St.John's 2025

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Introduction

Congratulations on your participation in the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador!

Athletes and athlete support personnel participating in the Games are subject to the rules of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP), which comes with specific rights and responsibilities.

Athletes may be selected for doping control and have samples of urine and/or blood collected and tested for prohibited substances, so they should be diligent about the medications and supplements they’re taking.

Athlete support personnel, like coaches, trainers, medical support personnel, Chefs, and administrators, should know how to support athletes through every step of the doping control process and how to avoid other prohibited behaviours.

Parents, guardians, and caregivers should support their child as they compete on the national stage, help them navigate a complex anti-doping system, and ensure their rights are respected and they fulfill their responsibilities.

The Clean Sport 5

For more information on the Clean Sport 5, refer to your e-learning or the links on this page.

Check Your Meds
Many common prescription and over-the-counter medications (e.g., ADHD medications, asthma puffers, insulin, cough and cold medicine) can contain substances that are prohibited in sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and are on the Prohibited List.

Use Global DRO to determine the status of any medication or substance you are taking or are considering taking. Search by the 8-digit DIN for the most accurate result. Global DRO does not include supplements or natural health products.
Know Your Medical Exemption Requirements

If your medication is prohibited, use the Medical Exemption Wizard to determine:

  • Whether you need to apply for a medical exemption,
  • Where to download the forms,
  • Application requirements, including what goes in your medical file, and
  • When to apply for an exemption.
Be Cannabis Smart
Despite being legal for adults in Canada, cannabis, specifically THC, is still prohibited in sport.

THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, is prohibited in competition, meaning if you test positive for it during the competition period, it may be an anti-doping rule violation. Using cannabis out of competition can cause a positive test in competition because it’s stored in the body and released over time.

CBD is not prohibited, but CBD products can contain THC and can result in a positive doping control test.
Question Supplements

Ask yourself these risk-minimization questions every time you consider using a supplement:

  • Is it necessary?
  • Can you get what you need through diet?
  • Has Health Canada or the FDA put out a warning or a recall on the product?
  • Are you sure that it’s safe?
  • Has it been tested by a reliable third-party batch testing program?
Prepare for Doping Control

To be prepared in case you are selected for testing – which we call doping control – you can:

  • Bring photo ID with you to the event.
  • Plan who could be your representative.
  • Keep a record of medications and supplements you use, so you can declare them.

Education

Athletes and athlete support personnel going to the Games have a mandatory education requirement so that all participants know what’s expected of them, and what to expect if they are selected for doping control.

Athletes

Using the PDF invitation you were sent by email, sign up for an account in the CCES Online Learning Portal and complete one of the following courses, depending on your eligibility.

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Image of sample collection bottles

Clean Sport

Athletes doing a CCES e-learning course for the first time, or who haven’t done a course in over a year, will complete Clean Sport (formerly True Sport Clean).

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Image of sample collection bottles

Clean Sport Review

Returning learners (i.e., who completed a True Sport Clean course in 2024) will complete The Clean Sport Review (formerly The True Sport Clean Review).

Parents are welcome to join their children as they work on their course, and they can access other resources and courses.

Athlete Support Personnel

Using the PDF invitation you were sent by email, sign up for an account in the CCES Online Learning Portal and complete one of the following Clean Sport courses, depending on your eligibility, and The Role of Athlete Support Personnel module.

Clean Sport 2025

Clean Sport

Athlete support personnel doing a CCES e-learning course for the first time, or who haven’t done a course in over a year, will complete Clean Sport (formerly True Sport Clean).

Review 2025

Clean Sport Review

Returning learners (i.e., who completed a True Sport Clean course in 2024) will complete The Clean Sport Review(formerly The True Sport Clean Review).

The Role of Athlete Support Personnel

The Role of Athlete Support Personnel

This module will reinforce key learnings about requirements that are specific to athlete support personnel, violations, and other considerations.

Your Profile

For your records, and for your certificate to be visible to your team, select the province or territory you are representing and the appropriate Games from the list.

For example, if you are on team Alberta and are competing in the St. John’s 2025 Games, you should select the following:

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Profile screen showing province selection

The province Alberta is selected.

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Profile screen image showing city selection

The St. John’s button is selected.

If you didn’t do this, or didn’t do it correctly, log back in to the CCES Online Learning Portal and launch the Profile to correct it. This is the icon for the Profile module in the portal:
 

 Profile module logo 

For Parents and Guardians

Doping Control

Doping control refers to the process of collecting urine and blood samples for analysis. If this is the first time your child could go through doping control, it’s important for both of you to learn about the process. The athlete will learn about it in Clean Sport, and you can learn more about it in the untracked version of the e-learning course, or the video below.

You can also learn more about the sample collection process.

Resource: Clean Sport for Parents 
Learn more about how parents, guardians, and caregivers can support young athletes on 
our dedicated web page. 

The Representative

Athletes can ask for someone to accompany them throughout the doping control process to help protect their rights and fulfill their responsibilities. The time for them to request a representative is when a CCES Doping Control Officer (DCO) or chaperone notifies them that they have been selected for testing.

You can be the representative! It can also be a coach or other trusted adult who is 18 or older. Your child and their chaperone can find you before sample collection begins. As a representative, you can ask questions, observe the process, and make any comments you like on the doping control form to give the CCES feedback about the process.

Minors need an adult to accompany them as a representative. If your child is a minor, discuss who will act as their representative prior to the Games.

Support Checking Medications and Medical Exemptions

Two of the most important things to do before the Games are to check medications and to help apply for medical exemptions, if necessary. To complete these actions, you may need to liaise between the CCES and your child’s physician. Please read more about these processes further down this page .

2025 Canada Games Parents’ Webinar
Sign up for a webinar presented by CCES staff who will go over clean sport information and answer your questions. The webinar is happening on June 8. Following the webinar, a summary of the questions and answers will be made available.

Sign up for the English webinar | Sign up for the French webinar
Tell us what you want to learn 

Education

Unlike athletes and athlete support personnel, parents do not have a mandatory education requirement, but we encourage you to learn more about the CADP and support clean sport!

Untracked course

Clean Sport Untracked

This freely accessible version of Clean Sport allows parents to access the same course material as athletes.

Parents’ FAQ

A summary of questions from the P.E.I. 2023 parents’ webinar.

Check Medications

Do you use a prescription medication? Do you use any over-the-counter medications? They could contain substances that are prohibited in sport.

The Prohibited List 
Learn more about the categories in the Prohibited List on our page about banned substances and methods.

To avoid testing positive by mistake, make sure that you search for any and all medications you are using, or will be using during the Games, in our online database, Global DRO.

Global DRO logo
The most accurate way to search for a medication in Global DRO is by its 8-digit Drug Identification Number (DIN). You can also search by name or active ingredient(s). Go to Global DRO

Save the results of your search so you can refer to it later. Use the button on the right side of the search results screen to save a PDF or download the results.

Do you need more help? Get in touch:

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Substance Enquiry Form

Submit an inquiry:
Complete the online form

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Email Us

Email your question to:
 [email protected]

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Toll Free

Call 1-800-672-7775 or
1 613 521-3340

Medical Exemptions

The CCES grants medical exemptions for medically justified uses of prohibited prescription medications. There are several types of exemptions. Canada Games athletes may need a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) in advance, or following a positive test, depending on their requirements.

Most Canada Games athletes can go through the TUE application process after a positive test, but some athletes who have additional requirements (e.g., they are in the national athlete pool or the registered testing pool) need to apply in advance.

To determine your exemption requirements, use the Medical Exemption Wizard.

Did you use the Medical Exemption Wizard and still need help? Get in touch:

Tips for Doping Control

By the time an athlete reaches the Olympics, they have gone through the doping control process many times. Here are some Canadian Olympians’ tips and observations from years of experience with doping control.

Learn more about the sample collection process.