Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 19th, 2013

[Martin Richard]

That's an excellent question. On November 27, we will issue an announcement on the first Paralympic consortium. That consortium will bring together various media outlets that will be covering the games.

We should not forget that media coverage carries costs. We from the Canadian Paralympic Committee have ensured the support of four sponsors to fund this new strategy. Our partners are listening. They are ready not only to contribute financially, but also—through their internal and external marketing campaigns—to promote the Paralympic program and give it more publicity.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you.

Mr. Dion, you have seven minutes.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, to each of you, for being here.

I would like to know at this point, a couple of weeks before the Olympics, what are the main challenges you have to face. You've prepared yourself for so long; now it's the blitz.

To all of you, it would be helpful for the committee to understand the main tasks that we need to carry out.

[Karen O'Neill]

Well, I think it's probably a question for both of us actually.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Yes, indeed.

[Karen O'Neill]

From a Paralympic team perspective, not unlike our Olympic committee members, we've been to Sochi double-digit times, so having established the pattern and established all of the scenarios, it's really practice, repeat, and looking at every single opportunity where there might be something that might go wrong. It's rehearsing and going over all the details that we've been developing for the last couple of years.

I would say that the travel—because I talked about the late qualification, which goes into February—unlike the Olympics, remains a challenge. We've been able to mitigate that by working with our corporate premier partner, Air Canada, and to also look at some of the partner airlines. What happens is that after the Olympics, all of the other partner airlines substantially reduce the air travel pathways to Sochi, so we're having to look at rather creative options for air travel. They're all within the intention of team performance, but certainly it doesn't make it any easier.

I would say that all the other items that were alluded to earlier—safety, security, welcome, the friends and family—are all well in motion.

Further to the other questions outside of this, it's a tremendous investment leading up to the games, and if we cannot display the athletes and the performances and the experience over there, that would be such a shame. That's why I go back to the broadcast. We're clear and we're confident on the operational aspect and ensuring that our athletes and coaches have what they need right now; we need to make sure we have the platform to tell their story. That's uppermost for us so that we don't lose that part.

Anne.

[Anne Merklinger]

Own the Podium's role is to make sure that when the athletes and coaches and support staff get on the plane to Sochi, they have no regrets, they have been fully prepared, and they're able to look in the mirror and say they've done everything possible to perform to their best at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We feel very comfortable and confident that we've done that.

We take that responsibility very seriously, and we know that when the athletes do arrive in Sochi for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, they will be fully prepared. They will have ample opportunity to experience Sochi. It is quite a unique environment. Having been there and experienced it, to live, eat, and breathe, day in and day out in that particular environment will be a significant advantage for them.

They also need to manage distractions. We work very closely with athletes and coaches to protect what we call the “athlete-coach bubble”, make sure that it's distraction-free, that they are able to focus exclusively on their performance.

Both the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee are the world's best when it comes time to executing the missions of the games. We are above and beyond the rest of the world in that particular area. We know that our job is essentially done when they get on the plane, but, more importantly, we hand it over to our partners in the CPC and COC to executive a world-class games mission.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Is the controversy about the anti-gay law in Russia something that you need to be very careful about, to protect our athletes and the whole Canadian team?

[Anne Merklinger]

I would say that both organizations have reviewed that particular issue and are comfortable in briefing the teams.

I'll let Karen speak to that from a CPC perspective.

[Karen O'Neill]

Absolutely. Our response would not differ much from our colleagues before, and Anne is right. Certainly from a communications perspective, we've run through a number of scenarios, in addition to ensuring that our team throughout our mission—staff working with the RCMP and security, our strategies, communications, the options, and the way we're going to manage it...that the athletes, who are most central to this, have the information they need before they go to Sochi. Every effort is being taken to be able to mitigate and manage that.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Have the proper preparations been made in terms of official languages? Will everything be done to avoid any unnecessary problems that would ruin the celebration?

[Martin Richard]

Yes.

All our athletes—the anglophones and the francophones—will be served in the language of their choice. Of course, all our communications with Canadians, including broadcasts, will be in both official languages. That's an extra step for the Canadian Paralympic Committee. It's very important to us that everyone have access. In addition, all television coverage will also be described. So visually impaired people will be able to hear the broadcast on our channels in English and in French.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

You have a minute and a half left.

[Karen O'Neill]

I just want to add that for the Paralympics, it's the official languages and also alternate formats in both official languages. Individuals might be hearing or visually impaired. We want to ensure, as Martin referred to, that they're all in alternate formats, especially with our media broadcast strategy. One of the consortium partners deals with alternate formats.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

It was a question I should have asked the minister because it's about security. It's difficult to comment on security, by definition, but Canadians want to know if everything has been done to protect our athletes from any physical threat that may happen—athletes and the whole team.

[Karen O'Neill]

I can honestly speak to the strong leadership and generosity of sharing information and moving along with our security plan. We've had several briefings with senior staff, with our partners—Sport Canada, our Olympic colleagues, and Own the Podium—and several of us now have increased security status to be able to access the information, in addition to their commitment for briefings and alternate scenarios. Obviously there's more, and he can probably respond to that, but certainly from our perspective, we are feeling very well supported at this point in our preparations.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you.

We'll move to Mr. Boughen for seven minutes.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks to the panel for taking time to share your thoughts with us about the Paralympics. We appreciate your being here.

I have a couple of things to hear from the panel on. Can you share with us what's been happening on and off the field in terms of preparation, particularly when you hear professional athletes saying that 20% is skill and 80% is mental? What's happening in terms of setting that mental clock in place so that our athletes are ready to go when their term comes up? Can you share with us your thoughts on that?

[Anne Merklinger]

Sure. I'll start, and Karen can add to it.

The preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games starts the day after the previous games finish. It's four years of preparation.

Around each athlete there is a very specific, well-trained team, and that team will include what we call a sports psychologist or a mental performance consultant. That specialist will work with a national sport organization and a particular athlete or team in the full preparation through to the Games. That sport psychologist or mental performance consultant will go to Sochi. They'll be familiar with the environment. They'll develop a customized approach for each athlete as they prepare for the games. Even our pro teams that may not have the exposure to that level of support in the early part of the four years leading up to the games now have a sports psychologist or mental performance consultant who is fully entrenched in the team's preparation.

It's something that is very important to Canadian high-performance sport and an element that we take very seriously. We're in the midst now of looking at succession planning and development for the next generation of sports psychologists and mental performance consultants so that we can be assured that every podium-potential athlete is equipped with that important service.

[Karen O'Neill]

And specifically to the Paralympic team, each of our teams and athletes who are vying for a berth have the option to be or are currently engaged with a sport psychologist. We deal with a group of centres under the Canadian Sport Institute and Canadian Sport Centres, and it's through these centres that we work in partnership to find and work with the skilled sport psychologists to assist our athletes.

In addition to what Anne has said, because it really did start as soon as London was complete, I'd also say that each one of our athletes, both the full teams and those athletes in contention for a berth right now, have all competed in Sochi. What you want to do during the athletes' preparation is expose them to as many circumstances as possible that are close to competition conditions—both practice and four-by-four competition elsewhere. But the athletes have also been able to see, try, and compete in Sochi already, and that's a tremendous advantage going into the games.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

We heard about communications from the Olympic folks who were with us earlier. There was some talk about communications. I wonder if you could share with us how we're going to have access to the Paralympic folks in terms of saying, “Good job. We watched you do what you do, and it was great.” In this age of communications, a couple of whacks on the old computer and you have a little recognition to folks who are competing.

Will there be a list of people so we don't have to hunt too far to find that address?

[Martin Richard]

Absolutely. One of the main areas for us is ensuring that our athletes are connected to Canadians, and using technology to connect them from Sochi with Canadians, whether it's social media...is very important. We encourage our athletes to be engaged in social media, sharing their experiences and their stories, and answering questions and communicating directly with Canadians.

As far as government officials and MPs are concerned, we do encourage you, through our team announcement, to participate in that, and we'll make sure that all the athletes' hometowns are listed so that you know who is from your area of the country and you are able to communicate directly with the athletes, whether it's through the communications agents for each sport or directly with the athletes through various mechanisms.

[Karen O'Neill]

That would be in all of our activities leading up to Sochi, during Sochi, and then all of the activities after Sochi, because there's a tremendous celebration when we get back with this whole school program, the parades, and the welcome home. So you would be apprised of that every step of the way.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Thank you.

How are we doing, Chair?