sports games in the arena.
However, two Kitchener arenas have now been added to the list, including Lions Arena and Grand River Arena.
The City of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener have both said that they were told the cameras were left active and streaming through summer camps in the space, meaning campers were able to be seen throughout the extent of the coverage.
At this time, the exact duration of time for which the cameras were left turned on in Waterloo is unknown, but the City of Kitchener said its two arenas have been left streaming since Apr. 14.
“Those attending summer camp at WMRC have been contacted for awareness. Summer camp attendees at Albert McCormick Community Centre (AMCC) have also been contacted,” the City of Waterloo said in a release.
570 NewsRadio reached out to the City of Waterloo for additional details, to see the extent of the number of impacted campers.
“We don’t know the number of campers involved yet, as we don’t yet know how long the recording may have been on for,” Cari Van Niekerk, Director of Corporate Communications with the City of Waterloo, said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we have let everyone enrolled in summer camps at both WMRC and AMCC know about the incident.”
The cameras come from a company called LiveBarn Inc., a sports streaming service designed to help families watch hockey and sports games from their own home, rather than having to make their way to the arenas themselves.
“LiveBarn is aware of the situation in Waterloo and Kitchener and is actively investigating,” said LiveBarn to 570 NewsRadio. “We take privacy very seriously, and we intervened immediately once we were notified.”
LiveBarn mentioned that the issue is due to a scheduling error, causing the cameras to suddenly become active.
“Our streaming schedules are managed by each venue or their affiliated local sports organizations. In this case, an incorrect schedule was created,” LiveBarn mentioned. “With thousands of venues and diverse sports content, accidental human error can occur. We are constantly reviewing our protocols, and in light of this situation, we will be looking at implementing further safeguards to prevent future issues.”
The City of Waterloo confirmed that the cameras have since become inactive, with the city also manually disconnecting them to prevent any further issues.
“Upon learning of the incident, the city took immediate action to move all LiveBarn cameras offline, and these cameras will remain offline while the city continues to investigate the issue,” said the City of Kitchener.
The City of Waterloo said the cameras will remain unplugged and disabled until more clarity on the situation is known.
LiveBarn streaming services are offered at close to 2,000 different locations across Canada and the U.S., available through a subscription service.
The city said it’s been made aware that this is not the first time a situation as such has occurred with this company.
“Our awareness of this happening at other locations with LiveBarn cameras did not come from LiveBarn, but from contacts in other cities,” Van Niekerk stated. “We are still discussing the issue with LiveBarn.”
While the two issues across Kitchener and Waterloo have been noticed at roughly the same time, LiveBarn said there isn’t a direct correlation.
“We also want to clarify that these two incidents were isolated and unrelated to one another,” LiveBarn said. “We will continue to work with all of our partners involved to protect against this moving forward.”
The City of Waterloo said it has “numerous procedures in place to protect the safety and privacy of program participants.”
“We are sorry that this issue has disrupted our camps, and recognize that camp parents may be concerned and/or frustrated with the limited information available at this time,” the City of Waterloo stated.
The City of Kitchener echoed a similar message, saying it’s still actively seeking out further information.
“We take the privacy of residents seriously,” said Kitchener. “A thorough review of third-party-owned streaming services in City facilities is being conducted.”
Both have said the issues have been reported to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC), which has officially opened up an investigation into the matter.
“The IPC cannot provide comment as the investigation is ongoing,” said the IPC in a statement. “With the IPC investigation, it is not necessary for individuals to file a privacy complaint.”
