Monday, September 19, 2011

An Idea for Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island

Both Vancouver Island and Saltspring should join the International Island Games Association.

The Island Games are a bi-annual multi-sport event that takes place on islands around the world that are not countries on their own right.   The Isle of Wight hosted them this year.    The best analogy to the Island Games are the Commonwealth games

What I like about the games is that they are not nearly as serious as the 'big' games.   I also like how they games give a degree of recognition to the various islands that really do have their own cultures.

If not Vancouver Island, I could see Saltspring, or the Gulf Islands as a whole, joining.  
Current members are:

  • Åland Islands
  • Alderney
  • Ynys Môn
  • Bermuda
  • Cayman Islands
  • Falkland Islands
  • Faroe Islands
  • Frøya
  • Gibraltar
  • Gotland
  • Greenland
  • Guernsey
  • Hitra
  • Isle of Man
  • Isle of Wight
  • Jersey
  • Minorca
  • Orkney
  • Rhodes
  • Saaremaa
  • Saint Helena
  • Sark
  • Shetland
  • Western Isles

A whole bunch of very interesting places to visit, I think it would be a very interesting connection to make for us on this coast.    Vancouver Island is the largest population in North America that has to be accessed by a ferry, we really are the biggest island going.

Frankly, some of the members have rather small populations so it would not be out of the question for Haida Gwaii to join.  

PEI was a member but pulled out this year.   Maybe if some BC islands were to join PEI would come back and maybe the island of Newfoundland.  The next games are in 2013 in Bermuda, so it is actually more convenient for teams from the Americas than something in Europe.

Imagine Saltspring hosting the Island Games at some point in the future.  I can see it as a hoot.

If I had the spare time in my life I would get things rolling, but according to my calendar, I get spare time next sometime in 2015 or later.

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