Canadian Heritage Committee on May 31st, 2012

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Okay.

My last question is for Charmaine Crooks. How did your winning an Olympic medal change your personal and professional life? What kind of an impact does an Olympic medal have personally and professionally?

[Charmaine Crooks]

Thank you very much for that question, Madame St-Denis.

First, sport was everything to me. As a young girl watching the Olympics and seeing those athletes do great things, I thought I could also do that. I got involved and was able to get a scholarship to go to university and study psychology.

I've always been drawn to things that challenge me, even today. I think that's the universal quality a lot of athletes who have been involved in sport have. The same life lessons you learn from sport about setting goals and motivating yourself and planning and working with a team are the same kinds of things we all carry in our professional lives. Sport has taught me those great valuable lessons.

We talked about athletes as leaders in many ways throughout the sport system because those same qualities are there. Whether you're leading a championship team or leading a business or being on a board of directors, all those qualities in sport are universal, and I think a lot of us can relate to that. That's one of the qualities the president was referring to. The universality of sport and those qualities really connect us well beyond the playing field.

I'm very privileged I had a chance to come to this country and have that opportunity to represent Canada and to be involved in sport, because it's given me so much. That investment we're all making in sport today is investing in all Canadians so they can have touch points to these qualities and hopefully through sport we will build better citizens and better communities.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Pierre Nantel]

Thank you very much, Ms. Crooks. That's very touching.

I will passe la parole to Mr. Paul Calandra.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Ms. Crooks, there are a few things I always have difficulty watching: overtime hockey when it's a team I actually care about; a shootout in World Cup soccer; and the start of any Olympic event, whether it's a sprint or in the water.

Since I have you here, I'm going to ask you a selfish question, because I always watch, but I have to turn my head away from the TV at the start. What are you thinking about just before the gun is about to go off and a race is about to start? Are you thinking about anything at all?

[Charmaine Crooks]

Every athlete approaches their sport differently at that starting line. It's one I went through for Canada for 20 years.

That starts in practice. You practise for many years and you simulate those circumstances, but on the day anything can happen, whether it's a factor such as the weather or nerves or what have you. You really prepare yourself in practice for those kinds of situations.

I remember one of the games in Korea in 1988 and being in the stadium with 80,000 people. It feels as if humming is going on around you, but you're so focused on your performance you don't think about that. You're focused because you're prepared, and you know you had a good team to help you get there, just like what we're doing for our athletes as we're bringing them toward London. You're trying to manage those natural distractions around you, with everyone pulling at you in so many different directions. When you're on the day you try to relax, to remember what your coach told you, what you have to do at each point in your performance, and then you just let it happen, and it does.

I think for a lot of these athletes who are going to be competing less than 50 days from now.... Again, everyone goes through it in a different way, but that whole notion of focus and relaxation and having rehearsed your performance hundreds and thousands of times I think is a quality most of us go through.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

At every Olympics there's always some story that comes out that has maybe less to do with the brilliant performance of an athlete. I think there was a swimmer in Sydney—and I may be wrong—who was from Africa....

[Charmaine Crooks]

He was from Burkina Faso.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

It took him a very long time to finish. I think he was the only athlete from his country. It became just as much a story of how important the games are.

Mr. Aubut, I think you touched on it as well. Maybe we've learned this from the Olympics.

I remember when the torch was coming through my hometown of Stouffville at about 7:30 in the morning, and it was minus 35 outside, so I thought I would be the only person to greet the torch at that time. But at 6:30 in the morning, when we were supposed to gather, the town was completely full. All the students were out. All the businesses were out. It was unbelievable. Nothing really unifies a country like participation in sports. It's not always winning; it is how well they do, and you get to see how well they train.

I wonder about continuing that support. How are we doing on developing coaches so our athletes can perform at their highest level?

[Marcel Aubut]

First of all, we had the games in Vancouver. Vancouver was a huge success. For the first time in my life I saw a social project where there was no difference between men or women, French or English, black or white. All Canadians were 100% behind that project. There are not many of those instances. You cannot sense that often, unfortunately, but sport does that. It's very rare. Sometimes there has been a hiatus in a war because it's Olympics time, and sports is a good reason to have peace. It's the same thing to rally all Canadians behind one project. It's unique.

As far as the coaches are concerned, we are not doing enough for them. I am telling you, we are just waking up about those people. There is a woman, the chief of sport, who, since I have been involved, and since she joined, has been repeating to us that athletes are the centre of the action, and that's perfect, but their coaches are right beside them. We are starting to learn the lesson. We are having some programs now to reward coaches, to acknowledge their effort, to acknowledge what they do. They give their life to sport. Without them, there would be no athletes. We are on top of it. News will be coming after London about the very specific plan we have for them.

Do you want to add anything?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Pierre Nantel]

Actually, I am sorry to intervene. We hope to get back to this.

That's very moving; you are very confident. Unfortunately, your time is up.

I now yield the floor to Ms. Sitsabaiesan.

[Marcel Aubut]

This is boring. As soon as things start to heat up, everything is brought to a halt.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Your excellency, you mentioned that the London 2012 games is bigger than just the games, that it's about the importance of a legacy and rebuilding communities that may have been neglected or under-invested in over the times. You touched on the importance of transit in that legacy-building. In Toronto, we're excited about the upcoming Pan American Games. They are smaller than the Olympics, but they're still important for us.

What advice can you give us? What can the city of Toronto or Canada learn from the London experience to have an important legacy of building community with the Pan American Games?

[Andrew John Pocock]

Thank you very much for the question.

I am sure that Toronto is talking to London about this. One of the things we did in the run-up to our games was talk to Vancouver and Canada. Even though it was a winter games and a slightly smaller event, there were a great many lessons we could learn. We had everyone from athletes and coaches to organizers and security people in Vancouver. I am sure Toronto is doing the same. There will be a spirit of cooperation.

I'm not an expert on this, but because it's a huge commitment of capital and time, I think what any city needs to do now is to think what they want, not just from the games, but what they want after it. There is no point focusing on a single event, vast though it is, or even two events in the case of the games, with the Olympics and the Paralympics. That's six weeks of competition, but it took us six years to get there. What we are doing is looking 20 years ahead. It seemed logical to us to design the games to be sustainable in the broader sense.

First of all, the games are physically in a community. What do you do for that community, and more importantly, how do you get that community involved in supporting the games themselves? There's that dimension. It's very important for all kinds of reasons. Buy-in is essential, and you won't succeed without it.

The second thing is the infrastructure. It places a huge burden on a city for a very intense period, but it is an opportunity to invest in infrastructure for the future. Communications and transport are the two big things we looked at.

The third thing is the environmental dimension. How do you leave as light a footprint as possible in terms of construction, but also leave a physical legacy, a park, waterways, or some contribution to the urban environment? That's a very strong dimension of London.

The last thing is perhaps the thing that dominates all our lives, and that is the economic legacy. How do you create permanent jobs, or jobs that are as permanent as possible in the locality? Much more importantly, thinking beyond, the key thing for us is it's the London games, but it's also Britain's games. Right across the country, there are efforts at cultural and legacy projects, from art and architecture, to drama and music. Indeed, there's a parallel cultural festival taking part at the same time.

The only advice is to think multi-dimensional. That will work.

[Marcel Aubut]

May I also add something?

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Thank you.

I also have a question for Madame Crooks afterwords, so thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Aubut.

[Marcel Aubut]

From the president of the IOC, Mr. Jacques Rogge, I learned, for the first time last week, that we are part of the G-6 countries. He said, “Canada, you are part of it”, and I thought, what is he talking about, the G-6? I've heard about the G-20 and the G-8, but the G-6? He said, “Yes, you are one of the countries that has successfully delivered three Olympic Games in the world, and there are only six.”

Here we are, we have lots of experience. It's always good to learn from others, and from the latest event, of course. But we have an incredible experience. You're going to see. You should be proud of the Pan Am Games. You're right about that. It's going to be very close to the Olympic level, and then Toronto would be a perfect fit for a future summer games. This country is very well respected in knowing how to do those things.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Yes, for sure. Thank you.

Madame Crooks, I'm inspired by your story. For other children who may be inspired by the games, how can we help or how are we helping them access sport, especially those who face socio-economic barriers or traditional cultural barriers to access sport? What are we doing? Or what can we be doing?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Pierre Nantel]

May I ask for a very short answer, please?

[Charmaine Crooks]

It will be very short.

As I said before, investing in sport is investing in all Canadians, especially our youth. I think we collectively need to do as much as we can to break down those barriers to access, whether it's to facilities, to programs. There are a lot of excellent programs across the country that are working to give access to sport for kids. Obviously with the Canadian Olympic Committee you heard earlier that through the education programs in schools we're also trying to do that.

Anything that helps to break down those barriers so kids can go and just play and have fun and learn about sport is something I'll certainly support.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Pierre Nantel]

Thank you very much, Madame Crooks.

We are back to Mr. Scott Armstrong.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I'm actually going to pick up on that, because you didn't get a lot of time to answer. But before I give you a shot, I'm going to pre-empt that by saying it's not all about money to support students and young people involving themselves in sport. It really comes back to what we were talking about before with coaching.

If you have a motivated coach who really cares about the best interests of the children, it doesn't take a lot of money to put a good program together. I know I've done it. I've seen other people do it. One of the biggest differences we have in Canada compared to the United States is that coaching in Canada is primarily an amateur activity. In schools in the States, teachers who coach usually are paid some money, not always huge money, to do it. But in Canada it's primarily a volunteer activity. Those values that volunteers bring to anything they do carry through that sport.

It's not all about money, but maybe you can talk about ways we can support coaches into starting these programs.

[Charmaine Crooks]

First of all, thank you for that, and I certainly share your thoughts about the importance of coaching. For me, my coaches have meant so much to me, and they were all volunteers, particularly the ones I had in Canada. I went to school in the U.S. to train. At that time it was a good opportunity for me. But I think that if the athletes are the heart of sport, then the coaches are the soul of sport. They are part of that team, and we must do everything we can to support them.

I think Marcel spoke already about some of the programs that will be launched. I'm not sure if you want to add anything to that, Chris.

I certainly share your views about the importance of supporting our coaches.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Chris, maybe you can expand, because you were cut off earlier.

[Christopher Overholt]

Thank you.

First of all, as has been said now a number of times, coaches are core to our strategy for sport development in this country, absolutely.

Secondly, I want to pick up on the point that's being made around volunteerism. You wouldn't need to go too deep into our sport system to see just how important volunteers are to the development of sport at all levels in this country. That's true as much for the club as it is oftentimes ramping all the way up to high-performance sport. And that's something we identified fairly early on as this group came together.

There's a wonderful day that's celebrated by the international Olympic family that virtually nobody knows about, and it's called Olympic day, June 23. One of the efforts we're undertaking, and you'll see evidence of it in the coming weeks, and we expect this will be a growing program for us in the coming years, is to draw some attention to Olympic day, but to do so with volunteers in mind.

As a Canadian, I spent a little bit of time living in the United States in recent times, and one of things that exists in that country is a call to volunteers to build a better country in that way. As I've said already, we really believe that sport is a laboratory for leadership, and in that same way, we believe that volunteers can be authors of the development of those athletes to deliver that leadership to the country.

Volunteerism as part of the lexicon of our nation is not as prevalent as I think it can be, but it is very much prevalent in our sports system. So I think there is an opportunity for leadership there that you'll see us point to a lot in the next little while.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

One of the major challenges and barriers to providing an effective program, if you are a coach in a socio-economically low area, is equipment and facilities. I know the federal government, when it sponsors big events like the Women's World Cup that is coming up, is very involved in helping develop facilities and working with provincial and municipal partners.

One area we could improve on is the area of providing equipment. If we could provide the equipment, the uniforms, and that expertise, I think that's an area we should focus on. Would you agree with that?