The 2025 Canada Summer Games are 130 days away from kicking off here in St. John’s. An information session was held on campus featuring key event organizers, where they revealed plans for the Games.
The information session featured Jordan Wright, the lead organizer for the Canada Games at Memorial University and Karen Sherriffs, CEO of the 2025 Canada Games Host Society. The event also featured guest speaker Dr. Katie Wadden, a 2005 Canada Games Alumna in rowing and an assistant professor in the Human Kinetics and Recreation department at Memorial University.
What’s Happening?
The 2025 Canada Games will be taking place here in St. John’s, beginning on the 8th of August with the Opening Ceremony at the Mary Brown’s Centre that will feature performances to commemorate the opening of the games.
The games will span over the following two weeks, before concluding on the 24th of August, with the Closing Ceremony also taking place at the Mary Brown Centre. This event will celebrate the accomplishments of all the athletes who participated in the games, while also featuring local and national performers, before they pass the spirit of the Games on to the next host, Québec City in 2027.
National festivities for the Canada Summer Games will begin earlier, on June 11th the Canada Games Torch will be lit in Ottawa at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill. This will start the 2025 Canada Games Torch Relay, which event organizers say will travel through 16 communities in both Newfoundland and Labrador.
In edition to sports, this years Canada Games will also feature an Artistic Festival and Cultural Program from August 10th-24th featuring local and national performers and artists. Karen Sherriffs said more information about this program will be revealed 50 days before the event begins.
Canada Games at Memorial University
During the Canada Games, a lot of personnel will be located at Memorial University, with many athletes staying on residence. 23 venues will host various sports at the Canada Games, and three of them are on Memorial’s campus.
The Aquarena, currently under renovation since September 2023, will be the venue hosting the most events, with three aquatic sports taking place: artistic swimming, diving, and swimming.
Across from the Aquarena The Works Field House, will host basketball and volleyball. Lastly, the Fortis Canada Games Complex, which is a brand new $34 million facility right next to the Aquarena, featuring state of the art training facilities was built to support the Canada Games.
The complex has a brand new soccer field with high quality artificial turf, along with a 400 meter, 8 lane track for athletics. It will host both athletics and soccer events.
While those three areas will be holding sporting events, there are still many other spaces at Memorial University that are expected to be used for athletes and personnel for the Canada Games. Listed below is a map of the Memorial University campus that shows all the spaces on campus that will be in use for the Canada Games, and according to Memorial is subject to change.
All yellow areas on the map are buildings on campus that will be in “heavy use.” Those areas are the sporting venues along with certain residences at MUN which will be known as the “games village.” According to the map, the games village will use the residences at both Paton College and MacPherson College.
Areas on campus that are green are the buildings that will be in moderate use during the games. Those spots are the Physical Education building, which is set to be a warm-up and practice space, the Education building, for the mission offices and, finally, the University Centre, the location of the polyclinic. It will also be used as a social space for the athletes.
Areas in blue will be used occasionally, while the grey areas won’t be used except for the Fortis Canada Games Complex, which is listed as grey on the map.
According to the MUN website, there will likely be no access to the Aquarena, Field House and Physical Education building for MUN students, staff, as well as the general public during the Games.
Effect on MUN
With much of the event happening on campus, along with both preparing and tearing down the set up for the games, it will certainly affect the campus operations during the month of August.
The university calendar has been made with the Games in mind, the 14-week Summer semester will begin from the 5th of May, with classes ending the on August 1st, and the examination period ending August 5th. The 6-week Summer semester will begin the 23rd of June, and end at the same time as the other summer courses. This will allow organizers to set-up the MUN campus for the Canada Games from August 5th-7th.
The 2025 Fall semester will begin on Tuesday, September 9th, about a week later than it started last year. Tear down of the Canada Games will begin the day after the Games conclude on August 24th.
During the Games, the Queen Elizabeth II library will continue its access to its collections and regular library services. Other services like printing and mailing are also expected to run as normal.
Memorial’s Childcare Centre will have its annual closure from August 11th-22nd. Thesis defences will be delivered remotely while the Games take place.
At the session, organizers said some services at MUN will likely be busier than usual during the Games period, such as Facilities Management, Office of the Chief and Marketing and Communication. Organizers said to expect increased response time for non-emergent requests during the Games.
The Strategic Procurement Office is also anticipating a higher volume of procurement requests during the games. Games officials at the session also said that many units that are not providing direct support to the games will not be have reduced services, but are considering hybrid service models and reducing in-person services.
For some MUN staff, both work on campus and remote work will be available during the games period, however remote work will need to follow the “flexible work arrangements policy.”
Housing
One major concern students at Memorial have had about the Canada Games is the housing. Students who live in residence are concerned about where they are going to live during April to early September.
At the session an international student brought these concerns to Jordan Wright, the lead Games organizer at Memorial, and asked him if the University had any plans in place to help vulnerable students.
The student said many staying on residents will have difficulty to find alternative housing, including those who do not have family in the province. The student also said the only help they had received from the housing office was an email with a list of landlords the student could contact.
Wright said his main message to any student who had concern and uncertainty about their housing situation was to “reach out to the supports … international@mun.ca is my preferred option for anyone looking for support right now.”
According to the presentation, some residences are set to undergo maintenance, and according to the MUN website, students residing in Macpherson College, Paton College, and Guy and Gilbert Courts have been told they move out by the end of the contract date, April 23rd.
Some exceptions have been made, as students enrolled at the Marine Institute or other technical sessions, may stay on campus until June 30, 2025.
In an effort to support the many student who will require alternative housing, Memorial has an off-campus housing advisor to help. MUN is asking students who need help with housing to contact international@mun.ca.
Opportunities
The Games will also offer opportunities for students to be involved. Host society CEO Karen Sherriffs said they will need 5,000 volunteers across 150 different roles. As of March 14th, there are 3,100 volunteers signed up for the Games.
Many MUN students will complete work term with the Games, work on marketing, partnerships and administration. Many students and staff at Memorial are on the volunteer planning team.
Students also have the opportunity to participate in “Showcase Memorial.” These experiences can be done either on campus or digitally, and can include arts and crafts, interactive displays and digital activities. Expressions of interest applications to host an experience are open until the 31st of March.
Along with this initiative, there will also be a call for “Team Memorial Volunteers” made early in April. These volunteers will help with the showcase experiences, student recruitment, plus other opportunities as they develop over the coming months.
Team Memorial Volunteers will be given training when necessary, and will also be given volunteer t-shirts.
The Sports
The 2025 Canada Games will feature teams from all 13 Provinces and Territories across 20 different sports at 23 different venues.
Here is a list of each sport that will be taking place, along with the dates and the venue:
Artistic Swimming, August 21-24, Aquarena
Athletics, August 19-23, Fortis Canada Games Complex
Baseball, August 10-24, St. Pat’s Ballpark and Team Gushue Sports Complex
Basketball, August 10-16, Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Centre and The Works – Field House
Beach Volleyball, August 10-16, Paradise Park
Canoe Kayak, August 11-14, Quidi Vidi Lake
Diving, August 19-24, Aquarena
Golf, August 19-22, Bally Haly Golf Course
Lacrosse, August 10-24, Paradise Double Ice Complex
Mountain Cycling, August 20-24, Pippy Park
Open Water Swimming, August 15, Rotary Sunshine Park
Road Cycling, August 11-15, Downtown St. John’s and Marine Drive and Team Gushue Highway
Rugby Sevens, August 11-13, Swilers Rugby Club
Sailing, August 11-16, Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club
Soccer, August 10-24, CBS Soccer Complex and Fortis Canada Games Complex and King George V Soccer Stadium
Softball, August 10-24, Caribou Memorial Softball Complex
Swimming, August 10-14, Aquarena
Tennis, August 10-16, Greenbelt Tennis Club
Volleyball, August 19-24, Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Complex and The Works – Field House
Wrestling, August 21-23, Glacier Arena
Opening / Closing Ceremonies, August 9th and August 24th, Mary Brown’s Centre
At the previous Canada Summer Games, which took place in 2022 in Niagara, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador finished with one gold medal, six silver medals and two bronze medals for a total of nine medals. It tied their all-time best result at the 2005 Canada Games in Regina, Saskatchewan.
The 2022 Canada Games was also the first time Newfoundland and Labrador won a gold medal at the Games since 2001, when Chris Weeks won gold in men’s swimming.
High Expectations
At the session, Sherriffs expressed some of the high expectations the organizers have for this year’s Canada Games.
She said that the 2025 Canada Games are expected to be the greenest Games ever, putting an emphasis on sustainability. They hope that this will set a benchmark for future games to come.
Sherriffs also said that this edition of the games is trending to be the largest Games ever, with the largest numbers of athletes, coaches and staff ever expected to participate in the Games this year.
This will also be the first ever Canada Games with a safe sport program, working with the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canada Games Council to receive funding for four significant safe sport initiatives.
Lastly, this will also be the first Canada Games with an app, which is available on both iOS and Android. This app contains schedules to the events and breaking news.
According to presenters, these plans are still subject to change, however if you want to know more about the games the session was posted to YouTube, and features other plans for the Games as well as a Q&A session with organizers.
