CHPC Committee Report

Conservative Dissenting Report on Safe Sport

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage

On behalf of the Conservative members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, we submit this dissenting report on safe sport in Canada. We believe strongly that the current government has the capacity and responsibility to further safeguard athletes and ensure a culture of safe sport is fostered in Canada.

Hundreds of athletes and advocates stepped forward from across the country to share their concerns about the sport system in Canada. While the committee’s main report on safe sport highlighted much of what we heard from these witnesses, four key recommendations were omitted and we believe they require careful consideration and action if sport culture in Canada is to improve: 1) Sport Canada must hold National Sports Organizations accountable; 2) The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner must investigate complaints in a timely and impartial fashion and enforce consequences for non-compliance 3) Sport Canada must work with provincial and territorial governments to ensure provincial and post-secondary sport organizations are held accountable; and 4) Sport Canada must establish a public registry.

1.      Sport Canada must hold National Sports Organizations accountable

In 2018, Hockey Canada faced allegations of sexual assault involving members of the 2018 World Junior team. It came out in committee that Hockey Canada used a special fund, financed by registration fees, to settle the claims quietly, avoiding public disclosure and formal investigations. This fund, intended for uninsured liabilities, was used to prevent the allegations from becoming widely known, thereby shielding the players and the organization from scrutiny. The cover-up came to light in 2022 and only after months of public backlash, Sport Canada withdrew its funding from Hockey Canada and said it would be reinstated when certain terms were met. Three of the requirements were self-reported with no real accountability and the fourth was to sign the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS), developed by the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner.

According to an access to information request, Sport Canada, under Minister St-Onge, reinstated funding only 10 months after suspending it and without any real evidence of change within Hockey Canada. Conservatives question why the Government of Canada re-established funding when Hockey Canada failed to meet the terms set by the Government of Canada and multiple allegations of sexual abuse by players remain unsettled at the time of writing this dissenting report.

Ciara McCormack, a former professional soccer player and whistleblower offered these remarks concerning the lack of action from Sport Canada:when you don't do something, you are complicit, and that is a huge part of the abuse. It's enabling abuse every time you don't say something or do something, and you have the power to, and the abuse continues.”

2.      The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) must investigate complaints in a timely and impartial fashion and enforce consequences for non-compliance

OSIC was established in 2022 to ensure the integrity of sport by addressing and resolving issues related to abuse, harassment, discrimination, and other forms of misconduct within the sports community. OSIC is responsible for receiving complaints, conducting independent investigations, and implementing measures to promote safe and inclusive sporting environments.

Many witnesses expressed that they do not trust OSIC to take their concerns seriously, act in an impartial investigative manner, and enforce compliance. Kim Shore, a former gymnast, said:

I believe that we need a complaint mechanism run outside of sports. OSIC was developed by long-tenured sport academics and sport leaders, etc., and they are all in sports. It's being funded by Sport Canada, which is problematic right there, so take it outside of sport.

The committee heard expert witness testimony from Justice Rosemarie Aquilina, Circuit Court Judge, Michigan, USA on June 19, 2023. Her testimony supports timely investigations and consequences for non-compliance, both of which are lacking in OSIC’s approach. Justice Rosemarie Aquilina said the following:

… Why aren't you having deadlines? If they're going to respond to a letter, they should have seven or 10 days, or whatever it is. If they don't, they have to have an explanation or they have to ask for an extension, and then if they don't, they cough up the money. If they keep paying, money eventually talks. Why is the federal government handing out money for abuse? They're partnering with abuse, and they need to be called out on that abuse.

We heard similar testimony from Rachael Denhollander, an attorney and victim advocate, who stated:

If any institution is truly serious about preventing child abuse, the single most important thing it can do is pursue honest and transparent assessments. Far too often, when an abuse crisis occurs—whether it is in the athletic community, the religious world or universities—the response of leadership is to attempt to simply move forward with education and reform. “Let's move our organization into the future.” This is a critical error for two reasons. First, when harm has occurred, it is the responsibility of the organization and the leadership to aid in the healing…. Second, honest and transparent assessments are critical for child protection, because you cannot fix what you will not accurately diagnose.

3.      Sport Canada must work with provincial and territorial governments to ensure provincial and post-secondary sport organizations are held accountable

The committee heard that the establishment of OSIC under Sport Canada failed to consider the fact that athletes and coaches generally move from provincial or university teams to national teams. Therefore, to properly address abuse in sport, greater transparency and accountability are needed at the lower levels.

One witness, Robert Hedges, contended that “OSIC, or a form of it, needs to be nationwide. There needs to be a reporting mechanism for the grassroots. We can’t have it just at the national level.” He went on to explain the danger of the current system:

There needs to be some sort of reporting mechanism for all levels, so that we don't have, as was mentioned before, coaches or staff members who are working at a club somewhere and then leave—because nobody wants to prosecute them—and go join a club across the country. Those types of reporting mechanisms need to happen so that there is a paper trail or a registry of some sort, so that we can now eliminate those people from the sports system.

Currently, all athletes participating outside of NSO’s are left vulnerable. We know from athlete testimony at our committee that athletes do not trust the current processes in their organizations and desire greater transparency and accountability enforced by an outside body operating across all levels of sport.

4.      Sport Canada must establish a public registry

The committee heard from athletes and advocates that Sport Canada must immediately establish a searchable and accessible public registry of coaches who have been proven to have violated the UCCMS. It is the recommendation of the Conservative members of the committee that the registry include the names of the guilty, number of complaints made about them, number of arrests, and the number of convictions.