Interview with Keith Lees

Partial Transcript: I was born in Edmonton, I grew up most of my life in Edmonton with the exception of 1942-1945 and during that time I lived in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Segment Synopsis: Keith tells us about himself including where he was born, where he grew up, and where he lives now.

Keywords: Alberta; Lethbridge; Navy; WWII; World War Two

Partial Transcript: Actually, I fell into this job of General Manager by my acquaintance with the president of the society here in Lethbridge.

Segment Synopsis: Keith explains how he became involved in the 1975 Canada Winter Games in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Keywords: community

Subjects: Host Society

Partial Transcript: Actually it was a volunteer committee as you guys are, and I was the first actual employee, everybody else was volunteers.

Segment Synopsis: Keith talks about the process of organizing the 1975 Canada Winter Games in Lethbridge, and the volunteer committee that put it all together.

Keywords: Alberta; Community; Host Society; Legacy

Subjects: Organizing the Canada Games; Volunteering

Partial Transcript: It was, it was primarily because I was in business for myself before that I had the contacts both in the city and in the country to sort of put it all together.

Segment Synopsis: Keith says it took three years of organizing, led by their ten person organizing committee, to make the 1975 Canada Winter Games in Lethbridge happen.

Keywords: Distance; Geography; Lethbridge; Management committee; hockey; volunteer; woman

Subjects: Built Legacy; Organizing the Canada Games

Partial Transcript: We had actually two villages, we had one village here in Lethbridge which was the main village and then we had a satellite village in Pincher Creek...

Segment Synopsis: Keith explains the challenges they faced with the distance between event venues, and how they organized the transportation around Lethbridge and its surrounding communities for the thousands of athletes and volunteers that attended.

Keywords: Athlete(s); School(s); Student(s); Transportation

Subjects: Education; Government Relations; Organizing the Canada Games

Partial Transcript: Our base reference then was New Westminster-Burnaby Summer Games that were there just before us.

Segment Synopsis: Keith says he and the 1975 organizing committee attended the previous Canada (Summer) Games in BC to gather information and advice.

Keywords: 1973; British Columbia; Saskatoon; Sport Canada; report

Subjects: Organizing the Canada Games

Partial Transcript: I think that an organization like yours and ours and the training of young athletes and bringing them together in one spot so they can know what other people are doing in the different areas of the country is primarily essential for the continuation of sport.

Segment Synopsis: Keith talks about the costs of playing high-level sport as one of the biggest changes he's seen over the decades, making some sports prohibitive to some individuals.

Keywords: Affordability; Community; Expenses; Local

Subjects: Sport & Recreation in Canada

Partial Transcript: They were, it depends on who you were talking to of course. If a person was sports-minded they were all for it of course.

Segment Synopsis: Keith talks about the financial aspect of organizing the 1975 Canada Games including the money given by the federal government, and the work the host community had to do to fundraise locally.

Keywords: Budget; Expense; Finances

Subjects: Community Partnerships; Sponsorship; Unity Through Sport

Partial Transcript: One of the things that I wanted to make sure happened was that the artifacts didn't just disappear.

Segment Synopsis: Keith says the organizing committee donated some artifacts from the Games to the Galt Museum, and mentions a few pieces.

Keywords: Artifact(s); Clothing; Flag; Gear; Memorabilia; Museum; Pin(s)

Subjects: Pin collecting; Preserving Canada Games Materials

Partial Transcript: Yeah my favourite was I got remnants of or copies of all of the athletes' medals.

Segment Synopsis: Keith talks about his favourite artifacts that were donated to the Galt Museum after the 1975 Canada Winter Games in Lethbridge.

Keywords: Artifact; Museum; Record

Subjects: Preserving Canada Games Materials

Partial Transcript: Yeah, it was a part of our Games and it was a part of previous Games.

Segment Synopsis: Keith talks about the Canada Games pin collecting and trading tradition.

Keywords: Pin(s)

Subjects: Pin collecting

Partial Transcript: No, I think you'll find that once you've been down the road, you've been down the road, and you wouldn't turn around and try to backtrack...

Segment Synopsis: Keith talks about all of the hard work that was put into organizing the 1975 Canada Winter Games in Lethbridge.

Keywords: Army; Assistant; Events; Meetings

Subjects: Organizing the Canada Games; Volunteering

Partial Transcript: I think that, I know that our age group was probably young to maybe 18 or 19 and I mean that's the formative years for young people.

Segment Synopsis: Keith explains the value of sport and the value of the Canada Games for the health and wellbeing of Canadian youth.

Keywords: Cooperation; WWII; World War Two

Subjects: Sport & Recreation in Canada; Unity through Sport

Partial Transcript: I can't think of anything else other than what might be organizational charts or something like that that might help you....

Segment Synopsis: Keith wraps up the conversation.

Keywords: Museum(s); Politics; Social