Missing mascot: Team New Brunswick's gnome gets lost on the way to Canada Games

The unofficial mascot of New Brunswick’s Canada Games team has gone missing.

Mac the Gnome was last seen in a package destined for Ontario.

“I sent him out by courier last Tuesday,” said Bruce MacFarlane, communications manager with Team New Brunswick.

While Mac was supposed to make it to Niagara for the opening of the 2022 Canada Games, he never turned up.

“Well the gnome is in his bubble wrap cocoon with my clothes somewhere,” said MacFarlane.

Mac has been with the team — in different embodiments — since 2013, becoming a social media sensation along the way.

“The gnome has had several Twitter accounts and Instagram accounts and it's just sort of been passed down from games to games,” MacFarlane said.

“The gnome also visits the host town, city, province — he goes all around to every location and visits all the sites and gets his photo snapped.”

Team New Brunswick had to compete without their companion on the first day of the games.

"We're seeing strong performance from our athletes. Female box-lacrosse made its debut at the Canada Games yesterday,” said MacFarlane.

He says Mac’s legacy lives on through the memory of games past.

“Someone always asks about the gnome,” MacFarlane said.

For now, Mac’s arrival is a waiting game, but MacFarlane says soon it will be time to pull one of his family members out of retirement.