2024 was the Year of the Arts in Newfoundland and Labrador; 2025 will be the Year of Sport.

Government made the announcement yesterday to coincide with the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John’s.

To mark the initiative, the province will be offering activities such as community skates and swims at no cost throughout 2025.

While it’s unclear exactly how much the new initiative will cost, Premier Andrew Furey says that with the summer games just months away, celebrating sports in 2025 felt like the right thing to do.

“In celebrating the year of the sport, in an attempt to continue our well-being initiative and become one of the healthiest places in Canada, the year of the sport funding will allow for some of those facilities to be free. So free lane swims, free gym access, free skates, those kind of events for people who live in the community,” he said.