OTTAWA – In this the “Year of Sport” and “National Volunteers Week”, Sports Officials Canada is proud to promote the third annual National Officials Day in Canada. The aim is to increase the awareness of the importance of officiating to sport and to promote respect of the over 250,000 Canadian technical officials who help to keep sport running in this country.

These “keepers of the game” are passionate about their role in Sport – to ensure fair play and safety for all participants. There are over 900,000 Canadians who perform some sort of sport officiating duty each year. For the majority, it is a volunteer activity – giving up their evenings, weekends and family time to do something that they love. Many spend years training in their chosen sport – keeping abreast of yearly rule changes and maintaining a fitness level akin to top athletes.  It is their dedication and passion for what they do which makes them an essential service to the sport system.