Ottawa Tourism’s New Playbook For Responsible Sport Events 

Ottawa excels at hosting major sporting events that drive impact beyond the scoreboard. Now, with its new Responsible Events Guide, Ottawa Tourism helps event organizers and rights holders take action on sustainability, inclusion and community connection. Designed to support sporting events at any scale, the guide offers flexible, practical strategies that integrate seamlessly into the planning process. 

Built around five core themes—waste reduction, food recovery, accessibility, social impact and communication—the guide offers a fresh approach to event design, rooted in thoughtful decision-making and collaboration with local organizations. 

A tool that works with you 

At the core of the Responsible Events Guide is the Planning Decision Tree—a simple, scalable tool to help event organizers evaluate event decisions through a sustainability lens.  

This innovative tool puts the power in organizers’ hands. Whether it’s about adjusting one element or rethinking an entire strategy. “Our intention with [developing] this guide is to help planners find their entry point, no matter what level they’re coming in at,” says Stephanie Seguin, Vice President, Sales, Business & Major Events. The Decision Tree helps organizers ask the right questions during the planning process: Can this be eliminated? Is there a better, more sustainable alternative? Could this action create community benefit? 

Try This: Use the Responsible Event Commitments page to track progress and share positive impacts—it’s a great way to demonstrate leadership and accountability to stakeholders. 

AREAS OF IMPACT 

Sustainability that works for sport 

The Responsible Events Guide makes it easy to reduce an event’s environmental footprint without sacrificing the attendee experience. From plant-forward catering or choosing venues that support food recovery to reducing event swag or ensuring accessibility for spectators, every decision can have an impact on the local community.

Get Involved: Use the guide’s Donations Directory and Group Volunteer Options to find team-friendly ways to give back—from packing food parcels to habitat restoration. 

Leave a legacy off the field 

The Responsible Events Guide helps organizers build community connections with turnkey social impact programs and customizable partnerships that align with Ottawa’s Destination Stewardship Plan. 

Whether it’s hosting an Indigenous Market, tree planting with Forêt Capitale Forest, or supporting adaptive sports with Abilities Ottawa, these initiatives create meaningful experiences and strengthen community ties. 

“We have established relationships with a number of communities and organizations that planners can connect with. Our partnership with Abilities Ottawa is an example where we’ve already done the legwork so that it’s easy for planners to connect with their programs,” Seguin explains. “But if planners want to customize their social impact programs, we’re happy to make introductions with community partners.” 

Pro Tip: The guide offers storytelling strategies that help event organizers communicate—before, during and after the event—important sustainability initiatives with rights holders, participants, sponsors, spectators and volunteers. 

Accessibility and inclusion built in 

Recognizing that inclusivity plays a key role in sustainability, the guide emphasizes the importance of planning for accessibility and inclusion from the outset. This includes collecting accommodation requests during registration, providing resources in advance to support informed choices and partnering with organizations like  Whimble Care  to deliver adaptive services on-site. Post-event feedback is also encouraged to foster ongoing improvement. 

Plan Ahead: Provide free-text fields during registration for attendees to share their needs. Include accessibility details on the event website. Assign an accessibility champion on the planning team and gather post-event feedback to improve future experiences.

CASE STUDY: Social impact scores at World Juniors 

At the 2025 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, Ottawa proved what values-led hosting looks like. Here are a few highlights: 

• Through the À la Carte Food Recovery Program, Ottawa Tourism’s partnership with La Tablée des Chefs, more than 18,000 meals were recovered for local charities.  

• The tournament partnered with three First Nations communities to amplify Indigenous culture and inclusion. This included mentorship and coaching opportunities, commissioning Indigenous artisans and hundreds of tickets donated to Indigenous youth. 

• Hockey Canada’s First Game Experience welcomed newcomer families by providing game tickets and VIP treatment at the arenas. 

• Accessibility services provided by Whimble ensured personal support assistance was available for attendees and utilized at both TD Place and the Canadian Tire Centre, making the games more inclusive for all. 

Download the  Responsible Events Guide  

Make your move 

Ready to elevate your next sporting event? Ottawa Tourism’s Major Events & Sport team brings fresh ideas, expert support and trusted local connections to the table. Contact us first when planning your responsibly-driven sporting event. 

Devin Jenkins  
Manager, Major Events and Sport 
djenkins@ottawatourism.ca 

Joey Swarbrick  
Manager, Major Events and Sport 
jswarbrick@ottawatourism.ca 

Ottawa Tourism’s Major Events and Sport Team