What a welcome, what a welcome ceremony! Toronto and Canada open their arms to the global YMCA Movement
Date: 20 July 2026
21st YMCA World Council, Toronto, Canada - Monday 20 July 2026
What began with a spectacular entry of Indigenous dancers in traditional regalia, ended with them dancing out of the auditorium and into Nathan Phillips Square to light a sacred fire which will burn for the duration of the 21st YMCA World Council, 19-25 July 2026.
‘These lands have been our home for thousands of years. But no matter where we come from, or wherever we call home, we belong to communities and we have a responsibility to leave behind something better for those who follow us.’
The ideas of home, community, and responsibility shared by Margaret Sault, Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation in Ontario, were some of the many themes running through a spectacular, instructive and poignant welcome ceremony.
Olivia Chow, Mayor of Toronto continued to link universal concerns with the concerns of the YMCA. ‘People want the Y to be in their community,’ she said, citing a partnership prompted by public demand and funding contributed by the government, which built the McDonald Family YMCA in downtown Toronto. ‘The world is crying out for your YMCA vision of a more beautiful society.’
Peter Dinsdale, CEO of YMCA Canada, and Lesley Davidson, President of the YMCA of Greater Toronto, took up the theme of the YMCA’s role in modern Canada and the world. ‘We’re about belonging, services, leadership and community,’ said Peter. ‘At a time when young people are asking themselves if they believe the promises being made to them about their future, the YMCA is building communities in a world that is being torn apart.’
‘Home is what we build together,’ said Lesley, citing the young volunteers who had welcomed YMCA World Council delegates to Toronto, all of whom are currently invited to Canada under the Y’s Youth Leadership programme.
The ceremony was a feast of music and dance. 1000 people sang along to Pharell Williams’ 2013 song ‘Happy’. ‘How do you feel about being made an associate member of the World YMCA?’, President Soheila Hayek asked Rabiou Hamidou, National General Secretary of YMCA Niger. ‘Oh - that’s easy. ‘Happy, happy, happy,’ came the reply. Viktoriia Trofimova, National General Secretary, accepting associate membership on behalf of YMCA Ukraine, said how much the recognition meant to her and her team which oversees seventeen YMCA local associations that reach across more than half of Ukraine's regions, touching approximately 10,000 lives every year.
The music continued - a djembe drum ensemble, and not one but two youth dance troupes who brought the audience to their feet: their dancing feet.
It was a moment to reflect on what makes the YMCA Movement so special. ‘We must never lose sight of why we do what we do,’ said President Soheila Hayek. ‘What do we do? We bring goodness to the world,’ said Johan Wilhelm Eltvik (Norway), World YMCA Secretary-General from 2010 to 2018. The idea of the YMCA still ‘soars and sails,’ said Bart Shaha (Bangladesh), World YMCA Secretary-General from 2002 to 2010.
Oscar Velasco, National General Secretary of YMCA Mexico, led tributes to fellow YMCAs in places of conflict and disaster, while recalling the faithful YMCA servants who died in the last four years. Melody Quintanilla, a YMCA Change Agent from the Philippines, prayed for the departed, and Barboro Zarska, a YMCA Change Agent from the Czech Republic, sang the Hallelujah anthem by Leonard Cohen. Among those who passed away during the period was Nick Nightingale, World YMCA Secretary-General from 1998 to 2002.
The audience was reminded of its recent shared path: the 4-year journey of the World Alliance of YMCAs and the wider worldwide YMCA Movement was encapsulated in 3 minutes and 12 seconds:
World Council was declared open and the roll call - announced by MCs Kaitlyn Adair and Morgan Bello of YMCA Canada and YMCA of the National Capital Region - brought over 80 national delegations to their feet. Ranging from 1 to 100 people, each was clapped and cheered to the rafters.