Toronto to host International Paralympic Committee's VISTA conference in 2017

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that the eighth VISTA conference for scientists and experts in parasport will be held in Toronto, Canada, Sept. 19 to 22, 2017.

Around 300 of the world's leading sports scientists, sport medicine practitioners, classifiers, coaches, athletes and sport administrators are expected to attend.

The theme of VISTA 2017 will be "Opportunities and challenges in Paralympic sport science and medicine support."

VISTA was first held in 1993 in Jasper, Alberta, and aims to provide a forum for exchange on current information, research and expertise related to Paralympic Sport and the Paralympic Movement.

The seventh edition of VISTA is currently taking place in Girona, Spain, with around 260 people in attendance.

VISTA 2017 will see the conference returns to its roots with Canada having hosted the first edition in 1993.

Since then, the conference has continued to grow in size and scale and is now the world's leading conference for sports scientists and researchers to discuss and debate key issues relating to the growth of the Paralympic Movement.

"With 2015 being the Year of Sport in Canada, and coming off such a successful home Games in Toronto, it is a great honour to now be awarded the privilege of hosting the 2017 VISTA conference," said Gaétan Tardif, President of the Canadian Paralympic Committee. "Looking ahead to 2017, the excitement continues as Canada will be celebrating its 150th birthday that year.

"We look forward with great anticipation to the unique opportunity to contribute to the advancement of parasport science, in collaboration with our international colleagues."

Debbie Low, Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO), shared Tardif's enthusiasm over the announcment.

"The Canadian Sport Institute Ontario is thrilled to be named the host for the 2017 VISTA Conference," said Low. "Thank you to the IPC for this honour, we look forward to working with the IPC and Canadian Paralympic Committee over the coming months to plan a world-class sport science and medicine conference."

The biennial IPC Paralympic Scientific Award will also be presented in Toronto.

This year the accolade went to Professor Jennifer Mactavish, the Dean of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies at Ryerson University, in recognition of the role she played in the re-inclusion of athletes with an intellectual impairment into the Paralympic programme.

VISTA is designed to promote and advance the mission, goals, objectives and reputation of the IPC and provides a platform for the academic world to meet with athletes and professional experts in the field of sport for athletes with a disability.