A year after being criticized for the “lack of uniformity in receiving and processing complaints” and having highlighted the hazing scandal in junior hockey, Quebec is preparing to reopen the Sports Safety Act to better protect young athletes.
The Minister responsible for Sport, Leisure and the Outdoors, Isabelle Charest, will table a bill on Tuesday at the Salon Bleu to “strengthen the protection of the integrity of people in leisure and sports”. The legislative text had been awaited for almost a year. In February 2023, the elected CAQ pledged to review the Sports Safety Act to give more tools to the Complaints Officer, the independent body responsible for reviewing misconduct grievances filed against a coach, a referee or another athlete, for example.
At the time, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) – which has since become the Maritimes Quebec Junior Hockey League – was splashed in public space for having tolerated alleged abusive initiation ceremonies in its locker rooms. The league had to justify its actions in committee before the elected representatives of the National Assembly. Former commissioner Gilles Courteau had also resigned following his time in Parliament.
Last May, a transpartisan report signed by elected officials from the Committee on Culture and Education recommended that the position of Complaints Officer, created by Ms.me Charest herself in 2021, “be formalized in a position and embodied in a person”, such as the Public Protector. The document also suggested that this person could receive complaints “related to alleged facts that occurred prior to 120 days.”
Isabelle Charest then committed to “that the recommendations [puissent] guide the rest of [ses] works “. At the same time, she postponed the tabling of a possible bill until the fall.
Poor monitoring, ineffective complaints management
After having suffered other “delays”, Minister Charest’s bill finally appeared before the National Assembly last Thursday. She will therefore have the opportunity to submit it on Tuesday afternoon. A press conference is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
M’s officeme Charest did not want to give us details on the content of the bill on Monday. In August, the elected CAQ member, however, reiterated her desire to legislate, after the publication of a report from her ministry on the safety of athletes to the Quebec Basketball Federation and the Quebec Student Sports Network.
Published in February 2023, but made public six months later, the report, produced by the Investigations Directorate of the Ministry of Education, looked into allegations of physical abuse, psychological harassment, verbal violence and assaults sexual acts perpetrated by a women’s basketball coach, Dany Vincent, in several Quebec educational institutions.
In its document, the Investigation Department particularly regretted the “lack of uniformity in the reception and processing of complaints” in sports in Quebec. “For example, for misconduct committed by a coach in a school setting, a complainant could go to both the Complaints Officer and an internal “office” of the school,” we could read. “In either case, the complainant can expect that the complaint will be received and addressed, but the results may vary, depending on the establishments’ policies. »
The report urged the minister to “standardize the process of receiving and processing complaints,” by the Complaints Officer in the federations and by the Student Ombudsman in the school network. He also recommended that Quebec modify the Sports Safety Act so that “any coach [se voie obligé de] provide his “employer” with an extended declaration of his criminal record.” At present, noted the Investigation Department, only sports federations systematically carry out checks.
Half of inadmissible complaints
In interview with The duty On Monday, the general director of Hockey Quebec, Jocelyn Thibault, who appeared in parliamentary committee before elected officials in February 2023, reiterated his desire to see the Complaints Officer have “more teeth”. He says he reported it to Minister Charest’s office in recent months.
Since its launch in 2021, the Officer has processed more than 1,000 complaints in the sports community in Quebec, including almost 600 in 2023. More than half (51%) were deemed inadmissible.
Contacted on Monday, the Regroupement Loisir et Sport du Québec, which oversees the Complaints Officer, indicated that it had been informed of the tabling of Minister Charest’s bill in the morning. The Quebec movement against sexual violence was not consulted upstream, indicated its spokesperson Mélanie Lemay. “We tried to talk to certain MPs, but we never really got any feedback other than asking us to register with the Registry of Lobbyists,” she said.
With the organization Youth Voices Count, Mme Lemay recommends the establishment of a framework law on sexual violence in schools. By legislating again, this time in the world of sport, Quebec is only “multiplying the steps” without tackling the problem of sexual misconduct more widely, according to her.
The National Assembly is currently considering two separate bills to “protect” students and workers. Both aim to crack down more on sexual and psychological violence. “Sexual violence is a problem in its own right,” said M.me Lemay, Monday. “When we put in place a multitude of policies, laws or measures, what that translates into on the ground is confusion, red tape and bureaucracy. »