We're having an impact (see below)!  So if you hav not yet signed the petition...do it (here's the link: https://chng.it/HtjGLHWkKF If you have, keep sharing it!  There is strength in numbers!

Update on OUA/OCAA “elite” status issue (Jan. 6, 2022)

In addition to the petition (which I urge you to sign if you have not done so already,and if you have, please share it as we need as many signatures as possible – it is still relevant!),  There is a lot going on behind the scenes.

Since the start of the week I have been communicating via email with representatives of the Ministry Responsible for Sport, specifically Derek Rowland, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Communications and Brooke Timpson, Director of Stakeholder Relations.

At the same time I have been in constant communication with Gord Grace, CEO of the OUA, both via email and telephone.  Gord and his team have also been communicating with the Ministry as well.

The public outcry and our work behind the scenes is having an impact (by “our” I mean that of the Canadian Student-Athlete Association, the OUA/OCAA and their member institutions). 

The Ministry appears to be responding.

In the most recent communication from Derek Rowland he indicated “We are working with our counterparts in the Ministry of Health to consider this matter further”.

That’s a good thing.  They are considering it further.

I am hopeful that we will get more clarity next week.

While the clock is ticking and there is a real risk of an interruption to resumption of competition as a result of the impact on training, there is still time to avoid that, and if we indeed do get more clarity next week, that may allow competition to proceed uninterrupted.

Stay tuned.

Garrett Holmes, Founder, Canadian Student-Athlete Association