There won’t be many cities in Canada busier than St. John’s in the coming weeks thanks to the Canada Games. The city is set to host thousands of athletes from across Canada, and Memorial University is going to be at the center of it all.
Memorial University is playing a massive role in the Games. Jordan Wright, the Lead Organizer for the Canada Games says that without the university playing a key role in hosting athletes, sporting events, the Games likely cannot happen in the city.
“The host society said it pretty explicitly, the Games could not be delivered without Memorial University,” said Wright.
Why MUN?
Out of all the possible places in St. John’s, why is the Memorial University campus playing such a big role in hosting the Games?
In his interview with Muse News, Wright said that there is going to be roughly 5,000 athletes and staff attending the Games in St. John’s. Not only is it a very large number of people, but Canada Games Host Society CEO Karen Sherriffs said in an information session back in March that this is trending to be the largest Games ever, with the largest number of athletes, coaches and staff ever expected to participate in the Games.
MUN is one of the only places in St. John’s that could support that amount of people, and Wright says it’s because of the infrastructure that most universities possess.
“Universities tend to have the infrastructure in terms of housing, food, eating space and sport venues that really assist with the planning and execution of the Games… as the city of St. John’s became a focal point for potentially hosting, Memorial University became a key delivery and planning partner to say, if we’re going to host an event of this magnitude in the region, Memorial has to be involved.”
Historically, the Canada Games have had a lot of support from universities. Wright mentioned MUN’s support during the 1977 Games in St. John’s, as well as their support during the 1999 Games in Corner Brook (Grenfell).
He also mentioned the integral role Brock University played during the 2022 Games in Niagara, and how they’ve been in contact with 2022 Canada Games organizers at Brockl, who have been helping them ensure the Games at Memorial run smoothly.
“If you look at the history of the Canada Games across the country, Universities have always been key partners to their delivery and execution.”
Simply put, without support from the universities in host cities, the Canada Games would not be possible, which is why Memorial University is needed to make these Games a reality.
Housing
While Memorial’s support was necessary to ensure the Games could be pulled off, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been controversial among students.
In order to make these Games a possibility, students who lived at the MUN residences ended up being evicted to allow athletes and coaches to stay at the university housing, something that has been a hot button topic in the lead up to the Games. Wright gave the Muse some insight into how that process played out.
“Our objective was to ensure the university community had awareness of what was happening during the Canada, and that we were prepared and accommodating to those that may or may not be impacted. The attempt was to have early notification, early lead time etc. back in 2024, a year before the games.”
Wright says he’s glad they started the process of notifying students early so that they could provide an adjustment period to anyone affected by the move. Wright also credited the role that student advocacy played in ensuring supports were put into place for students affected by the move.
Parking
Not only will spectators and members of the Host Society need parking on campus to attend the games, but also the core community at MUN that will still be operating like usual during the games. There is already less parking spaces at MUN then there are students, so having reservations on how the campus can sustain the high volume of people parking to attend the games is reasonable.
One way Wright believes this problem could be mitigated is by carpooling and taking public transportation to and from the events, however he also says he has a reasonable degree of comfort with regards to parking should everything unfold the way it is supposed to.
“It’s great to say here’s where you park, here’s where you don’t park, but what does behaviour look like? We’re keenly aware that some individuals are here for one off events at a certain venue, and if it means they might have to park somewhere they are not supposed to, they will. So we’re trying to look at measures to dissuade people from parking rogue. One of the measures we have looked at is parking signage.”
Wright says there will signage around campus specific to Canada Games that will inform people where they can and can’t park, and that multiple exercises specific to parking on campus were done to ensure they had an idea of the spaces they could comfortably license for the Games.
Students Involvement
With so much happening here at Memorial during the Games, Wright says students have been given plenty of opportunities to get involved with the games.
One way students have been involved has been through the host society, who had a call for 5,000 volunteers. Wright says that goal has been surpassed, however, to his knowledge, the host society is still taking calls on potential volunteers. There have also been multiple co-op placements that have revolved around the Canada Games, with Wright mentioning programs like HKR and Engineering.
Even though the Games are only a few days away, Wright says they have also reached out to MUNSU to see if they would be willing to help out at the Games.
“We are currently working with leadership of our Student Union to see if there is some proactive programming, where the spaces of the undergraduate students association can be used during the Games to host activities for athletes to participate in.”
Long Term Impacts
There has been a lot of money and resources put into making the Canada Games a possibility, however, it is only a two week event. What benefits long term will the University get for hosting the games?
One long term impact Memorial will receive from the Games is the massive Aquarena renovation, which Wright says would not have had same level of support if not for hosting a major sporting event.
Apart from the Aquarena, many spots on campus have also gotten some upgrades because of the Games.
“There are infrastructure investments around campus that our campus community will benefit from for years, such as the accessible ramp at Gushue Hall, we have had a number of washrooms upgraded around campus, and have had a number of touch-up projects around campus, like Burton’s Pond and the Physical Education gym. We also have a temporary cooling station at the Field House, which is something we will look into for the future.”
Besides the infrastructural investments made for the Games, Wright believes that the national spotlight falling on Memorial will serve as a recruitment opportunity for the university.
If you want to hear more from Jordan Wright, listen to our full conversation with him here, where we dive deeper into the topics mentioned in this article.