Canadian Heritage Committee on June 7th, 2016

[Karen O'Neill]

I think both Catherine and I will handle this.

At a very macro level, I would say alignment between the federal and the provincial governments is a challenge, because so much of our system from the initial pathway for our athletes all the way to the podium is directly related to the systems that span from our provinces right to the national level. I would say that alignment would be at the top of the list—alignment across funding, alignment across some of the technical development and leadership,and also across some of the tremendous facilities that have now been established in some of our provinces as a result of the legacy of the games, as well as those that are being built. I'll put a plug in for all of them to be accessible and available to all.

A more specific...?

[Catherine Gosselin-Després]

Yes, I'm going to speak more around financial investment.

Obviously we're competing against other nations in the world. We always want to do extremely well and we are applying pressure on our federation, but we're still behind in terms of overall funding to sport compared with other nations, so we need enhancements to the funding for the national sport organizations. They need the flexibility to hire the best of the world's coaches, to develop the “best of the world” coaches who are coming from here in Canada and not have to go outside. We need to ensure that they have the resources to actually deliver a program that's at the same level as other nations, if we want to be at the top.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Overholt, would you like to add anything?

[Christopher Overholt]

I would only add that I think the alignment discussion is something we've all been focused on, in recent years in particular—even, in our context, in recent months. Eric has been working very hard on this aspect, not only within our high-performance sport system at the federal government level, but pushing down into conversations with the provincial sport organizations in an effort to seek integration of the high-performance strategy in those provinces. You might know that we've announced a co-operative agreement with the Province of British Columbia, and Eric and his team have been leading in several other provinces as well around this important topic.

I think the review of targeting is going to be interesting, because it will provide a very healthy way forward in terms of how we all work together collaboratively to establish or re-establish our strategy around high-performance sport. I agree that if we're going to continue to find ways to compete at the highest levels in both winter and summer, we're all going to need to find ways to be creative about how we raise revenue and how we support our athletes and national sports federations.

I want to say to all of the members of this committee, however, that I have personally never been more optimistic than I am right now about what sport looks like in this country. It has, I believe, a very bright future. These two organizations are as strong as they've ever been. Financially we enjoy incredible support at the Olympic Committee from our marketing partners at unprecedented levels, in ways that we have not even yet announced to Canadians. I can tell you that our marketing partners continue to support us in unprecedented ways.

That, combined with some of the good work we're doing at the board level—steps we've taken in the last months to address matters of governance and issues related to women in sport and a number of things that you've seen and read about—makes me feel very positive and very good, and after a great weekend with our board, I know they feel the same.

I want to say to this committee and to all Canadians that I think we should be very optimistic about the important role that sport is going to play in this country in the coming years, and our athletes provide outstanding inspiration around all of that.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

A very quick question, if I have another moment, would be about education. What are we doing to educate our youth in schools to be mindful of what's happening and to see these things as opportunities?

When I went through the school system, the Olympics was something you watched on TV once very four years or two years, but what are we actually doing in education to promote the Olympics?

[Christopher Overholt]

First of all, we both talked about the importance of telling our athletes' stories, and not just once every two years or once every four years in the context of winter or summer, but every day, 365 days a year. Certainly we have watched great growth in both our organizations around telling athletes' stories and marketing our athletes and our brands respectively.

We do so in a number of ways: digitally, of course, in a world that is intersecting with our athletes quite literally and with young Canadians, but we're also established world leaders in education, youth, and community engagement in Canada. We have been, going back to 1988. It started with a school program that started there and has continued for all these many years and that we're even more committed to now. I think some of the work we are doing currently and will do in the coming years will continue to push that agenda forward.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I would venture to say that what we do in schools is still spotty, meaning that it's close to the Olympics or during the Olympics or after the Olympics. I don't see any real integration in curriculum. That's where I'd like to see more.

[Christopher Overholt]

I understand, and so would we. While it's not universally true that they don't include it, it depends on the willingness of the boards of education across this country to take up our curriculum, but we have it available to them across multiple levels.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

I will go to Mr. Nantel for five minutes.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Samson's question was a very interesting one. Indeed, could we do something to improve the promotion of the games to students in classrooms? You referred to a platform that was available for schools. Would this also apply to children in a different setting? Are there initiatives that have succeeded in promoting sports in some provinces?

[Eric Myles]

I'll let the Canadian Paralympic Committee representatives respond first.

[Karen O'Neill]

Yes, and I would echo much of what Chris said in terms of its being a big issue.

The gender question came up earlier. It's a critical time period, particularly in that age from three or four years old up to ten or 11 years old, just as an example, for young women. If a young girl is not active by the age of 10, then there is only about a 10% chance that she'll be active by the age of 22. Then when you look at the intersection of gender with culture, with other backgrounds, with disability, those numbers for current participation go down that much more.

To Chris's point, both of us have some great school programs. One of the specific ones we've looked at is the creation of a fundamental movement skills program, because young children, particularly for motor patterns, need to be introduced in a very targeted fashion. Particularly from a disability standpoint, often there's an exclusion right from the get-go, and we need to make sure that this stream doesn't continue with the parallel track.

What can we be doing? We can be talking a lot about the links and the alignment. I would put that probably at the top of the list. Again, in the provincial work that both of the organizations are doing, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee, it's to be able to look at those deep partnerships and frame a broader context about the importance of daily physical activity and appropriate physical activity not only in our school system but also with our specific sports, so that at that critical age there is a sensitivity to how we increase participation and full, authentic engagement by all sectors.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Overholt, I was speaking about marketing partners.

Mr. Myles, go ahead.

[Eric Myles]

Yes. Progress has already been made in that area, and programs exist. For the Canadian Olympic Committee, there's the RBC training ground program. Canadian Tire is also involved.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

That's true.

[Eric Myles]

We're working closely with these partners.

There is no lack of programs. There are excellent programs. We must work together to provide them. A key to our success is the fact that we work closely with both the Sport Canada team and the provinces and territories. We must often taken into account the realities of different jurisdictions. You are familiar with all these realities, and you have far more expertise than I do in that area. We are focused on co-operation, and we feel that most provinces and territories are quite open to that. Things are moving forward.

When organizations such as ours work together and share these responsibilities, the system runs more smoothly. We ask athletes to act as ambassadors, and they have been incredible role models for young people. We have common strategies, and we're seeing improvement.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

If there's any way we can help with the ambassadors program, please let us know. We want your athletes' stories to inspire young people.

[Eric Myles]

Absolutely.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you very much.

If there's time left, I'll continue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have a minute.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Perfect.

Something has been really bothering me in terms of marketing. Advertisers are often less interested in the Paralympic Games. In general, the coverage is not as good. However, it is now becoming clear that the public really enjoys seeing stories in the media about people exceeding their own limits and striving to achieve their goals. All athletes excel, but yours have particularly moving stories.

You decided to acquire the rights and give the licence to the highest bidders, for the best package. Is there anything we can do to capture the interest of major broadcasters? Mr. Overholt spoke of marketing partners. I think that's the key.

[Martin Richard]

In the last three years, businesses have shown interest in not only contributing to the Paralympic team's success, but also in aligning themselves with the athletes' values. Our athletes succeed in their competitions. All their stories have a real and positive impact on the public. Often, instead of featuring a product, a commercial will highlight the value of our athletes. They are introduced as ambassadors to make that association.

The platform is important to us. It must be presented on television or through digital channels to encourage sponsors to become more involved. Obviously, the more the businesses become involved, the more the movement will be promoted. The businesses thus showcase their values, and not only a product.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

As—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Nantel. You were pushing that one.

Thank you very much. I want to thank both the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee for coming today to present to us.

Back in the 1980s, when I was very active in the provincial and Canadian medical associations, we had been trying to get one hour of daily quality physical education in provinces and in schools, and we were unsuccessful. I hope you will be more successful with your programs, because I do think, as Mr. Nantel said, that the ability to inspire with sport is a key thing for a generation of Canadians. They can learn and be inspired by it.

Just the health aspect of young people getting involved in healthy activity is really important. Who knows? You may find wondrous athletes in that group, but in terms of its own value, just getting involved in sports will help us to be able to become healthier as communities so that we don't get sick as often. That whole prevention aspect and the promotion of health aspect will occur.

I want to thank you again. I want to remind you, please, to send the clerk anything you have with regard to the gender question that Ms. Dabrusin asked. We will be able to distribute it to the committee once we get it.

I also wanted to say that with regard to the flip-flops, you won't be getting them immediately because I think our clerk wants to make sure he gets your shoe size right so that you're not walking around in flip-flops that are too big or too small.

Thank you very much. It was a pleasure having you here.

[Christopher Overholt]

Thank you, Madam Chair.