2025 Canada Games will leave lasting legacy for sport — in N.L. and beyond
The 2025 Canada Games come to a close on Sunday, but their impact on the host city and athletes from across the province of Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to be felt for generations to come.
Canada Games Host Society CEO Karen Sheriffs said more than $80 million was invested into legacy facilities to create future opportunities for sport and community development.
"I think the community has shown how they rallied around these Games and also [see] the impact and legacy that the Games will bring – not just for the 18 days, but certainly long after," Sheriffs said.
The unofficial centrepiece of this investment is the Fortis Canada Games Complex, which was built specifically for these Games. Sheriffs said the $34 million facility will remain as a place for local athletes to develop their skills.
"One of the most significant projects is the Fortis Canada Games Complex, which is a brand new athletics and soccer facility that will serve our community for generations," Sheriffs said.
The new venue features a IAAF certified track & field facility with a 400-metre, eight-lane track and outdoor throwing area. There's also a FIFA-certified artificial turf soccer field, and modern indoor multi-purpose training facility with locker rooms and accessible washrooms. It's expected to provide year-round training opportunities for provincial track and field, soccer, and other sports.
Nicole Chan competed for Team NL's athletics team at the 2013 and 2017 Canada Games before becoming a team manager in 2022. This year, Chan tackled something new at the Games: overseeing everything off the field of play as a venue lead for the new Fortis Canada Games Complex.
Chan said the new facility not only helps the athletes of today, it could encourage the potential athletes of tomorrow to get involved in sport.
"It's super special for Newfoundland to get a track of that calibre because … we could host more national competitions again in the future, so that's pretty big for the sport in the province. [It] just gives it more exposure and hopefully more people involved in the sport," she said.
Chan said the province lacked the facilities needed to participate in some sports year-round, but now that there's a dedicated indoor space to train for things like field events, she's expecting more participation in the future.
"The actual indoor training facility part, that's the most exciting part because we've never really had a dedicated indoor space to train field events in the winter in Newfoundland," Chan said. "It's kind of hard to attract kids to the sport when you're kind of limited in the training facilities you can use," she said.
It's not just new facilities that will leave a lasting legacy for St. John's athletes and their families.
Investments and renovations to structures built for the 1977 Canada Games have not only extended the lifespan of those athletic spaces, but created inclusive spaces for Para athletes.
Multi-sport Para athlete Gavin Baggs won Team NL's first medal of the 2025 Games, swimming to silver in the Para men's 400m freestyle. The 18-year-old from Paradise, N.L., did so at the Aquarena, a facility that's part of the legacy from the 1977 Canada Games. The venue was used again for these Games but went through $20 million in renovations and upgrades, which included accessible washrooms and change rooms.
The Canada Games made inclusive and accessible spaces for all athletes a priority and Baggs said this type of investment is important for Para athletes to see.
"It's huge. I think that Para athletes – even in today's age where everyone is striving for equal rights – they're treated a bit lesser simply because we're Para athletes. But getting to see these new facilities become fully accessible, it's quite a big thing for all of us," Baggs said. "Honestly, I've been to some facilities that have not been wheelchair accessible at all, and I've been there with some people who happen to be in a wheelchair full-time themselves.
"It makes everyone a bit mad, a bit frustrated, but getting these – even [though] the Aquarena being built in '77 – even like the upgrades to be fully wheelchair accessible, it's quite a big thing for every Para athlete to compete in sports."
Baggs said erasing the barriers of entry to sport also encourages more kids to get involved.
"I feel like whenever I meet a young person with a disability who wants to try sports or does sports, the biggest thing for them was just getting into it with all the accessible stuff," Baggs said. "Whether it's just the facilities being wheelchair accessible like the Fortis Centre or the Aquarena, the biggest part for people is just initially learning how to do all this stuff with a disability, so I think that it's huge."
Baggs said he'd like to one day represent Canada at the Paralympics and the Canada Games help prepare him for that goal – and other athletes like him – by providing world-class athletic facilities.
"These new facilities provide so much more opportunity for me and every other athlete in Newfoundland. You see these big provinces like Ontario, Quebec, Alberta – they put a tonne of money into their sporting programs," Baggs said. "Meanwhile, the smaller provinces … we don't get that same funding. The ability to get these big training facilities is quite the honour and definitely has the ability to push every athlete in Newfoundland to make them better, to make them more competitive.
"Overall, I think it's just a great opportunity for everyone."
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