Summer Games puts out call for volunteers
They’re needed to help plan events and specific venues, says host society chair Doug Hamilton
Organizers of the 2021 Canada Summer Games are putting out a call for help — and lots of it.
At an event Monday night in Port Dalhousie marking the two-year countdown to the start of competition, host society chair Doug Hamilton planned to talk about the need for volunteers.
“We’re recruiting our planning volunteers, and we’re really excited about having a number of community leaders join us and plan the games,” he said in an interview earlier.
“We’re looking for people with knowledge in particular areas, but really people with interest in particular areas. So if you’re somebody that has experience, for example, with security or you’re a retired police officer … that’s the perfect kind of person that can help us put our security plan together.”
The organizing group will have a staff of 60 or 70 at some point, he said, but the games will still be “volunteer-driven.”
He’s hoping it can recruit as many as 300 people to help plan events or venues that will be part of the Games.
During the two weeks of competition, as many as 4,000 volun
teers will be needed on the ground, Hamilton said. More information on the Games, and volunteering, is online at Niagara2021.ca.
Monday’s ceremony coincided with the start of the Henley Regatta and included live music and fireworks. As well, the Games’ official logo was unveiled.
All that comes as organizers continue to wait for a financial commitment from Queen’s Park.
Hamilton said the province and federal government both agreed to provide $3 million at the start, and since then Niagara municipalities have committed about another $40 million.
Brock University has promised in-kind contributions worth about $4 million and provided land for facilities.
Organizers are seeking approximately $50 million more, to be split by the provincial and federal governments.
Hamilton said Ottawa has committed “as much as they could.”
“The difficulty is it’s a two-step process. When you make an application it goes to the province first, and then the province identifies which projects it wants to proceed with and they pass the project along to the federal government.
“So the federal government hasn’t formally received the province’s referral of the project. At this point, I guess what they’ve said is if the province refers it then they are onside.”
He said he is hopeful an announcement from Queen’s Park will be made within a few weeks.
“It’ll have to be weeks,” he said, adding there will be 10 or 11 construction projects to start.
The biggest are a rowing training facility on Henley Island and Canada Games Park, a multisport multi-facility athletic centre to be built on the grounds of Brock University.
“Those need to start construction in November and we have to tender those construction contracts in September,” Hamilton said.
“And obviously we can’t award contracts without having our full funding commitments in place so we need those … in a matter of weeks.”
In spite of that, he said, planning is moving forward at the pace he hoped for.
Brock will host the first test event in December, the Canadian Olympic wrestling trials. Next summer lacrosse and softball championships will be played in Niagara.
Hamilton is happy with the public’s interest so far.
“Everything has to be timed properly. You don’t want to get people too excited and then have this thing sort of go away and then come back again.
“We’re the 28th Games, and they give us sort of a recipe on how to do it. They tell us how to engage the public, and over what time period. So our engagement right now is really bringing in those planning volunteers.”