In April, the Commonwealth Sport Canada (CSC) has appointed two new members to its Board, with the aim of improving its governance through better representation.
Former Six Nations Elected Council Chief, Ava Hill, was announced as one of two new board members for the CGF. Hill is now also a member of the Indigenous Advisory Council for the Ontario Provincial Police and was recently appointed by the Minister of Natural Resources Canada to the position of Indigenous Advisor to the Geographical Names Board of Canada.
Marisha Roman, who is Lithuanian and a member of the Wiikwemkoong Unceded First Nation, spent 25 years working as a lawyer investigator, specializing in indigenous issues. She is an active volunteer and has served on the Board of Aboriginal Legal Services, as well as a member of its Community Council. She is the chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group at St. Paul’s University and currently serves as safe sport director for Rowing Canada Aviron.
As for the Commonwealth Games, a century after the first edition of the Commonwealth Games was held in Hamilton, the city has resumed its quest to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.
A group of business owners and community leaders under the banner of Hamilton 100 obliged, but the pivot didn’t gain traction.
Hamilton hosted the first iteration of the Commonwealth Games, which was the British Empire Games, in 1930. Hamilton pursued the 1994, 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games unsuccessfully.
Victoria was the last host city in Canada in 1994, and Hamilton will likely compete against bids from Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries.
Committing to a Commonwealth Games until 2027 or later is suggested to not be in Ontario’s ideals, due to lack of monetary interest and the Games may require a municipal contribution. The 2026 bid, proposed $257,894,857 worth of work being done on local venues, and $123,680,924 of that would come from senior levels of government, $75 million from the private sector, $15 million from educational institutions and $13,200,000 from the city.
This was questioned as to why would Hamilton foot the bill in 2030, with an answer that it will be one of the most engaged city projects to create revenue returns to help the economic development, and social impact upon the city.
Meanwhile, the CWF also does not want to avoid its traditional schedule of a Games every four years. Never in the history of the Commonwealth Games has a country been awarded two consecutive Games.
The successful host city is expected to be named in 2023, moving from 18 games to 21. Birmingham, England, will be the 2022 site.
Hamilton had the option of hosting a smaller Games with fewer sports and athletes for less cost in 2026. A 2030 bid would require scaling up again to 21 sports from 18, and to 6,700 athletes instead of 5,500.
The estimated cost of a hybrid 2030 bid is somewhere between the $1 billion of the original 2026 bid and the $1.5 billion of 2030 one, but with some changes.
This prompted the Hamilton 100 to drop propositions for the 2026 period, to focus on 2030.
The new element for 2030 is the involvement of Six Nations, with plans to build the cricket facility on their lands. This came from an iteration that Indigenous communities would be welcome at the discussion table.
