Canada’s Minister of State (Sport) Gary Lunn invited all Canadians Wednesday to join in the excitement of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Torch Relays celebrations across Canada.
Lunn said local initiatives will encourage as many Canadians as possible to participate in the 2010 Torch Relays. The Government of Canada will provide support to facilitate community celebrations featuring local artists, encourage young people across Canada to organize innovative projects to commemorate the passage of the torch through their communities, enhance celebrations in provincial and territorial capital cities, and highlight the 2010 Games during the Canada Day celebrations on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill.
Lunn said, “six months from now the Olympic Torch Relay will start on a journey of more than 45,000 km that will touch the hearts of thousands of Canadians in more than 1,000 communities across the country. The Torch Relays will bring Canadians together inspiring local and national pride in the spirit of the Games”.
The torch relay will stop in every Canadian province and territory reaching approximately 90 per cent of the Canadian population and ending at the Opening Ceremony and the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron at the start of the Games on February 12, 2010.
Lunn said, “the Olympic Torch Relay will provide an opportunity to showcase our diverse cultures, our vast geography, and our proud history. I encourage all Canadians to share in the Olympic spirit by becoming a torchbearer, by contributing your artistic, cultural, or administrative talents, or simply by joining in the celebrations in your community”.
