Thank you.
Hello, Madam Chair and members of the committee.
The Coaching Association of Canada unites more than 400 stakeholders and partners throughout the country representing 66 sports in its commitment to raising the skills and stature of coaches throughout the country, from community to high performance. It is through our flagship program, the national coaching certification program, that we do so.
Through our programs, the partnership empowers coaches with knowledge and skills, promotes ethics, fosters positive attitude, and builds competence while increasing the credibility and recognition for the profession that Wendy so rightly talks about. The CAC was established in 1970 as a result of the recommendations of the task force on sport for Canadians. In 1974 the national coaching certification program commenced. Since its inception, we have become recognized as a world leader, selling our program internationally in coach education and certification. Since 1974 more than 1.5 million coaches have taken a national coaching certification workshop, at an average rate of 60,000 a year.
While the program supports coaches from community to high performance, participation in this program is primarily at the community level, at approximately 95%. Community coaches on average have a life cycle of about five years—you guessed it; it's related to their children—during which time they play a significant role in shaping Canada's youth. Over the last five years, the NCCP, or national coaching certification program, was accessed 67% by men across the country and 33% by women. It has, unfortunately, remained consistent over the past five years. I can share a ray of good hope that the same data in 2007 actually had women accessing the program at 25%. However, we're in a holding pattern.
Sport is the number one voluntary sector in Canada. Its impact is vast in building happy and healthy Canadians at all stages of development. The leadership of women in volunteer roles is critical. It is often the first time beyond the classroom that young boys and girls experience leadership. We need more children experiencing female leadership.
I would like to thank you for making this study a priority. Despite progress and considerable engagement from the Canadian sport community over the last two decades, the findings of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage from 1998 still hold true.
Women represent an untapped resource throughout the sports community. While female athletes contribute as much as 50%, sometimes more, of the members of national teams, the percentage of women who coach at that level is dramatically lower. There is, therefore, a reverse trend in participation versus coaching. Women have different life and leadership experiences, values, and attitudes that equip them with a valuable sport expertise and perspective. Wendy shared her experience. That is true of all coaching. It is a demanding job that sometimes leads to very explicit choices in the profession.
A predictor of our current state may have been evident in 2007, when only 21% of coaches, that is, 177 coaches, who were women accessed our highest level of education preparing them for national team and international competition. Time has changed little. In fact, I would argue that the participation has slid. The International Olympic Committee's emphasis on gender equity and athlete participation has not translated into coaching. Wendy referred to others in terms of statistics. I can remember back in 1996 when Canada's Olympic team had 50% female participants on the team. Not so in coaching: it hovers around 20%, as Wendy mentioned.
The data is no different in Canadian universities. Despite the requirement for equity in the number of sports offered for men and women, again there's a downward trend. A 2011 study by the Centre for Sport Policy Studies at the University of Toronto documented that while there were almost as many teams in the CIS for women, only 19% of coaching positions were held by women. Of the athletic director positions in Canada, 17% were held by women. In 2016, 17% of CIS head coaching positions were held by women, and 24% of assistant coaching positions were held by women.
I might add that according to a recent Globe and Mail article, fewer than one-fifth of the university presidents, only 20% of full professors, and 45% of assistant professors are female. There seems to be a trend to opening at the junior ranks.
Wendy mentioned the study on boards. I am pleased to report that seven of our 15 board members are female.