QUESTION PERIOD — Sport and Persons with Disabilities
Support for Athletes
February 20, 2020
My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Like many Canadians, I was very upset by the disturbing revelations that appeared in the February 8 edition of The Globe and Mail regarding the athlete Megan Brown and sexual harassment within Canadian athletics. These kinds of situations are unacceptable, and athletes must be protected.
The Minister of Canadian Heritage’s mandate letter states, and I quote:
Foster a national culture of safe sport, including physical safety, sporting environments free of harassment, promoting diversity and inclusion in sport and research into injury prevention.
What is the Government of Canada doing to achieve that goal?
More specifically, I wonder if the government can assure us that it will create a pan-Canadian mechanism to address abuse, violence and mistreatment in athletics that will be entirely independent of sports organizations and Sport Canada, as recommended by most national team athletes, leading researchers and many sports organizations.
Thank you for your question. I am just as shocked and dismayed as all senators by any situation of sexual harassment and abuse of power. I am assured that the government’s top priority is the safety and security of the athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers. The government has zero tolerance for harassment, abuse and discrimination.
To answer your question more specifically, I am told that first, the government paid roughly $209,000 to work with the Coaching Association of Canada on developing a national code of conduct on sports to be used as a reference to combat and prevent abuse in sport.
Second, the government supported AthletesCAN, an independent association, by conducting a study in 2019 with the University of Toronto on the baseline prevalence of all forms of harassment, abuse, and discrimination.
Third, and this is very important, the government will support a one-year pilot project made up of an independent investigation unit brought in by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, an independent centre created by members of the sports community. The pilot project will be reviewed when it ends in March 2020 to determine its future implementation.
I am also told that the government set aside $30 million over five years in budget 2019 to help sports organizations implement measures to allow them to assume greater responsibility for the well-being and safety of their athletes.
I hope that answers your question.
