BC Winter Games for high-level youth athletes cancelled due to pandemic, natural disasters
A perfect storm that includes the pandemic and multiple natural disasters has led organizers to cancel the youth BC Winter Games.
The games, which were set to take place in Vernon, are normally held every two years and provide a platform for young, promising, high-performance athletes and their coaches to compete, connect and build community.
“With so many challenges across the province this year, it has become clear that the 2022 BC Winter Games cannot happen this February,” said Val Trevis, president of Greater Vernon 2022 BC Winter Games Society in a statement.
“Our volunteer board of directors and chairs have worked relentlessly…and we are very disappointed for the athletes and volunteers.”
According to a statement from the games society, the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the havoc wreaked by the summer’s wildfires and the winter floods “have made it impossible to stage a safe and memorable Games this winter.”
Melanie Mark, minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport said in a statement that she knows how difficult this news will be for the athletes.
“I recognize how devastating this news is for the athletes, coaches, volunteers, and host region of Greater Vernon who have been working tirelessly to prepare…these are not easy decisions to make.”
As recently as Dec. 20, prior to the cancellation, the society had been advertising online that it was looking for volunteers to work at the games.
Prince George is slated to host the 2022 BC Summer Games while the 2024 BC Winter Games are set to happen in Quesnel. Additional information about a future version of the 2022 BC Winter Games will be shared when available, says the society.
According to its website, the games “bring together British Columbia’s best emerging high performance athletes, trained coaches, and certified officials for four days of competition. This experience is an important development opportunity and stepping stone towards higher level sport competitions.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Thanks to wildfires, air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.