🏒 From Crisis to Community: Invest in Recreation—Build Victoria’s Public Rink

 

Victoria is the only municipality in Greater Victoria without a public arena offering access to both ice and dry floor surfaces — and it’s taking a serious toll on our community.

📈 Local sports associations are overwhelmed.

Kids are being turned away from ball and ice hockey due to registration demand far exceeding available surface time.

Meanwhile, every surrounding community — Saanich, Esquimalt, Langford, Colwood — has at least one municipal arena. Victoria has none.

💡 This isn’t just about sports. It’s about community recovery and public health.

At a recent meeting, City of Victoria councillors were enquiring about the health of the community in discussions with Island Health representatives — asking questions about the substance use landscape and how to address rising health concerns across Victoria.

That’s important — but it’s only part of the solution.

If the City is truly committed to improving outcomes, it also needs to ask:

What are we doing to create community?

What are we doing to offer opportunities for healing?

What are we doing to offer our youth — and adults — a chance to change, connect, and belong?

✅ The answer is recreation. And in British Columbia — and across Canada — hockey is culture.

🏑 Ball hockey is one of the most accessible sports:

-You don’t need to learn to skate

-It’s lower-cost than most organized sports

-It welcomes a wide range of skill levels

-It builds confidence, connection, and resilience

And yet, there is currently only one dry floor available in the region: Eagle Ridge in Langford.

Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre is not a public arena — it is a privately managed venue whose availability depends on WHL games, concerts, and other events. Community use is limited, unpredictable, and expensive.

 

🚨 The lack of public facility access in Victoria is a growing crisis:

🏒 Ball hockey and ice hockey associations are at capacity
🧒 Youth are being turned away due to limited space
🚫 There are no public alternatives for families
💰 Private rentals are unaffordable and often unavailable

🙌 This is about prevention, belonging, and building a better future.

🧠 The Public Health Agency of Canada links sport participation with improved mental health, reduced substance use, and higher academic engagement.

🏃‍♂️ ParticipACTION reports that only 37% of Canadian kids meet recommended activity levels — and that organized sport is a key way to close that gap.

Sports teach goal-setting, teamwork, accountability, and self-regulation. They support social connection and purpose — things that are proven to reduce risk and promote healing. This is true for kids, and it’s true for adults too.

 

📣 We are calling on the City of Victoria to:

• Commit to building a municipal multi-sport arena with both ice and dry floor surface capability
• Prioritize youth sport and recreational access in infrastructure planning
• Work with local sports groups and residents to ensure equity, inclusion, and affordability

 

🕒 The time to act is now.

 

📬 Sign this petition to tell Victoria:

• It’s time to invest in our youth.
• It’s time to build a space for connection, recovery, and growth.
• It’s time to build a facility that reflects the needs of the people.

#BuildTheRinkVictoria #InvestInYouth #BallHockeyBC #PublicHealth #RecreationForAll #CommunityWellness