To ask the Scottish Government what information it can provide regarding the Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights’ visit to Canada.
I visited Canada from 27 April to 2 May 2014.
The visit programme was made up of meetings and engagements to strengthen business, education, cultural, tourism and government ties with Canada. Key engagements included welcoming the Queen’s baton to Canada on its journey round the Commonwealth, meetings with Federal and Provincial Ministers, and engaging with the Scottish Diaspora. I also undertook media interviews in Ottawa and Toronto, and this coverage of the visit helped position Scotland as a business and tourist destination.
There were a number of strategic aims to the visit, including: representing Scotland in welcoming the arrival of the Queen’s baton in Ottawa, and accompanying it on its journey to Toronto and Hamilton; highlighting the excellent preparations being made for Glasgow 2014, deepening the close relationships between Scotland and Canada at a federal and provincial level and developing policy links around physical activity, by engaging with the Canadian Government’s sport and physical activity agenda.
Key outcomes of the visit include renewed ties with the Federal Government, the Provincial Government of Ontario and the Canada-Scotland Parliamentary Friendship Group, the promotion of Scotland’s tourism opportunities and messages on Homecoming Scotland 2014, Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup; the development of the strong recognition in Ontario of Scotland’s historic relationship with Canada through celebration of our shared cultural heritage and the promotion of Scotland as a modern, dynamic nation, and a friend of Canada; and enhanced educational links between Scotland and Canada by raising the profile of the Scottish education sector and Scotland as a destination to live, learn and work.
In terms of my programme: I arrived in Ottawa on 27 April 2014, and the official visit began on 28 April 2014 with a meeting with the Honourable Dr Kelly Leitch, Federal Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women. Dr Leitch set out the Canadian Government’s priorities in respect to the status of women and reported progress around federal policy interventions. I spoke to the Scottish Government’s priorities and progress around the equalities agenda and committed to further developing links between Scotland and Canada in this area.
In the afternoon I was present for recognition in Parliament, before participating in and speaking at the first official Queen’s Baton Relay event which was held on the lawns of Parliament Hill. This event was also attended by the Federal Minister for Sport, Bal Gosal. I also spoke at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association reception which followed the event, and in the evening attended and spoke at the Queen’s Baton Relay reception at the residence of the British High Commission, along with 100 attendees from the diplomatic community, cultural, sport and tourism sector.
On 29 April 2014, I met with the Honorable Bal Gosal, Federal Minister of State for Sport. We compared and discussed the similarities and differences in relation to the Canadian and Scottish sports systems. Mr Gosal was particularly interested in the Cashback initiative, the Better Movers and Thinkers Programme, and our physical activity implementation plan which draws considerably on the Toronto Charter. I also discussed the legacy programme and Scotland’s readiness to deliver a fantastic international sporting event in July 2014.
This was followed by a meeting with Christina Parsons who is on the board of the True Sport Foundation, a national charitable organisation that promotes values-driven sport. Doug MacQuarrie, Chief Operating Officer of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, was also in attendance. I discussed ways in which sport can be used to bring communities together, and how sport can be perceived as a public asset. I heard how the True Sport Foundation have engaged with local community foundations to connect sport and non-sport organisations to build social capital and community through values based and principle driven sport, and how they have moved from a needs based approach (provision of funding/grants) to a strength based approach to sport as an asset for community building.
In the afternoon I had a tour of the John Ruskin exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, which is a collaboration with National Galleries Scotland. The exhibition is an excellent example of how a collaborative project can emphasise the shared links between Canadian and Scottish culture and heritage, and it will be displayed at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from 4 July 2014.
In the evening, the Canada-Scotland Parliamentary Friendship Group hosted a reception in honour of my visit to Ottawa. The event was hosted by Peter Braid MP for Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario (Conservative), one of the group’s co-chairs.
I travelled to Toronto early on 30 April 2014 and started the day with a visit to the Canadian Institute for Sport to hear how Team Canada are preparing in advance of the Commonwealth Games. I observed a swim training session at the Aquatic Centre and heard about the Canadian sport system and the Canadian Sport Institute of Ontario. In the afternoon I met with Ms Teresa Piruzza, provincial Minister for Children and Youth Services, where we discussed areas of common interest and shared best practice from Canada and Scotland around the equalities agenda, in particular around the representation of women on boards, increasing visibility of women in public life, and entrepreneurship as a key driver for sustained and sustainable growth.
I then attended the media launch of the official Canadian uniform for the Commonwealth Games, which features the Canadian tartan, and spoke with a number of athletes who will be attending the games, as well as Chantal Petitclerc, Chef de Mission for Canada’s 2014 Commonwealth team.
In the evening I went to an event at the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus. The University’s Principal, Bruce Kidd, hosted a reception and dinner to build on the newly established link between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Toronto covering Kinesiology. I delivered a speech which focussed on the Commonwealth Games Legacy Programme and discussed the pre games report, demonstrating Scotland’s readiness ahead of the Commonwealth Games, as well as the links between Scotland and Canada around the physical activity agenda. The event was attended by faculty members, staff and students, representatives of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games, the City of Toronto, the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Toronto Sport Council.
On 31 May 2014, I attended a VisitScotland diaspora breakfast, where I spoke to the key diaspora organisations of Ontario to recognise the potential social, cultural, intellectual and economic benefits engagement can bring for Scotland and all Scots. The attending diaspora heard about key updates from VisitScotland relating to ancestral tourism, Homecoming and planned activity for 2015, in order to harness their reach to Scottish-Canadian communities.
This was followed by a Queen’s Baton Relay programme event hosted by the British Council at Ryerson University, where I awarded Game on Scotland plaques to the first schools outside of Scotland. Crown Primary School in Inverness participated in a live link up at the event, because Highland is twinned with Canada as part of the Support a Second Team programme. The event included question and answer session as part of the Commonwealth themed sports day event, which included Canadian athletes, school pupils from three different schools in Toronto, as well as Crown Primary School in Inverness. This event was delivered by the British Council as part of the Commonwealth classroom initiative, which is a supporting Legacy 2014 project, offered through Game On Scotland, the national education programme for the Games.
In the evening I attended a Queen’s Baton Relay programme reception at the Consul-General’s residence. This event was attended by the Secretary of State for Scotland, as well as around 150 attendees from the diplomatic community, cultural, sport and tourism sector, as well as some key trade and investment contacts. The event was supported by Team Scotland (The Scottish Government, VisitScotland, Glasgow City Council and Scottish Development International), and featured Scottish entertainment, and a showcase of Scottish food and drink. This event was an important opportunity to encourage good relationships with key people from the Canadian diplomatic community and key stakeholders.
My final visit engagement was on 2 May 2014, which was part of the official Queen’s Baton Relay programme and held in Hamilton, Ontario, the site of the first ever Commonwealth Games in 1930 (then, the British Empire Games). The event included the unveiling of a historic British Empire Games plaque, a procession of athletes from each decade since the first Games, and performances from the 91st Argyll and Sutherland Highlander Pipe Band, and the Schiehallion Highland dancers. The event was attended by the Mayor of Hamilton, local councillors, school children and community members. I presented a Commemorative National Library of Scotland image, of a Scotsman article reporting on the first ever Games which included a photograph of the Scottish team, to Vi Histed, the oldest of the ‘Athletes of the Decades’. The event was followed by a VIP lunch hosted by the Mayor, to whom I also presented a commemorative plaque in honour of the close and strongly felt relationship between Hamilton and Scotland.
