A night of celebration kicks off the 2025 Canada Games.
After years of preparation, the 2025 Canada Games in St. John’s are finally here, and it all got underway Saturday evening with the Opening Ceremonies kicking things off at the Mary Brown’s Centre.
Festivities started with a parade of athletes from all 13 provinces and territories, each led by their respective flag bearer. Newfoundland and Labrador was led by swimmer Nathan Luscombe, competing in his second-ever games.
Luscombe said the experience was “an incredible honour to have led the charge for this amazing team. The energy at the
Mary Browns Centre was truly inspiring.”
Team NL was also the last province or territory to enter, which is typical for the host province. Each province got to walk out to their very own walkout song, with Team NL opting to go with Great Big Sea’s “Ordinary Day.”
Once Team NL made their entrance, the hometown crowd started roaring, and it felt as if the roof blew off the arena:
After all the provinces and territories paraded onto the Mary Brown’s Centre Floor, some live performances ensued.
A performance of “Welcome to the Rock” from the musical Come from Away kicked things off, followed by a performance by 2020 ECMA Indigenous Artist of the Year Eastern Owl, joined by First Light.
After that, a speech was given by former Olympian and Chair of the Canada Games Council, Catriona Le May Doan, while the Royal Newfoundland Regiment band performed the Canadian National Anthem.
Canada Games mascot Gusty then made an appearance, hyping up the crowd and running across the floor while throwing around small Gusty stuffed animals for the athletes. Fun fact: before Gusty was decided as Canada Games mascot, there were over 300 mascot submissions from four different grade 4-6 schools.
The arguable highlight of the night promptly followed, a folk music performance consisting of various classic folk songs, which saw a kitchen party break out on the floor with the athletes.
Premier John Hogan, along with Mayor Danny Breen and former Olympian, now Liberal MP, Adam van Koeverden, gave speeches talking about the significance of the Canada Games to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the importance of the support of the athletes’ families in helping them get to this stage. Premier Hogan ended it off by giving his support to Team NL athletes.
The Canada Games flag was then brought onto the floor by newly inducted Hall of Honour members Diana Matheson, Ajay Patel, Sharon Firth and Jennifer Bishop, who were joined alongside other important Canada Games figures. This was followed by the Canada Games oaths.
Some more performances by musical talents, both local and non-local, graced the stage. One performance included Singer Dave Penney, who welcomed all the athletes in a short, lighthearted song that gave shoutouts to all the provinces and territories represented at the Games.
Finally, the torch relay came to its conclusion. Mayor Breen brought out the torch, and handed it off to a line of 13 athletes, each one representing a different delegation at the Games, who all promptly handed the torch down the line until it was given off to Patricia Bradbury, who lit the Canada Games cauldron in 1977, the last time the Games were in St. John’s. Finally, Bradbury was joined by Paralympian legend and Newfoundlander Katarina Roxon, who lit the cauldron and officially started the Canada Games. Nick Earle and the Reckless Hearts ended the ceremony with some music and kicked off the celebrations.
This now marks the beginning of an exciting, action-packed two weeks of sports here in St. John’s.
