FaceoftheGames4

A Celebration of Sport and Community

The BC Winter and BC Summer Games are British Columbia’s biennial celebration of sport and community, bringing together British Columbia’s best emerging high performance athletes, trained coaches, and certified officials for four days of competition.

The event provides an opportunity for the development of athletes, coaches, and officials in preparation for higher levels of competition, and the multi-sport environment helps promote interest and participation in sport and activity, individual achievement, and community development.

About the BC Games Society

The BC Games Society is the organization responsible for setting the ongoing policy and direction of the BC Winter and BC Summer Games and supporting Team BC at the Canada Games.

Based out of Victoria, the Society works in partnership with governments, businesses and not for profit organizations, in and out of the sport sector, in the planning and staging of the Games. The organization serves as a leader in multi-sport event and volunteer management.

Following the philosophy of Helping Others Lead, BC Games staff conduct an extensive transfer of knowledge program provides tools, resources and templates to the Host Society to assist volunteers to create and implement a high quality event.

BC Games Society
Team BC logo

Vision

We strive to inspire exceptional experiences through sport.

Mission

The BC Games Society is the leadership organization that guides the BC Winter and BC Summer Games and prepares Team BC for national multi-sport Games.  We build on the expertise and support of partners to create development opportunities for athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, and communities.

Values

Integrity, trust and respect are the core of our game plan.
Dedicated – committed to the goal
Accountable – embracing responsibility
Collaborative – fostering dynamic teams
Evolving – adapting the game plan
Excellence – achieving personal bests

History of the BC Games

The BC Games were originally a vision of Premier W. R. Bennett who believed in providing “an opportunity to bring all parts of BC together, large and small communities, in the spirit of sport and friendship”.  Mr. Bennett’s vision for the BC Games has provided a substantial foundation and structure on which excellence in sport and community has been and continues to be built.

Established in 1977 by the Provincial Government under the Societies Act, The original mandate of the BC Summer and Winter Games Society was to provide an opportunity for all British Columbians to compete in an organized sports festival that promoted physical fitness, individual achievement, and community pride.  The very first BC Summer Games were held in Penticton in 1978 with the first BC Winter Games taking place the following year in Kamloops.

In 1994 the mandate of the organization, now named the BC Games Society, shifted from participation-focused event to become a key part of athlete and sport development in the province.

Cover of the program from the Penticton 1978 BC Summer Games.
A program from the Penticton 1978 BC Summer Games, the first-ever BC Games.

Building an Accessible Games

The BC Games Society strives to inspire exceptional experiences for all participants by fostering an accessible, positive, respectful, and inclusive environment for all participants.

The Society has developed a BC Games Accessibility Plan, which outlines the guiding principles and protocols to ensure an inclusive and accessible Games experience for all participants.

Download Accessibility Plan
Cover page for the BC Games Accessibility Plan.
Kelowna 2026 BC Summer Games logo

Host Societies

When a community is awarded the Games, through the bidding process, a nominations committee, led by the local mayor, identifies community leaders to form the Board of Directors. The Board for each BC Winter and BC Summer Games then forms its own Society.

The Board is organized into 14 planning areas (Directorates). The work in the Directorates is overseen by a Director and managed by committee chairs (75+ chairs in total). Collectively the Directors and Chairs lead as many as 3,200 community volunteers as they undertake to plan and stage the Games.

Find out more about each Host Society on the respective Games pages.

Team BC Logo

Newsletter Sign-up

BC Games Logo

Newsletter Sign-up

BC Games Society - 200 - 990 Fort Street, Victoria, BC V8V 3K2