Summary of the grouped evaluation of Sport Canada Programs 2015-16 to 2019-20

Evaluation Services Directorate
October 25, 2021

On this page

• List of acronyms and abbreviations
• Overview
  • Grants and Contributions
• Findings
  • Relevance
  • Effectiveness
    • Supporting Sport
    • Hosting sporting events in Canada
    • Supporting high-performance athletes
  • Efficiency
• Recommendations

Alternate format

Summary of the grouped evaluation of Sport Canada Programs 2015-16 to 2019-20 [PDF version - 448 KB]

List of acronyms and abbreviations

AAP

Athlete Assistance program

ESD

Evaluation Services Directorate

GBA Plus

Gender-based analysis plus

HP

Hosting Program

ISSEs

International Single Sport Events

PCH

Department of Canadian Heritage

SC

Sport Canada

SSP

Sport Support Program

Overview

The Sport Canada (SC) Programs within the Department of Canadian Heritage (PCH) focus on participation and excelling in sport by providing financial support to sport organizations, athletes and coaches through:

• Athlete Assistance Program (AAP) for high-performance athletes;
• Hosting Program (HP) for hosting the Canada Games and International Single Sport Events (ISSEs) in Canada; and
• Sport Support Program (SSP) for sport organizations that directly impact athlete development or that provide children and youth with their first experience in sport.

Grants and Contributions

The 3 programs provided $1.06 billion in funding over 5 years (an average of $220.7 million per year).

SC grants and contributions, as well as their totals for each SC program and for each fiscal year during the evaluation period, in millions of dollars

Program	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	Total
AAP	27.7	28.0	33.0	32.1	31.4	152.2
HP	30.5	23.2	19.8	25.7	19.6	118.8
SSP	148.9	146.9	154.0	156.9	180.0	786.7
Total	207.1	198.1	206.8	214.7	231.0	1,057.7

Findings

Relevance

• While SC’s programming supports the achievement of the high-performance objective of the Physical Activity and Sport Act, there are gaps in how it supports sport participation.
• SC funding is important for the existence and survival of the sport organizations, particularly the smaller organizations. However, these organizations are facing new and increased demands, including those related to emerging priorities and the COVID-19 pandemic.
• SC programming has made some progress in addressing such government priorities as gender equity, official languages, diversity and inclusion, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, and accessibility.

Effectiveness

Overall, SC programming is achieving or contributing to most of its expected results. However, there are gaps in programming performance measurement that may impact the availability of clear data and reporting on all expected results.

Supporting Sport

Through funding and other activities, the SSP contributes to providing Canadians with access to quality sport programming and services. SC devotes relatively little funding to promoting sport participation at the grassroots level.

Percentage of National Sport Organizations (NSOs) that said SSP funding was very important for:

• High-performance programs/national team: 92%
• Overall programming and services budget: 90%
• Providing their athletes with competitive opportunities: 85%
• Providing their coaches with training and development opportunities: 82%

Hosting sporting events in Canada

Through HP, high-performance athletes have increase opportunities to compete in sport events in Canada, whereas under-represented groups, including Indigenous athletes, could benefit from an increase.

• 411 ISSEs were funded over the period.
• Participants included:
  • 696 APP funded athletes;
  • 2,853 non-funded athletes.

Percentage of NSOs that indicated that HP contributes to a great extent to participating in events for:

• High-performance athletes: 88%
• Female athletes: 80%
• Officials: 73%
• Coaches: 59%
• Developing athletes: 56%
• Athletes with a disability: 42%
• Indigenous athletes: 3%

Supporting high-performance athletes

Through targeted funding supports, AAP helps Canadian athletes achieve higher levels of performance. New funding over the evaluation period has helped to alleviate the financial pressures. However, athletes continue to face financial pressures that could affect their ability to compete.

• 4 out of 5 athletes and coaches agree that AAP made it possible to achieve higher levels of athletic performance.
• 3 out of 5 athletes rate the adequacy of access to training facilities high.
• 2 out of 5 athletes report that AAP funding was sufficient to meet their living and training needs.
• 2 out of 5 athletes report that the AAP helps them pursue post-secondary education.
• 1 out of 5 athlete sees money as a strong barrier to international competitions and sport medicine services.

Efficiency

Positive:

• Administrative cost ratio for the 3 programs was 2.8%.
• Overall, good compliance with PCH service standards.
• High satisfaction reported by NSOs.

Negative:

• Funding decisions are not always timely.
• Application and reporting processes can be burdensome.
• Logic model and performance measurement framework require updating.

Recommendations

The evaluation recommends that the Assistant Deputy Minister, Sport, Major Events and Commemorations:

1. Build upon the findings of this evaluation to develop an overall vision and clear roles and priorities.
2. Build upon the findings of this evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the Next Generation Initiative.
3. Update the Sport Canada logic model and performance measurement framework, and develop a methodology for gathering and reporting program results annually.

©Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2022
Catalogue number: CH7-37/2-2022E-PDF
ISBN: 978-0-660-41197-2