Canada West Universities Athletic Association

Canada West
Established 1972
Association U Sports
Members 17
Sports fielded
  • 12
    • men's: 9
    • women's: 11
Region Western Canada
Former names Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union, Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Website www.canadawest.org

Canada West is a regional membership association for universities in Western Canada which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, and releases about those programs and events to the public and the media. This is similar to what would be called a college athletic conference in the United States. Canada West is one of four such bodies that are members of the country's governing body for university athletics, U Sports. The other three regional associations coordinating university-level sports in Canada are Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Atlantic University Sport (AUS), and the Quebec Student Sport Federation (known by its French initialism of RSEQ).

History

The Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WCIAU - later renamed Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Association) was formed in 1919-20 as the first recognized western-based post-secondary athletic organization in Canada, with the University of Manitoba winning the first-ever league championship, a men's hockey title, in 1920.

In the spring of 1972, the WCIAA was split into the Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CWUAA) and the Great Plains Athletic Association (GPAA - later renamed the Great Plains Athletic Conference).

CWUAA consisted of schools spanning from Victoria to Saskatoon (Victoria, British Columbia, Calgary, Alberta, Lethbridge and Saskatchewan), while GPAA's member institutions stretched from Regina to Thunder Bay (Regina, Brandon, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Lakehead).[1]

Membership changes

In 1985-86, Canada West offered playing privileges to men's hockey teams from the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) with other sports following over the years, culminating with the 2001-02 merger of basketball.

Since 1999, 11 additional schools have joined the Canada West's six charter members. Trinity Western joined in 1999-00 and, in 2000-01, all schools from the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) except for Brandon were provided full membership in Canada West (Manitoba, Regina and Winnipeg). Brandon joined as an associate member at the time, until full membership was granted in 2005.

Simon Fraser joined Canada West in 2000, followed by Thompson Rivers in 2005 and Fraser Valley in 2006.

Simon Fraser withdrew from the conference as a member after the 2009-10 season, while both Thompson Rivers and Fraser Valley were awarded full membership in 2010 and, at the same time, UBC Okanagan received probationary membership.[2]

In 2011, Mount Royal University[3] and the University of Northern British Columbia[4] were voted in as probationary members and began active competing in 2012-13.

In 2013, UBC Okanagan was awarded full membership, while Mount Royal University and the University of Northern British Columbia were awarded full membership in 2014.

Full membership was granted to MacEwan University in the spring of 2015,[5] after the Edmonton-based university fulfilled their probationary membership requirements and was accepted by Canada West membership as the conference's 17th member.

Member schools

Current members

Institution Nickname Location Founded Type Enrollment Endowment Joined Division
University of Alberta Golden Bears (men's)
Pandas (women's)		 Edmonton, Alberta 1908 Public 36,435 $1.2B 1971-72 Prairie
Brandon University Bobcats Brandon, Manitoba 1890 Public 3,383 --- 1999-2000 Prairie
University of British Columbia Thunderbirds Vancouver, British Columbia 1908 Public 43,579 $1.01B 1971-72 Pacific
University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat Kelowna, British Columbia 2005 Public 8,307 --- 2010-11 Pacific
University of Calgary Dinos Calgary, Alberta 1966 Public 28,196 $952M 1971-72 Prairie
University of the Fraser Valley Cascades Abbotsford, British Columbia 1974 Public 21,500 --- 2006-07 Pacific
University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Lethbridge, Alberta 1967 Public 8,000+ $24.5M 1971-72 Prairie
University of Manitoba Bisons Winnipeg, Manitoba 1877 Public 27,599 $303M 2001-02 Prairie
MacEwan University Griffins Edmonton, Alberta 1971 Public 19,606 --- 2013-14
Mount Royal University Cougars Calgary, Alberta 1910 Public 14,175 --- 2001-02 Pacific
University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves Prince George, British Columbia 1990 Public 4,183 $78.5M 2011-12 Pacific
University of Regina Rams (football)
Cougars (other sports)		 Regina, Saskatchewan 1911 Public 12,800 $25.9M 2001-02 Prairie
University of Saskatchewan Huskies Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 1907 Public 19,082 $136.7M 1971-72 Prairie
Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Kamloops, British Columbia 1970 Public 13,072 --- 2005-06 Pacific
Trinity Western University Spartans Langley, British Columbia 1962 Private/Christian 2,700 --- 1999-2000 Pacific
University of Victoria Vikes Victoria, British Columbia 1903 Public 19,500 $155.4M 1971-72 Pacific
University of Winnipeg Wesmen Winnipeg, Manitoba 1871 Public 9,219 --- 2001-02 Prairie

Former member

Institution Nickname Location Founded Type Enrollment Endowment Joined Left Current
Conference
Simon Fraser University Clan Burnaby, British Columbia 1965 Public 35,604 $209M 2000-01 2009-10 GNAC
(NCAA Division II)

Facilities

Canadian athletic facilities are often listed by their "maximum capacity", which is often an estimate of their largest recorded crowd in the facility. These maximum capacities can and often do include standing room patrons and attendees seated on grass surrounding a playing field. Seated Capacity is the actual number of permanent seats, be they grandstands or permanently in use bleachers. This is why you will sometimes see larger capacities listed for these sites when searching for them on line. When capacity numbers have mismatched on source sites, unless the larger capacity could be confirmed as a seated capacity, the smaller capacity number has been listed here.

Please update with verified "seated capacities" only when the institutions release more accurate official seated capacities.

Facilities
InstitutionFootball
Stadium		Seated
Capacity		Basketball
Arena		Seated
Capacity		Hockey
Arena		Seated
Capacity		Soccer
Stadium		Seated
Capacity
AlbertaFoote Field3,500GO Centre2,600Clare Drake Arena3,000Foote Soccer Field1,500
BrandonNo Football--Brandon University Gym1,000No Hockey--No Soccer--
UBCThunderbird Stadium3,441War Memorial Gymnasium2,222Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre7,200Thunderbird Stadium3,500
UBCONo Football--UBC Okanagan Campus Gym1,000No Hockey--Nonis Sports Field--
CalgaryMcMahon Stadium35,650Jack Simpson Gymnasium2,700Father David Bauer Olympic Arena1,750West Varsity Soccer Pitch500
Fraser ValleyNo Football--Envision Athletic Centre1,700No Hockey--Exhibition Field, Chilliwack2,000
LethbridgeNo Football--1st Choice Savings Centre2,500Nicholas Sheran Arena1,100University Field2,000
MacEwanNo football--Christenson Family Centre for Sport and Wellness2,000Downtown Community Arena1,000Jasper Place Bowl1,000[6]
ManitobaInvestors Group Field33,500Investors Group Athletic Centre3,100Max Bell Centre1,400Turf East Field
Mount RoyalNo Football--Kenyon Court1,940Flames Community Arenas500Mount Royal Fields
UNBCNo Football--Charles Jago Northern Sports Centre2,000No Hockey--NCSSL Field
ReginaNew Mosaic Stadium33,000UR CKHS2,000The Co-operators Centre1,000Rams/Cougars Field (Women's only)No permanent seating
SaskatchewanGriffiths Stadium6,171PAC2,426Rutherford Arena700Field 7 in PotashCorp Park400
Thompson RiversNo Football--Tournament Capital Centre2,200No Hockey--Hillside Stadium1,060
Trinity WesternNo Football--Langley Event Centre2,000Langley Events Centre5,300Rogers Park500
VictoriaNo Football--McKinnon Gym2,500No Hockey--Centennial Stadium5,000
WinnipegNo Football--Duckworth Centre1,780No Hockey--Winnipeg Soccer Complex / St. Vital2000 / 500

(Data mined from the U Sports homepage's member directory[7] and WorldStadiums.com.[8] The member directory numbers seem to be ballpark figures in some cases.)

Future expansion

The media has reported that the following institutions are building their athletic programs for potential admission into the association.

In 2012 the conference declared they would not take applications from new schools, as Canada West rejected a bid from Grant MacEwan University.[9]

Scholarships, UBC, Simon Fraser University, and the NAIA

In May 2005, UBC made a formal bid to join the NCAA, but decided in April 2011 to remain a part of Canada West Athletics. See the UBC article for more details.

Simon Fraser (known as the SFU Clan) did not compete in what is now known as U Sports until 2002, after a failed attempt to join the U.S. NCAA. On July 10, 2009 the NCAA accepted SFU's bid to join NCAA Division II in the 2011-2012 season. Canada West proceeded as a 13-team, 14 member conference for 2010-11, with the inclusion of UBC-Okanagan as a non-competing, probationary member for 2010-11, in time to begin competition (pending summer 2011 CIS approval) for the 2011-12 season. In May 2011 Mount Royal was awarded Canada West membership, effective Sept. 2011, with competition to begin in the 2012-13 season.

From its inception in 1965, Simon Fraser competed in the NAIA to allow "full ride" scholarships. Canadian schools did not allow any form of scholarships until the late 1980s. SFU was forced to leave the NAIA in many sports due to schools in the Northwest US shifting to the NCAA. Until 2009, the NCAA limited membership to schools based in the U.S. Some Simon Fraser teams still competed in the U.S. before the school moved to the NCAA, and their men's wrestling program competed in the then-CIS and the NAIA. UBC has several of its programs (baseball, cross country, golf, outdoor track and field and softball) compete in the NAIA.

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Canada West Universities Athletic Association". Canada West Universities Athletic Association. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  2. ↑ "UBC Okanagan joins Canada West; TRU & UFV full members". Athletics & Recreation News. 2010-09-02. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  3. ↑ "Mount Royal University officially joins Canada West Athletics". Canada West Universities Athletic Association. 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  4. ↑ "UNBC becomes latest member of Canada West sports division | University Affairs". University Affairs. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  5. ↑ "MacEwan University granted full membership in Canada West". MacEwan University. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  6. ↑ https://www.edmonton.ca/activities_parks_recreation/jasper-place-bowl-artificial-turf.aspx
  7. ↑ U Sports directory Archived 2009-07-27 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ World Stadiums.com
  9. ↑ http://cupwire.ca/articles/51957 - CUP - March 7, 2012 - University presidents in Canada West push for high performance division
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