Celebrating 45 years of Special Olympics in B.C.

At Special Olympics BC, that notion has been the foundation for the mission of empowering athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities of all ages and a wide range of ability levels, and creating more inclusive communities by opening hearts and minds to their abilities.

November 2025 marks 45 meaningful years of the Special Olympics movement making a difference in our province.

Special Olympics BC then and now

In the early 1980s, Special Olympics BC began by offering two weekends of games with about 500 participants. Today, thanks to passionate athletes, dedicated volunteers and families, and committed supporters who believe in a more inclusive world, Special Olympics BC has grown to offer year-round sport, youth, and health programming for more than 3,400 B.C. athletes with intellectual disabilities, and foster strong and inclusive communities across all parts of our province. 

Involved with Special Olympics BC since its inception, Dan Howe continues to serve the movement as SOBC’s President & CEO. Over his decades with the organization, he has observed countless examples of the difference sport and Special Olympics make in the lives of people and communities across our province. 

As a member of Special Olympics BC's founding Board of Directors that signed the provincial organization’s first constitution in November 1980, Anne Tilley helped build important new opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities, and open hearts and minds to their abilities. In this video, she shares the “terrific experience” of seeing the Special Olympics movement take root and grow – noting that it was both personally satisfying to be involved, and intellectually satisfying to right a wrong and make the world a better place. 

“I hope that we would continue the way things are going at the moment, that more people would consider those with any kind of disability in a more positive view,” she said.

Marilyn McLean is another founding Special Olympics BC Board member who continues to make a difference with the movement today, as a vital coach and organizer in Kamloops. In the 1980s, McLean saw the pressing need to build more opportunities and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities, and she has been integral to the growth of the organization both provincially and locally in Kamloops. 

Read more about McLean from her deserving induction to SOBC’s Hall of Fame in 2000 and recognition with the Government of Canada’s Thérèse Casgrain Lifelong Achievement Award.

Special Olympics BC is more than sport

Today, in 55 communities across the province, dedicated volunteer organizers and coaches currently run programs in up to 18 sports, and provide chances for athletes to compete at local, national, and international levels. They also offer youth programs tailored to help children and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities build vital motor, sport, and social skills in a welcoming and supportive environment. 

But sport and competition aren’t the only driving force behind the organization. All too often, people with intellectual disabilities experience worse health and access to care than other community members. Special Olympics BC is working to change that.

The Special Olympics Health program aims to create a world where people with intellectual disabilities have the same opportunities to be healthy and access to health care as people without intellectual disabilities, with the goal of ending the serious health disparities they experience. 

By providing access to consistent health education and Healthy Athletes screenings, as well as training for health professionals and collaborations with partners to build a more inclusive health system, Special Olympics BC is empowering athletes to continually improve their mental and physical health, and changing the game for inclusive health.

In addition to health programming, Special Olympics BC offers Athlete Leadership programs that offer public speaking, leadership, and advocacy training to help athletes build skills and create change off the fields of play.

Special Olympics BC empowers athletes with intellectual disabilities

Movement leader and high-achieving multi-sport athlete Matthew Williams of Special Olympics BC – Langley has contributed significantly over the years with his many skills, supported by his experiences in Special Olympics sports and Athlete Leadership.

Williams became involved with Special Olympics at the beginning of high school, when he signed up for floor hockey. A lifelong sport lover, he had previously played ice hockey and baseball, but started to feel left behind and left out of traditional spot programming. In Special Olympics, he found a community that welcomed and supported him to continue to succeed on and off the field of play.

Williams has participated in a range of sports over his nearly 20 years as a Special Olympics athlete, and racked up outstanding athletic achievements. He raced his way onto the Special Olympics World Games podium in speed skating in 2017, and also competed at the World Summer Games in basketball in 2015.

As an athlete leader, Williams has shaped the movement globally as a Special Olympics Sargent Shriver Global Messenger from 2011 to 2014, and former Chair of the Global Athlete Congress and member of the Special Olympics International Board of Directors. Today, he serves as an SOBC Director and Chair of the Athlete Input Council, as well as participating in golf.

He says the incredibly supportive environment in Special Olympics helped him realize his potential in sport and in life.

Whether it be through competition, skill building, health initiatives or friendship, SOBC is proud to have supported communities across British Columbia for 45 years so athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities feel uplifted and encouraged through every step of their journey. 

Join our joyful community today! 

Article by Riley Cunningham, BCIT Online & Broadcast Journalism