Chapter 17: Public registries of sanctioned individuals

Part II — Safe sport in Canada

On this page

• Abuse-Free Sport Registry
• Canadian Safe Sport Program Public Registry
• Registries maintained by National Sport Organizations
• Registries at the provincial and territorial level
• Registries maintained by Provincial and Territorial Sport Organizations
• Local and grassroots registries
• Participant perspectives on registries of sanctioned individuals
• Registry of sanctioned individuals maintained by the U.S. Center for SafeSport
• Further prevention of maltreatment in sport: preliminary findings and recommendations

In Chapter 16, we reviewed the centralized and decentralized complaint mechanisms operating at the national, provincial, territorial, and local levels of sport across the country. Our preliminary findings reveal inconsistencies, misalignment and limited reach, and highlight the need for a coordinated approach to responding to maltreatment in sport.

In this chapter, we review the public databases and registries maintained by centralized complaint mechanisms and sport organizations that list individuals whose eligibility to participate in sport has been restricted.

We first review the registries created under the former Abuse-Free Sport Program and the new Canadian Safe Sport Program, as well as those maintained by National Sport Organizations. We then discuss the registries that exist at the provincial and territorial level, including centralized registries and those implemented by provincial and territorial sport organizations, and share the participants’ perspectives on registries of sanctioned individuals.

We then briefly explore grassroots registries, and a registry maintained in the United States by the Centre for SafeSport. We conclude the chapter by sharing our preliminary findings and recommendations on public registries of sanctioned individuals.

Abuse-Free Sport Registry

The Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport requires the creation of a searchable database or registry of individuals whose eligibility to participate in sport has been restricted.^{Footnote 1}

Until August 1, 2025, the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, which was tasked with administering the Universal Code of Conduct, was responsible for maintaining and updating the Abuse-Free Sport Registry. This responsibility was part of the Abuse-Free Sport Program and done in accordance with the Universal Code of Conduct.^{Footnote 2} The registry is now maintained by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.^{Footnote 3}

The Abuse-Free Sport Registry was a searchable database of participants who were subject to the Universal Code of Conduct and the Abuse-Free Sport Program, and whose eligibility to participate in sport had been restricted due to provisional measures or sanctions.^{Footnote 4}

This Registry was created during the Abuse-Free Sport Program’s first year of operations, sometime between June 2022 and June 2023.^{Footnote 5} It represented a response to the public disclosure requirements under the Universal Code of Conduct.^{Footnote 6} The Registry was only made available to the public on the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner’s website on March 28, 2024.^{Footnote 7}

The Abuse-Free Sport Registry’s primary purpose was to “reduce risks to the safety of all members of the sport community.”^{Footnote 8} More specifically, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada hoped that the Registry would help reduce safety risks by providing another tool to safeguard the general public against maltreatment.^{Footnote 9} They also hoped it would contribute to deter and denounce maltreatment and help prevent reoccurrence.^{Footnote 10}

As mentioned above, sanctions were added to the Abuse-Free Sport Registry when the Director of Sanctions and Outcomes restricted a respondent’s eligibility to participate in sport.^{Footnote 11} There was, however, an exception to this general rule: sanctions imposed on minors or other vulnerable persons were not automatically disclosed in the Registry.^{Footnote 12} Instead, such disclosure occurred on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the Policy Regarding Abuse-Free Sport Registry.^{Footnote 13}

When sanctions were added to the Registry, the following information about the individuals facing sanctions and provisional measures was made public:

• full name
• city/province/territory
• program signatory affiliation
• prohibited behaviour under the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport
• restriction(s) in effect (such as probation, eligibility restrictions or suspension)
• date of issuance
• period in effect^{Footnote 14}

It is important to note that the Abuse-Free Sport Registry only included information about participants who had signed the Consent Form discussed in Chapter 16, after their sport organization joined the Abuse-Free Sport Program.

Canadian Safe Sport Program Public Registry

Since April 1, 2025, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport maintains the Canadian Safe Sport Program Public Registry, which is published on its website.^{Footnote 15} The purpose of the Registry is to achieve the objective of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport, which is to foster a safe sport environment.^{Footnote 16}

The Canadian Safe Sport Program Rules set out the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s duty to maintain the Public Registry.^{Footnote 17} They also describe the circumstances in which a sanction or provisional measure must be published on the Registry.^{Footnote 18}

The Rules provide that the Registry must be a searchable public database.^{Footnote 19} It contains information on participants whose eligibility to participate in sport has been restricted in some way, along with summary information on the committed violation and the restrictions imposed.^{Footnote 20}

The Registry includes both provisional measures^{Footnote 21} and sanctions, including sanctions under review or appeal.^{Footnote 22}

Where sanctions include a suspension, permanent ineligibility or, at the Centre’s discretion, other sanctions that restrict eligibility to participate in sport, they are posted to the Registry for the period they are in effect.^{Footnote 23}

The Canadian Safe Sport Program Public Registry contains the following information:

• full name
• city, Province/Territory
• adopting sport organization
• prohibited behaviour(s) under the Universal Code to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (such as boundary transgressions and physical maltreatment)
• restriction in effect (such as eligibility restriction(s), probation, suspension, ineligibility)
• date of issue of the restriction(s)
• period in effect of the restriction(s)
• summary report (if available)^{Footnote 24}

The Registry exclusively contains information on individuals who are subject to the Canadian Safe Sport Program.^{Footnote 25} However, the Registry currently includes some of the individuals who were banned or sanctioned by the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner under the Abuse-Free Sport Program.^{Footnote 26}

We also note that the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport maintains the “CCES Database” pursuant to Rule 19.5 of the Canadian Safe Sport Program Rules.^{Footnote 27} This is a “database with information on all resolutions and sanctions.”^{Footnote 28} This includes information related to sanctions and resolutions that were not posted to the Registry (for example, where the sanction did not restrict the respondent’s ability to participate in sport) and sanctions that are no longer posted on the Registry because they are no longer in effect.^{Footnote 29}

Adopting sport organizations can obtain information from the CCES Database with the consent of the subject participant.^{Footnote 30}

Registries maintained by National Sport Organizations

There is currently no statutory requirement for National Sport Organizations to maintain or publish registries of individuals who have been sanctioned in relation to maltreatment in sport. It is also not a condition to receive federal government funding.^{Footnote 31} Nevertheless, it has been observed that a growing number of National Sport Organizations are maintaining public registries detailing sanctions for maltreatment in sport, like Athletics Canada, Skate Canada and Gymnastics Canada.^{Footnote 32}

We observed that the registries created by National Sport Organizations generally include individuals whose ability to participate in sport has been restricted, and that the registry provides the name of the sanctioned individual, the sanction type and the effective period of the sanction. The level of detail varies per registry.

The scope of the registry is typically limited to the individual members of the organization responsible for the registry, although some extend to members of their affiliated Provincial and Territorial Sport Organizations.^{Footnote 33}

For example, Athletics Canada maintains a public registry of suspended individuals on its website.^{Footnote 34} A previous version of Athletics Canada’s Code of Conduct (2021) specifically indicated that Athletics’ Canada would maintain a public registry of respondents who have been sanctioned or whose eligibility to participate in sport has been limited in accordance with the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport.^{Footnote 35} However, the current version, the “Code of Ethics and Conduct Policy (AC Code) (2023),” does not mention the registry.^{Footnote 36}

Notwithstanding, Athletics Canada’s registry of suspended individuals continues to be accessible to the public. It includes the names of the individuals, their status (for instance, “suspended”), the effective period of the sanction, and the jurisdiction. In some cases, there is a link to the decision which imposed the sanction.^{Footnote 37} We note that the registry includes individuals who are sanctioned at the national level and those who were sanctioned by provincial and territorial branch mechanisms.^{Footnote 38}

Gymnastics Canada also provides a publicly available list of suspended or expelled members in accordance with its Discipline and Complaints Policy.^{Footnote 39} The list is publicly available and includes the name of individuals, province, role, start date, status, and scope of the suspension.^{Footnote 40} The reason for the sanction is not indicated. Further, once the suspension is served, the member is removed from the list.

Skate Canada is another example of a National Sport Organization that maintains and regularly updates a public registry of individuals who are currently suspended or expelled from the organization.^{Footnote 41}

Pursuant to Skate Canada’s Code of Ethics,^{Footnote 42} the registry identifies individuals who are prohibited from participating in any activities, events or competitions that Skate Canada licenses, endorses, or sponsors. The listed information includes the individual’s name, membership category, provincial or territorial affiliation, the nature of the sanction (suspension or expulsion) and the effective period of the sanction.^{Footnote 43}

The list explicitly states that it is not a historical record of all past suspensions but rather a current list of active sanctions.^{Footnote 44} Additionally, the registry does not include the names of minors serving suspensions and may not be exhaustive.^{Footnote 45}

Registries at the provincial and territorial level

There are currently no statutory requirements for Provincial or Territorial Sport Organizations to maintain a public registry of sanctions for maltreatment in sport. Nor is it a condition to receive government funding.

Nevertheless, there are some examples of such registries at the provincial and territorial level of sport. In Saskatchewan, as will be discussed below, Sask Sport maintains a centralized registry of sanctions in respect of its member sport organizations. There are also some examples of Provincial Sport Organizations who voluntarily maintain public registries.

Centralized registries

To our knowledge, Sask Sport’s Registry of Sanction is the only example of a public centralized registry at the provincial and territorial level of sport. The Registry is a public list of sanctioned individual members of Sask Sport who have been suspended for a period of one year or more due to a breach of the Code of Conduct, the Universal Code to Prevent Address Maltreatment in Sport, or in some cases, other Provincial Sport Organization policies.^{Footnote 46}

The Registry of Sanctions is maintained in accordance with section 52 to 54 of the Discipline and Complaints Policy.^{Footnote 47} Provincial Sport Organizations are obliged to adopt this policy to be a member of Sask Sport, which in turn is required to be eligible to receive funding.^{Footnote 48}

The information listed in this Registry include:

• full name
• affiliated Provincial or Territorial Sport Organization
• role (such as coach, member, parent)
• type of violation (such as Code of Conduct)
• details on the duration of the suspension^{Footnote 49}

Furthermore, members of a Provincial Sport Organization who have received a long-term suspension are ineligible to register with any member Provincial Sport Organization across Saskatchewan.^{Footnote 50} In turn, Provincial Sport Organizations are responsible for verifying the list to ensure that they do not permit a suspended coach or activity leader to join their organization.^{Footnote 51}

Registries maintained by Provincial and Territorial Sport Organizations

Provincial and Territorial Sport Organizations can choose to maintain a public registry of sanctions or suspended members. Their registries are generally set out in the organizations’ policies, like a discipline and complaints policy. For instance, Ontario Volleyball^{Footnote 52} and Gymnastics Ontario^{Footnote 53} are examples of Provincial Sport Organizations who have public registries of suspended members.

Ontario Volleyball maintains a publicly available Infractions, Suspensions and Conditional Memberships list,^{Footnote 54} in accordance with its Discipline and Complaints Policy.^{Footnote 55} This list includes the names of the individuals who have been permanently expelled, suspended or temporarily suspended.

Notably, the list of suspensions includes which provisions were violated in the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport or in Ontario Volleyball’s Code of Conduct.^{Footnote 56} This list serves to uphold transparency and accountability in enforcing disciplinary measures imposed under the Universal Code of Conduct. Further, we note that the Discipline and Complaints Policy establishes that disciplinary decisions will be a matter of public record unless the decision-maker expressly determined otherwise.^{Footnote 57}

Gymnastics Ontario is another example of a Provincial Sport Organization maintaining a public registry of sanctioned members on its website.^{Footnote 58} This is a list of members who have either been suspended, expelled or are on probation.^{Footnote 59} The list includes the member’s name, jurisdiction, role, details about the sanctions and, if applicable, the disciplinary decision.^{Footnote 60}

Pursuant to Gymnastics Ontario’s Discipline and Complaints Policy and Appeal Policy, decisions imposed by the Discipline Panel or the Appeal Panel are considered a matter of public record, unless the respective panel decides otherwise.^{Footnote 61}

Local and grassroots registries

The Commission is not aware of any public registries of sanctioned or suspended members maintained at a local level or grassroots level by a sport club, community association or other grassroots sport organization.

Participant perspectives on registries of sanctioned individuals

A common concern echoed throughout our work was that individuals who are banned from participating in sport can migrate across sport organizations, move to different jurisdictions or different sport settings, and continue their involvement in sport despite being actively suspended. We heard from participants that people and organizations often do not know when coaches and other individuals have been sanctioned because this information is generally not well or consistently communicated throughout the sport community.

Many conversations brought up the idea of creating a national registry of sanctions that would include information about sanctioned individuals from all levels of sport. While registries of sanctions currently exist at various levels of sport, participants noted that this fragmented network of registries is insufficient to effectively communicate which individuals have been sanctioned or suspended from participating in sport.

Also, in many cases, sanctions are not posted to any registry because the complaints originate from sport organizations that are not signatories to the Abuse Free Sport Program or the Canadian Safe Sport Program, and because these organizations do not maintain their own registry. Additionally, the few registries maintained by sport organizations are generally difficult to find on the organization’s website, and the public remains largely unaware of their existence.

Most of the participants with whom we met supported the creation of a national registry of sanctions. They noted that there should be a single registry that contains information about all sanctioned participants, including coaches, athletes, and individuals in leadership, governance and administrative roles. That said, participants affirmed that a person’s name should only be added on such a registry after due process has been completed, and only for certain types of sanctions like suspensions.

Sport organizations and governments suggested that a centralized registry of sanctions would help sport organizations, particularly smaller organizations or those led by volunteers, to more efficiently verify an individual's history in sport. Additionally, by including information from different jurisdictions, it would prevent sanctioned individuals from moving to another jurisdiction to continue coaching or from being involved in sport while being actively suspended.

Registry of sanctioned individuals maintained by the U.S. Center for SafeSport

In the United States, a registry of sanctions is maintained by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.^{Footnote 62} This registry, called the Centralized Disciplinary Database, lists individuals from across the country who have been banned from sport by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

For context, the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017 established the U.S. Center for SafeSport.^{Footnote 63} This Center is empowered to “serve as the independent national safe sport organization […] for the United States.”^{Footnote 64}

The U.S. Center of SafeSport then adopted the SafeSport Code. This code applies to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, to National Governing Bodies and to Local Affiliated Organizations “and their Participants, as defined in the SafeSport Code.”^{Footnote 65} The code includes provisions on its jurisdictions, applicable procedures, prohibited conduct, reporting, resolution procedures, temporary measures, and sanctions.^{Footnote 66}

Engaging in conduct prohibited by the SafeSport Code—such as child abuse, sexual misconduct and emotional and physical misconduct—constitutes a violation of the Code.^{Footnote 67} If there is sufficient evidence to establish that a participant violated the Code, the Center will determine whether and to what extent the participant may participate in sport. The Center may impose sanctions, which could include a suspension or ineligibility.^{Footnote 68}

In this respect, under the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017,^{Footnote 69} the U.S. Center for SafeSport is required to “publish and maintain a publicly accessible internet website that contains a comprehensive list of adults who are barred by the Center.”^{Footnote 70}

This disciplinary database includes the name of the individual, their city, state, sport affiliation(s), misconduct, sanction, date of issuance, and adjudicating body.^{Footnote 71} The database is searchable with key words and can be filtered using criteria such as city, state, sport affiliation, and adjudicating body.^{Footnote 72} The Commission considered the United States Registry when developing its preliminary recommendations.

Further prevention of maltreatment in sport: preliminary findings and recommendations

Registry of sanctioned individuals: preliminary findings

As discussed above, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport maintains the Canadian Safe Sport Program Public Registry. This is a searchable public database of participants whose eligibility to participate in sport has in some way been restricted further to a violation of the Canadian Safe Sport Program.

The Canadian Safe Sport Program set out the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s duty to maintain the registry. It also describes the circumstances in which a sanction or provisional measure is to be published by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

The stated purpose of the Registry is to achieve the objective of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport, which is to foster a safe sport environment. Importantly, the Canadian Safe Sport Program Public Registry only captures violations and restrictions that arise under the Program. Consequently, the Registry only applies in certain contexts and to certain participants of federally funded National Sport Organizations, national Multisport Service Organizations and Canadian Sport Centres and Institutes.

Aside from the Canadian Safe Sport Program expressly providing for the implementation of a public registry, there are no federal statutory or policy requirements for National Sport Organizations to maintain a public registry of individuals sanctioned under their respective safe sport policies. However, several National Sport Organizations have voluntarily started implementing public registries of sanctions within their organizations.

At the provincial and territorial level, Sask Sport maintains a centralized registry of sanctions for its member sport organizations in Saskatchewan. Additionally, a handful of Provincial and Territorial Sport Organizations in other jurisdictions voluntarily maintain public registries, despite the absence of statutory or policy requirements.

What precedes leads us to conclude that the implementation of sanction registries remains the exception rather than the rule. This makes it difficult to determine whether an individual has been banned or restricted from participating in sport. A common concern raised during many of our engagement meetings was that these individuals can move across organizations and transfer to different jurisdictions. This allows them to continue participating in sport despite being under active restriction.

To address this issue, some participants, including sport organizations and governments, suggested a nationwide centralized registry of sanctions. They believe this would enable sport organizations to more efficiently verify an individual’s history in sport.

The Commission agrees that a unified and accessible platform for tracking sanctions across the country would help prevent individuals who have been banned or sanctioned in one jurisdiction from moving to another and re-engaging in sport without consequence. However, we emphasize that the successful implementation of a national registry of sanctions ultimately depends on federal and provincial and territorial governments working together to enhance the uniformity and reach of complaint mechanism(s) in the country. This is crucial because the scope of sanctions captured by any proposed registry of sanctions will depend on the jurisdiction and reach of the complaint mechanism(s) feeding into it.

Building on the proposed intergovernmental collaborative frameworks set out in Chapter 16, the Commission examined several ways through which a nationwide public registry of sanctions could be effectively implemented. As a reminder, these collaborative frameworks aim to establish an integrated approach to respond to safe sport issues across the Canadian sport system.

Once again, we believe that the Canadian Safe Sport Program Public Registry could serve as the foundational starting point for the approaches we propose below.

We also wish to emphasize that the Report of the Standing Committee on the status of women recommended that “the Government of Canada work with provincial and territorial governments to create a national registry of individuals sanctioned in relation to maltreatment in sports that is publicly searchable (...)”.^{Footnote 73}

Registry of sanctioned individuals: preliminary recommendations

We therefore recommend that:

Option 1

Within the context of the collaborative framework outlined in Recommendation 62, whereby both orders of government would empower a national safe sport tribunal to administer applicable safe sport federal and provincial legislation, the Commission recommends that:

68. The Government of Canada ensure that the legislation enabling the national safe sport tribunal provides for the establishment of a national registry of sanctioned individuals. This registry would publish provisional measures and sanctions for the duration of their effect.

Option 2

Within the context of the collaborative framework outlined in Recommendation 63, whereby both orders of government would contractually delegate the administration of a universal safe sport policy to an independent not-for-profit corporation, the Commission recommends that:

69. The Government of Canada ensure that the independent not-for-profit corporation is mandated to implement a national registry of sanctioned individuals. This registry would publish provisional measures and sanctions for the duration of their effect.

Option 3

Within the context of the collaborative framework outlined in Recommendation 64, whereby the Government of Canada would provide conditional grants to provinces and territories to support the adoption of provincial and territorial universal safe sport policies and implementation of provincial and territorial centralized complaint mechanisms, the Commission recommends that:

70. The Government of Canada ensure that grants be made conditional on the provincial and territorial mechanisms feeding into a single national registry of sanctioned individuals, to be maintained by the Centralized Sport Entity discussed in Chapter 6. Until that entity is established, this responsibility should rest with Sport Canada.

Option 4

Within the context of recommendation 65, whereby there is no full collaboration between federal, provincial and territorial governments on the implementation of safe sport policies and complaint mechanisms, the Commission recommends that:

71. The Government of Canada reach an agreement with its provincial and territorial counterparts so that existing provincial and territorial centralized complaint mechanisms report into a national registry of sanctioned individuals, which would be maintained by the Centralized Sport Entity described in Chapter 6. In the interim, Sport Canada should assume this responsibility.