We read Kathryn Morses October 15th post on Facebook on the Halifax Forum with interest, and we want to make sure our position is clearly understood, because we believe we agree on more than the newsletter suggests.

We support rebuilding the Forum. Like you, we see the Forum as the recreational heart of this city. Our concern is not whether the Forum is rebuilt, but what the rebuild delivers. As planned, the project spends $140+ million and rising and creates no new ice. Halifax would take two surfaces offline for around four years and end up with exactly the same two. In a city the April 2026 staff report says is already short 136 hours of prime time ice every week, about three arenas’ worth, we believe a project of this size must add ice. Given how little has been invested in new ice in Halifax proper for many years, we cannot imagine another multi million dollar arena being built here soon after the Forum is complete. This rebuild is the opportunity, and likely the only one for a generation, to add a surface. It is important to remember that a third ice surface was part of the original plans. The Forum’s 2013 redevelopment proposal called for three rinks, and the third was dropped only after a staff review based on arena inventory, the same approach the 2026 report now says lacked real demand analysis. We are asking that the redesign restore what was originally planned and include, at a minimum, a third surface.

Our second ask is about sequencing, not delay for its own sake. Alternative ice should be built and operating before the Forum is torn down, so that hockey, ringette, figure skating and speed skating are not pushed into crisis during construction. Losing two surfaces from a system already this far behind would mean shorter games, fewer practices, children on the ice at 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., and associations told to stop growing. Interim ice does not have to take years: air supported domes can be built in months, covered outdoor rinks in a single construction season, and both last for decades, adding lasting capacity rather than a stopgap. We are not proposing specific locations; we are asking council to direct staff to cost these options so council can compare them properly.

On cost. We take the cost of delay seriously. But it has to be weighed against the cost of spending $140 million and rising on a facility that adds no ice to a system that needs about four new surfaces. The $3.5 million spent on design deserves to be kept in perspective. It is less than 3 percent of the Forum project’s $126 million budget, and about 1 percent of the city’s $316.7 million capital budget for this year alone. Much of that design work could also carry into a redesign. Protecting a $3.5 million investment is not a reason to lock in a $126 million facility that adds no ice for decades. As for the $148 million figure, it comes from an internal city report that set out the redevelopment options and their estimated costs. That range was the basis for our concern that the project’s cost is continuing to climb, which staff’s decision to pause the demolition process has since confirmed.

On the building’s condition. The Forum is in fact open 98 percent of the time outside power related issues. The Civic, the second surface on the property, is in good condition and rarely closes except for power issues, and the adjacent community centre has never been brought forward with structural concerns. The building needs investment, but it is still serving thousands of skaters every week, and it is far from a facility that cannot be kept running safely while replacement ice is built.

On attendance. We would be grateful if someone could share the source for the 350,000 ice related and 400,000 non ice visitor figures. We have not been able to find any study that counts attendance at the rinks, and most hockey games and many Forum events are free and uncounted. Additioally, we can cite several instances whereas the Forum Association has changed their own reporting of these numbers. Even taking those numbers as given, ice accounts for nearly half of all visits from just two rinks, which run seven days a week for most of the year. By operating time, the ice is the building’s primary use.

The newsletter notes that practical, compelling alternatives may come forward for council’s consideration. That is exactly what we hope to bring. We would very much welcome the chance to meet with you, as you represent many of our families, to walk through the numbers and hear your concerns directly. We are all volunteers trying to get this right for the children we serve, and we believe the best decisions come from working together.

 Halifax Hawks

With costs past $126 million and zero new ice surfaces, association says the Forum pause is Halifax's chance to get more ice for its money

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.

-30-

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

The Hawks are accepting coaching applications (Head and Assistant) for the 26-27 season

Hawks Wednesday goalie sessions are starting October 15th

• These are 5pm at Centennial arena and one hour in length
• They will be run by Empire Goaltending
• They are free!
• They are open to all goalies U9 and above

The association strongly encourages goalies to take advantage of this free goalie training 

To register: Click Here

Hawks Pre Season Camps will open on Wednesay July 17 @ 10am.

This is the link to register - https://www.halifaxhawks.ca/l/44/HHMHA/pages/4017/2024-Pre-Season-Camps/