Canadian national sport organizations must “immediately disclose” allegations of abuse or harassment
The Toronto Star reported on June 19, 2018 that Canadian Minister of Sport, Kirsty Duncan, says that national sport organizations (NSOs) will lose their funding if they do not “immediately disclose to her office any allegations of abuse or harassment that occur within their ranks”.
The Star also reports that additionally, “effective immediately, funding agreements also require sporting associations to establish an independent third party to investigate all allegations of abuse and have mandatory prevention training in place as soon as possible and no later than April 1, 2020”.
In a news release issued by the Canadian government, Minister Duncan says:
“Harassment of any kind is completely unacceptable, and the safety and security of athletes, coaches and officials is always our top priority. We all must play a role in protecting our young people and our athletes: to speak up when we see something that doesn’t seem quite right and to listen – really listen – to our athletes. And most importantly, to act when the situation demands it to ensure our athletes always have the support they need from us.”
This is the first step towards an abuse-free environment in sport. We need to keep working towards safe and independent pathways to protect children and athletes.
Thank you to everyone who has already emailed Minister Duncan asking for action. Let’s keep the pressure on until kids and athletes are safe from abuse of all kinds.
This is a very important, and long overdue, initiative on the part of the Minister.
It would help if the Minister required Sport Canada to implement a pan-Canadian policy to ensure that policies and procedures are consistent across sport. This would develop institutional consistency and a culture of safety and support for participants in sport.
Leaving the policy and its enforceability up to each sport means that athletes in different sports will be treated differently. This is not good for kids and athletes.
Let’s advocate for Safe Sport for Canada – an independent agency to which all participants could go for remedies and support. Share the infrastructure to keep kids and athletes safe.