(Quebec) After months of waiting, the Minister responsible for Sport, Isabelle Charest, finally tabled her long-awaited bill this Tuesday to strengthen the safety of young athletes.
It modifies the Sports Safety Act to ensure criminal background checks on any person in a position of authority who works with athletes and give more teeth to the recommendations made by the Complaints Officer, who manages cases of abuse and harassment in sport .
PHOTO RYAN REMIORZ, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
The Minister responsible for Sport, Isabelle Charest
Last summer, an investigative report from the Ministry of Education, commissioned in light of a report from the show I on allegations of physical violence, psychological harassment and sexual assault against a women’s basketball coach, concluded that the criminal background check process in school sports was deficient.
Within Basketball Québec, for example, “the only verification is [limitait] a criminal background check for any person who [désirait] be affiliated.” The Ministry of Education concluded that “this leaves a high risk, as the majority of coaches are not affiliated and are unlikely to file a criminal record declaration, despite being in contact with young athletes.” “.
According to our information, the bill which will be tabled Tuesday afternoon at the Salon Bleu extends the obligation to check criminal records for any person in a position of authority with athletes and young athletes, both in school sport and in amateur sport.
Until now, this obligation fell to the sports federations. People who were not affiliated with it, but who nevertheless had a significant role with the athletes, could slip through the cracks, denounces Quebec.
In his investigation report made public last summer, the Minister of Education also recommended carrying out a new audit “every three years in order to maintain a bond of trust with the organization, the stakeholders, the participants and the parents “.
Powers with bite
In its bill, Quebec also extends the powers of the Complaints Officer, established in 2020, so that the recommendations he makes at the end of his investigations are respected and applied by sports federations.
The Complaints Officer – an independent position – handles a growing number of cases of abuse and harassment reported by athletes. For his first year in office, between 1er February 2021 and 1er February 2022, it processed 127 complaints. By the second year, this number increased to 361 cases.
In total, since its creation, 870 complaints have been received and almost half were deemed admissible. Those that were not were rejected because they concerned a refereeing decision during a match, internal management rules or a breach of the code of conduct, among other things.
Increase the feeling of security
With the recent reports which have reported violent situations in locker rooms in recent years, particularly with regard to initiations in the world of junior hockey, Minister Isabelle Charest promised, as early as last year, to give more biting at the Complaints Officer. The bill she presents on Tuesday is also eagerly awaited in Quebec. Last week, his liberal counterpart Enrico Ciccone deplored the fact that it had still not been tabled.
At the end of a transpartisan parliamentary commission on the subject of violence in sport, in spring 2023, deputies from all parties recommended that “the Complaints Officer for the Protection of Integrity in Sport be formalized in a position and embodied in a person” and that he can “receive complaints related to alleged facts which occurred prior to 120 days”.
Parliamentarians, including those sitting on government benches, had also asked that in the future “systematically [publicisés] And [affichés] in locker rooms and sports venues the tools, ethics rules, resources and services available for integrity protection, including contact details for the Integrity Protection Complaints Officer in the sport “.
With its bill, the government assures that it is confident of meeting the expectations expressed by the report of the parliamentary commission and that of the ministry. The objective is to increase the feeling of security in locker rooms, among young athletes and among families who entrust their children to the coach and team staff.