Ottawa will put in place new measures to make the high-performance sports environment safer for athletes and to counter abuse.
As of April 2023, Sport Canada will make changes to funding agreements with national organizations receiving federal money, Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge announced Sunday in Montreal.
The new prerequisites will be developed over the coming months by Sport Canada. Their objective will be to enforce governance, accountability and safe sport requirements.
“This review is essential. It will allow us to strengthen our ability to carry out follow-ups and verifications in order to ensure that the standards are met with the organizations,” said Ms. St-Onge, at a press conference alongside members of the Olympic and Paralympic committees. Canadians.
One of the prerequisites will be to gradually make membership of the Office of the Commissioner for Integrity in Sport (BCIS) mandatory. This new mechanism, which has a budget of $16 million over three years, will begin its activities on June 20.
The BCIS is a major step in breaking the culture of silence in the sports world, said Ms. St-Onge. It will give “a clear and reliable way to denounce abuse and ill-treatment, and to obtain a listening ear and support”, hopes the government.
Ms. St-Onge also announced that Sport Canada will have an advisory committee made up of athletes. The formula remains to be defined, but he will have the task of increasing the representation of athletes in the sport system and of submitting advice and alignments consistent with the reality of athletes in the country.
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