Dear Boccia Stakeholders,

At this time and most importantly, we hope everyone is safe and healthy, washing their hands, practicing social and physical distancing and following the instructions of local, provincial and federal Public Health Agencies.

To assist in connecting during these uncertain times, we wanted to reach out to the greater Boccia community and provide some information and updates:

• Training for National Team athletes at the INS Montreal was cancelled effective on March 13th, however online meetings with coaches, sport psychologist, and other consultations continue.
• Our staff has been working from home since March 13th and continue to advance on various projects. Please feel free to reach out to any member of our staff team through email as required.
• With respect to the finances of the CCPSA (Boccia Canada), we have been assured from Sport Canada that our funding is secure for the fiscal year 2020-2021, which started April 1st. The Sport Canada funding constitutes approximately two-thirds of total revenue. In addition, our staff and the CCPSA Board of Directors have been identifying and developing contingencies for our overall budget this year.
• Through this time, both our CCPSA Board of Directors and our Boccia Canada Council continue to meet and are closely monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the Organization and stakeholders.
• We continue to meet with Provincial Partners and the collective group is considering ideas and developing tools that may allow for online and “in-home” Boccia participation (i.e. video, challenges, group chats, etc.). All in-person Provincial Programming has ceased under the direction of local and provincial governments and health agencies.
• As you are no doubt aware, unfortunately the 37th edition of Défi sportif AlterGo later this month had to be cancelled. The event was to host over 8,000 athletes for 10 days of competition in more than 15 sports at 9 venues.
• Similarly, the 2020 Boccia Blast in London, ON, which was going to be remarkably the 30th edition, has been cancelled for this year.
• We continue to communicate and collaborate with the 2020 Canadian Boccia Championships Host Organizing Committee in London, along with our provincial partners and other stakeholders. Given we are seven months out from the Canadian Boccia Championships, at this time, we are continuing plans to host the event in November 2020. However, the health and welfare of event participants remain our priority. If circumstances dictate that it is not possible to host the event in 2020, we will communicate appropriately by no later than July 1st.
• BISFed has announced the cancellation of all international events in 2020, with the possible exception of the Dubai World Open in December.
• Boccia Canada was firmly behind the Canadian Paralympic Committee, Canadian Olympic Committee, and fellow National Sport Organizations decision announced on March 22nd that, due to health concerns, Canada would not be sending a team to the Paralympics or Olympics. Of course two days later the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 announced the postponement of the event until 2021. Having the dates secured for the Paralympics (August 24 – September 5, 2021) now allows us and the four boccia athletes who have qualified, to appropriately plan and refocus.
• Our work in the area of Safe Sport continues. We are pleased to note that Phase 1 is coming to a conclusion whereby national team athletes, coaches, performance partners, medical practitioners, classifiers, and CCPSA staff have completed bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination online training, and where applicable, Vulnerable Sector Checks. Phase 2 is now beginning and includes others involved in national events or the oversight of the CCPSA, completing the online training and Police Record Checks.
• Related to Safe Sport, but also good governance, the CCPSA Board of Directors are continuing work and developing additional policies to ensure we are offering a safe and welcoming environment in the sport for everyone, and to mitigate risk. Additional policies will be posted to https://bocciacanada.ca/about/policies.
• Thank you to everyone for reviewing and/or responding to our recent Concussion Survey. In total we had 40 responses, far higher than general survey response rates. The data from the survey is currently being analyzed and will be used to create a Return to Play Protocol specific to boccia. Phase 2 of this project includes identifying and developing concussion testing measures specific to prevalent medical conditions of those participating in boccia.

To close, and on behalf of the entire organization, we hope everyone is keeping safe during these unprecedented times. We greatly look forward to a time in the not-so-distant future when the boccia community can come together again.

During these challenging times, if there is anything we can do to provide support, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Peter Leyser
Executive Director

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About the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Sports Association

We collaborate with partners to increase the participation of Canadians with cerebral palsy and related disabilities in sport and physical activity, while leading, developing and growing boccia from grassroots, to producing World and Paralympic Champions.

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Media Contact

Holly Janna
Communications and National Team Coordinator, CCPSA
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 613-748-1430 x3 | Cell: 514-944-5193