The CBC says four First Nations, along with the municipalities of Vancouver and Whistler, have signed an agreement with the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees to start exploring the feasibility of hosting the 2030 Winter Games in British Columbia.
The agreement, announced in a written statement on Tuesday, means officials from the Lil̓wat7úl (Líl̓wat), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations, along with the mayors of Vancouver and Whistler will work with the Olympic and Paralympic committees to assess the possibility of making a bid.
There are few countries willing or able to make winter Olympic bids these days, which means Vancouver/Whistler would have an excellent chance at it.
(Editor’s Note: I covered the Olympics and the International Olympic Committee for the Toronto Star for many years. I also oversaw the Star’s coverage of the Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics in 2010.)
This year’s Winter Olympics get underway in Beijing this Friday, February 4, and run to the 20th. The Summer Games of 2024 will be held in Paris, while Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Italy will host the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The IOC has granted the 2028 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles and the 2032 Summer Games to Brisbane, Australia.
The 2030 winter games site should be formalized in the next year or so. India and Russia are among the countries said to be thinking about bids for the 2036 Summer Olympics, according to gamesbids.com.
US WARNS TRAVELLERS ABOUT MEXICO, BRAZIL AND OTHER COUNTRIES
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has added 11 new countries to its highest warning level for COVID-19, including Singapore, Brazil and Mexico.
The CDC on Monday also added Anguilla, the Philippines, Paraguay, Moldova, Ecuador, Kosova, French Guiana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to its level four warning, which suggest Americans avoid travel to those destinations due to “very high” levels of the virus.
The CDC’s level four list now includes nearly 130 countries, including Canada.
Reuters reports that the CDC also raised travel warnings for 11 countries and territories to “Level Three: High” that urges unvaccinated Americans to avoid non-essential travel: Bhutan, Brunei, Comoros, French Polynesia, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal and Oman. It now lists about 53 countries and territories at High.”
