Preparation for Canada Games just starting
There a lot to do in Niagara before 2021, when the Canada Summer Games take place in communities throughout the region.
And Carla Qualtrough, Canada’s Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, said the work to prepare the region to host the national sports event has only just begun.
“I think they’re just in the aftermath of getting the bid,” said Qualtrough, who was in Niagara this week participating in the 22nd annual National Supported Employment Conference in Niagara Falls, discussing employment for people with disabilities.
“It’s all good news for Niagara, as far as I’m concerned. … As far as I’m concerned after having talked to so many athletes about their experiences, I would say for most athletes the Canada Games is a pinnacle of their sport career,” Qualtrough said. “They get to wear the colours of their province, they get to compete on a national stage in a multi-sport games environment, and it really is the stuff of memories.” She said her ministry is working very closely with the group led by Doug Hamilton, working locally to organize the 2021 games.
“This is a process that will take a little bit of time in terms of getting all the ducks in a row and figuring out the roles and responsibilities,” Qualtrough said.
But considering that the games take place every two years, “there’s definitely a template for these” making the process easier.
“There’s no point in reinventing the wheel,” she said.
Hamilton, chair of Niagara’s transition team, said efforts are still underway to develop a Canada Summer Games Host Society for Niagara.
He said the team hopes to have the Host Society incorporated and select most of the members of its board of directors by the end of June.
“But there’s a lot of things that have to be done as part of this transition,” he said, adding they range from the mundane to tasks as important as selecting members for the board of directors, and developing the policies that will be included in the governance manual.
Once established, a contingent from the local Host Society will visit Winnipeg this August to observe the Canada Games taking place there.
The excitement should again start to build in the fall when the Host Society organizes a “big visioning session where a whole bunch of people from the community get together,” Hamilton said.