Events

Canadian Sports and Leisure Event Highlights

When the lakes and rivers of Canada freeze, the locals strap on their skates to take advantage of the ice.

Leisure recreational activities such as these can be savoured as much as professional sports events that take place in Canada. Such grand events not only include the Grey Cup, the Memorial Cup and the Grand Prix of Canada, which Canadians look forward to every year, but also international competitions where Canada plays host such as the FIFA U-20 World Cup coming to Canada in July 2007 or the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver-Whistler in 2010.

Sports events including amateur athletes are also popular among Canadians. These sports events range from local swim meets to international games, such as the Games of la Francophonie, which celebrates the culture and sports of French-speaking countries, and the Commonwealth Games.

The North American Indigenous Games, which takes place every four years, has grown to become the largest multi-sport and cultural youth games to be hosted in Canada. At the 2002 games in Winnipeg, 6,500 Aboriginal athletes from Canada and the U.S. participated in 16 sport events and about 3,000 artists joined this sports and culture event.

Indigenous games are the oldest in Canada. Aboriginal people held games for thousands of years before Europeans settled in Canada. Games were also used to teach values such as respect, courage, and honesty.

This section is about leisure and sporting events in Canada.