FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Halifax Hawks Call for Guaranteed Replacement Ice Before Any Forum and Civic Closure, Building Coalition of Regional Ice Users

The Halifax Hawks say the region is already three arenas short of ice, likely more once adult leagues and underserved sports are counted, and closing the Halifax Forum and Civic Arena without a built replacement would push that shortfall to the equivalent of five arenas.

HALIFAX, N.S., [September 16, 2026]. The Halifax Hawks Minor Hockey Association is calling on Regional Council not to approve the closure of the Halifax Forum and Civic Arena until a real, costed replacement facility has been studied, approved, funded, and constructed. The Hawks are building a coalition of minor hockey associations, figure skating clubs, ringette organizations, and adult recreational leagues from across Halifax Regional Municipality to support the request, under the banner “5 Short.”

According to the city's own April 2026 staff report, HRM is currently short 136 hours of prime time ice per week, the equivalent of roughly three full arenas' worth of missing capacity. The Forum and Civic Arena together account for two of the region's ice surfaces. Their closure, without a replacement in place, would push that shortfall to the equivalent of five arenas short.

The Hawks say the real number is likely higher still. The city's official 136 hour figure covers youth minor sport only. It does not account for adult men's and women's recreational leagues already being pushed into ice time as late as 10 or 11 p.m. on weeknights, or for family and public skate time being squeezed as the youth shortage intensifies. The Hawks also point to figure skating and ringette, both majority female sports, as among the most underserved in the system: the city's own data shows figure skating short 25 to 30 percent of its required ice time, with more than 460 skaters on waitlists in 2025, while ringette is the fastest growing ice sport in the city with no shortage figure tracked for it at all.

The current redevelopment plan for the Forum and Civic Arena carries an estimated cost of $126 to $148 million, depending on the option selected. Under every option currently before council, the site nets out at exactly two ice pads, the same number it has today. The Hawks say that represents a significant public investment that does nothing to address the region's documented ice shortage.

The Hawks point to two earlier city planning reports, the 2012 Long Term Arena Strategy and the 2017 Indoor Ice Surfaces Review, both of which concluded HRM had sufficient ice capacity at the time. The city's own 2026 report now acknowledges that conclusion lacked real demand analysis. Since 2017, the Hawks note, HRM's population has grown by approximately 96,000 residents, and no new municipal ice surface has been built.

“We are not asking council to cancel the Forum project, and we are not proposing a specific building or site. We are asking for something narrower and, we believe, hard to reasonably oppose: council should not vote to close ice surfaces that thousands of families across this region depend on until a real replacement has actually been built, not just studied and shelved. This is not just a hockey issue. Adult leagues, family skating, figure skating, and ringette are all being squeezed by the same shortage, and Halifax has gotten this question wrong twice before. We are asking council not to make it a third time,”

said Tim Boyce, Technical Director of the Halifax Hawks and spokesperson for the campaign.

The Hawks are reaching out to Bedford Minor Hockey, Chebucto Minor Hockey, Tasa Minor Hockey, and the Sackville and Dartmouth minor hockey associations, alongside figure skating clubs, ringette associations, speed

skating clubs, and adult recreational hockey leagues from across the municipality, to build a formal coalition in the coming weeks.

A petition calling on council to commit to a costed, capacity neutral ice replacement before any Forum and Civic closure takes effect has surpassed 750 signatures and is continuing to grow ahead of an anticipated fall vote.

The Hawks are asking Regional Council to support a motion directing staff to produce a comparative analysis of options for maintaining or increasing net ice capacity in the region, and to ensure that any vote approving closure of Forum and Civic ice surfaces does not take effect until council has approved funding for, and constructed, a replacement facility that maintains or increases current net ice capacity.

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About the Halifax Hawks and the 5 Short Campaign

The Halifax Hawks Minor Hockey Association is leading the 5 Short campaign, an effort to build a coalition of minor hockey associations, figure skating clubs, ringette organizations, speed skating clubs, and adult recreational leagues across Halifax Regional Municipality, formed in response to the proposed closure of the Halifax Forum and Civic Arena. The campaign's position is that Council should not approve the closure of any existing ice surface until a costed, capacity neutral replacement has been studied, approved, funded, and constructed.

Media Contact

Tim Boyce

Spokesperson, 5 Short Campaign / HRM Ice Coalition

TD@HalifaxHawks.ca

902 877 0053

Interview requests: Tim Boyce, Technical Director, Halifax Hawks