LACROSSE CANADA; IT CAN’T GET ANY WORSE

 by Pierre Filion pierrefilion@bell.net

For some time now I’ve been looking at Lacrosse Canada 2026-27budget and waiting with great interest for Lacrosse Canada to release its March 31st 2026 financial statements. Because those documents give us, and will give us, a clear picture of what Lacrosse Canada is all about.

They tell us what Lacrosse Canada does and mostly what it has elected not to do. Now don’t get me wrong; we do need a National Association.

The first obvious conclusion that one can readily come to, when looking at the 2026-27 budget of 4,143,675$ is that Lacrosse Canada has very little ability to raise money and, in fact, raises very little.

Lacrosse Canada will receive 1,265,162$ from Sport Canada in forms of grants. What the budget does not tell anyone is how much money will go for general governance and how much for High Performance programs (the National Teams). Now anyone who has worked with grant requests will tell you that this is easy money to collect year in and year out. Photocopy last year’s request and expect just about the same amount of money. Do it with class and expect the government to spit out the money. That’s the way it goes.

Lacrosse Canada will also receive 2,161,314$ from the members in fees (clinic fees, meeting fees, membership fees, transfer fees and national championship fees). Fees are fees; once created and installed they are a great source of revenue. They are collected by sending invoices. Print the invoice, mail it to the provinces and collect the fees. Year after year.

Now if you add up the grant monies and the monies coming in regularly from members’ fees you get 3,426,476$ which is 82.6% of the revenues of the 2026-27 budget. Easy money collected easily; without any effort or creative work. What it does, however, is show and tell everyone that Lacrosse Canada can only raise 17.3% of its budget by itself.

Lacrosse Canada with its 10 person staff and 10 members of the Board of Directors will only raise 717,500$ by itself; that money will come from sponsorship and royalties (174,500$), from the National Teams (139,500$) and from the Developmental Teams’ programs (403,200$). Aspiring young athletes will probably pay for the Development Teams…Charge a fee and Invoice them…After having raised a 542,700$ the National Teams and Developmental Programs will see 1,610,707$ coming their way in 2026-27. A really good deal!!!

What we have, really, is a National Association profiting greatly and easily from other people’s money (taxpayers and members) and generating very little by itself. Does that not come close to the definition of being on welfare?

The second obvious conclusion that everyone will come to is that Lacrosse Canada is in clear dereliction of duty when it comes to developing the game towards people who don’t play it now.

When one reads documents issued by Lacrosse Canada one cannot escape without reading somewhere…’’Lacrosse Canada is DEDICATED to the promotion, DEVELOPMENT and preservation of the sport AT ALL LEVELS’’.

Clearly, from its own budget, Lacrosse Canada has no interest in the development of the game; it is concerned by itself, by its National Teams and by some services offered, for a fee, to provincial associations. There are no concerns and no programs connected to the development of the game towards those who don’t already play it. That ‘’responsibility’’ is left to the provincial associations most of whom have little money and little human and financial resources to even address the issue of development. The responsibility of developing the game has gallantly been shoveled on provincial laps. You handle it, we don’t care. Yet we are ‘’DEDICATED to the development of the sport at all levels’’.

In the 2026-27 budget there is not one single dollar invested towards the development of the game; not one single penny to organizationally penetrate the school system where there are millions of captive students who just might be interested in ‘’our’’ game if it was presented to them in classrooms and in gymnasiums.

In the 2026-27 budget there is not one single dollar invested in a strategy to benefit from lacrosse’s participation within the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Lacrosse Canada believes that winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games will generate great interest in the game and will increase the number of lacrosse players here and there. That remains to be seen and proven. How many new luggers will emerge after watching the 2026 Games in Milano?

Imagine if someone at Lacrosse Canada, really DEDICATED to the development of the game, had suggested that LC prepares lesson plans for Canadian history, geography, social science and gym teachers to inform them about the game and how it relates to Canada as Canada prepares to participate in the 2028 Olympic Games. The literature is already there and available; all that is needed is for a National Association to be dedicated to the development of the game and to go out of itself and work at it. Forget the 24 players on our newly created Sixes National Teams for a minute and look at the millions of students out there in OUR classrooms in OUR country who know so very little about OUR game.

Lacrosse Canada will argue that it is not its mandate but rather the provinces’. In so doing Lacrosse Canada will proudly stand out as the only national association totally disconnected from its responsibility to promote and develop its sport. Or minimally to have a functional strategy with the provinces to address the issues of promotion and development. It can’t get worse. We have hit rock bottom. We are governed by drunken sailors running around with the Association’s credit card!

This irresponsible position stems from Lacrosse Canada’s self-centered bellybutton vision of itself. The present Lacrosse Canada’s vison is ‘’to ignite a nationwide passion for the game, cultivating a vibrant and inclusive community that engages participants of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.’’

That is the bellybutton vision that Lacrosse Canada has for itself in the future. That is not a vision for the game. It’s ‘’me, me, me’’.

Imagine if the vision for the game had been: ‘’Lacrosse on every field, in every arena and in every gymnasium throughout Canada’’. No bellybutton here; no word salad there. A simple and forceful vision for a game that we would wish to develop…not just preserve!

That is why I was interested in Lacrosse Canada’s 2026-27 budget. Because it tells you that Lacrosse Canada is basically on welfare and has no interest towards the development of the game. This is as clear as day.

If you want to have access to Lacrosse Canada’s 2026-27 budget go to www.lacrosse.ca and locate the budget in the menu on the upper left side of the home page. Then, good luck with your browser!