Media Lines

Title

Enhanced measures to eliminate harassment in sport

Issue

The Government of Canada will announce enhanced measures to eliminate harassment, abuse and discrimination in the Canadian sport system and media could ask the Department of Canadian Heritage to comment on its position on harassment, the new measures taken by Sport Canada, when they will be implemented, and how they will be imposed.

Media Lines

General

• There is zero tolerance of harassment of any kind. The safety and security of athletes, coaches, and officials is always our top priority.
• All Canadians deserve the opportunity to participate in a sport environment that is free from harassment, abuse, discrimination and harmful behaviour.
• Moving forward, our funding to eligible sport organizations is conditional on the establishment of a mandatory policy against discrimination, harassment and abuse.
• The new measures will not only strengthen requirements for funding but also increase the accountability of everyone is the sport community to ensure athletes feel safe and receive the support they need.
• The issue of harassment, abuse and discrimination in sport requires ongoing prevention and collaboration by ALL partners in the sport community.

Funding

• The enhanced measures are about increasing the accountability of everyone to prevent, disclose, and act on cases of abuse and harassment by providing the necessary support. It requires ongoing prevention and collaboration by ALL partners in the sport community.
• That said, Budget 2018 committed an initial $30 million over three years to support data and research and innovative practices to promote women and girls’ participation in sport, and provide support to national sports organizations to promote the greater inclusion of women and girls in all facets of sport.

Funding Agreements

• The Canadian sport system is already doing a lot of work to eliminate harassment, abuse and discrimination in the workplace. Additional provisions in new funding agreements will require sport organizations to have policies in place to foster healthy and safe environments that are free from harassment, abuse and discrimination, effective immediately.
• Sport Canada will review the policies of funded sport organizations to ensure compliance and will exercise its authority to withhold funding if necessary.

Federal, Provincial and Territorial Working Group

• The Government of Canada will work with its provincial and territorial counterparts through the new Federal/Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Safety, Integrity and Ethics in Sport to recommend solutions in common areas of harassment, abuse and discrimination in sport.
• These recommendations will be presented at the next conference of the Ministers responsible for sport, physical activity and recreation in February 2019, in Red Deer, Alberta.
• Eliminating harassment in sport across Canada requires all levels of government to work collaboratively towards common solutions.

Training

• We are setting a deadline of April 1, 2020, for all funded sport organizations to provide mandatory training on harassment, abuse and discrimination to their members, but we challenge all funding recipients to offer training as soon as possible.

Budget 2018

• The lack of gender equity in the sport system has been identified as a contributing factor to harassment and abuse and the Government of Canada has set a target to achieve gender equity in all facets of sport by 2035.
• Budget 2018 committed an initial $30 million over three years to support data and research and innovative practices to promote women and girls’ participation in sport, and provide support to national sports organizations to promote the greater inclusion of women and girls in all facets of sport.

Working Group on Gender equity in Sport

• To facilitate gender equity in sport at every level, the Government of Canada also established the Working Group on Gender Equity in Sport which is composed of champions for gender equity that have outstanding and differing backgrounds.
• The working group activities will be ongoing until the end of the year and each meeting will focus on one or more elements, including harassment, abuse and discrimination, to recommend solutions for the Gender Equity in Sport Initiative.

Background

Since 1996, Sport Canada requires that in order to be eligible for Sport Support Program funding, National Sport Organizations (NSOs), National Multisport Service Organizations (MSOs) and Canadian Sport Centres (CSCs) have policies that address harassment, abuse and discrimination within their organization.

• The organization must demonstrate a formal commitment to an environment free of harassment, abuse and discrimination through their policies.
• Their policies should apply to staff or other individuals acting on their behalf with respect to their dealings with each other, its membership (or between its own or other coaches, athletes, or other athlete support personnel - for NSOs only).
• The policies should also explain the formal process on reporting and investigating a breach of these policies.

Effective immediately, new provisions in funding instruments will support eligible sport organizations in fostering healthy and safe workplace environments, as follows:

• Federally funded sport organizations will take all necessary measures to create a workplace free from harassment, abuse or discrimination of any kind.
• They will immediately disclose any incident of harassment, abuse or discrimination that could compromise the project or programming to the Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities.
• They will—within their governance framework—make provisions for access to an independent third party to address harassment and abuse cases.
• And they will provide mandatory training on harassment and abuse to their members by April 1, 2020, but are strongly encouraged to make this a priority and put mandatory training in place as soon as possible.