Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 27th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I will call the meeting to order, please.

While we are filling people's names in we will say good morning, Madam Minister, and welcome.

As you know, we are doing a five-meeting study on women in sport. We are now welcoming the department and Minister Qualtrough here to talk to us about women and sport, some of the challenges that they face, and what we can do to ensure that women are seen, are heard, and become coaches in other parts of the sports system.

You know that we will be having a 10-minute presentation from the minister. Then we will have an interactive session, in which the department will be able to answer questions, if the minister so wishes.

Thank you very much.

Minister Qualtrough, will you begin, please?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to be here today.

Madam Chair, I am pleased to appear before this committee today.

I would like to begin by commending the members of this committee on having embarked on a study on women and girls in sport. As a Paralympian, an experienced administrator in Canada's sport system and the mother of two girls, I believe this is an issue that is more than worthy of study and of our government's full attention.

As someone who was working for former MP Dennis Mills when he was preparing his report almost 20 years ago, I can tell you how far we have come. I have seen a great deal of progress over the last two decades. I have lived it.

I'd like to share my views of the progress we have achieved, as well as my observations on the gender inequities that remain and that keep our women and girls from succeeding.

Canadian women and girls are excelling in high-performance sport like never before. Successful athletes, such as Penny Oleksiak, Brooke Henderson and Aurélie Rivard, inspire pride in all Canadians.

More than this, their example shows us what women can do. Because of women athletes like them, young women and girls across the country can see themselves excelling in sport. For many, this may be just the encouragement they need to take a chance and get involved in sport.

At the Rio Olympic Games, this summer, an impressive 16 of the 22 medals awarded to Canada were won by women. And, at the Rio Paralympic Games, 11 of the 29 medals for Canada were earned by women athletes.

These achievements were watched by the world and will have untold ripple effects throughout the world of sport and beyond. When women succeed in any sector where they are under-represented, their success helps break down the barriers that keep others out.

This is also reflected in the leadership ranks of the Canadian sport system, where more and more women are taking on decision-making roles. They include Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith; and the CEOs of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the Coaching Association of Canada, the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, Canada Basketball, and Tennis Canada. I believe you've already met some of these women in the course of this study.

The achievements of our female athletes and sport leaders are indicative of how far we've come. Decades ago, the challenges were about access—simply getting in the door. Now it's a question of reaching our full potential for the benefit of sport and of society. As part of this evolution, our policy on women and girls in sport was updated to foster sport environments at all levels that encourage and support the participation of women and girls as athletes, coaches, technical leaders and officials, and governance leaders, because an inclusive sport system is the reflection of an inclusive society. A society that fosters the full participation of all women and girls fosters the participation of people with disabilities, members of visible-minority groups, and indigenous people.

Yet, despite the considerable progress that has been made in recent years, gender inequality persists, and traditionally under-represented groups remain on the sidelines. Canadian women and girls across all demographics participate in sport at lower rates than men and boys, and while many teenagers drop out of sport, the rate is particularly concerning for girls. We know that messages conveyed by the media about women, femininity, and sport present a major challenge to keeping girls involved in sport. We need to think about how we can change this.

It's not just girls who miss out when they drop out of sport; it's all of society. We need to stop thinking about this as just a girls' problem or a sport problem. In fact, it's a manifestation of the larger inequalities that persist in society. That's why we as a society need to tackle this issue together.

Here is what we know.

While there is a relatively strong focus on our female medallists at the Olympic and Paralympic games, there is little coverage of women and girls in sport the rest of the time.

For example, in 2014, only 4% of sports programming on Canada's national sports networks featured women's events.

In addition, during the coverage of Rio 2016 events, we saw examples of sports media reporting on female athletes in a way that reinforced stereotypes and outdated gender roles instead of prioritizing athletic achievement. This is just one example of the gender bias and inequity that still exist in organized sport.

And it is a reflection of persistent attitudes in society—a society in which a gender wage gap of close to 20% continues to exist and women continue to shoulder the bulk of unpaid domestic tasks. All of this makes it more difficult for women to take on volunteer and high-profile leadership roles.

We see this clearly in international sport federations. Women account for fewer than 6% of international federation presidents, 12% of vice presidents and 13% of executive committee members.

In short, women and girls continue to face barriers to full participation and representation in the Canadian sport system at all levels and in all capacities. We need to change this.

Through Sport Canada, the Government of Canada, in co-operation with provincial and territorial governments, is taking steps to address these issues. Only national organizations that demonstrate that their programs benefit both men and women are eligible for federal funding. About half of our recipients in the athlete assistance program are women. A main objective of our bilateral agreements with provinces and territories regarding sport participation is to provide opportunities for persons from under-represented groups and our marginalized populations to actively participate in sport as athletes, coaches, officials, and volunteer leaders.

We know, however, that we still have a lot to do and we must take action. All of us together—women, men, sport organizations, and governments—promoting gender equality and inclusion in sport will benefit countless women and girls of all backgrounds and abilities and, in turn, society as a whole. Sport helps to create social cohesion and to build more inclusive communities.

To capitalize on this, we need to encourage participation in sport and also in coaching and sport administration by traditionally under-represented groups. These include women and girls, as well as people with disabilities and indigenous people.

As Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, I am committed to ensuring that all Canadians benefit from sport, and I am determined to close the gender gap in sport participation and leadership for women of all backgrounds and abilities. I anxiously await the recommendations of your study to do even more to encourage the full participation of women and girls in sport and in the Canadian sport system.

I'd now be happy to answer any questions you might have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Madam Minister.

Now we begin with our questions. The first round, as you know, is seven minutes long, and that includes the questions and the answers.

We will begin with Julie Dabrusin and Dan Vandal for the Liberals, who are sharing their time.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

I wanted to start by acknowledging that we have Senator Nancy Ruth here at the table today. She has been a very strong proponent for women in sports and has done a lot of work on that issue.

Thank you for being here, Senator.

I was happy to hear that you worked on the recommendations for the 1998 heritage committee report, Minister, because that's what got us talking. I was wondering if you'd had a chance to look at those recommendations and how they have been actioned, or if they're even relevant anymore.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I think the recommendations are absolutely relevant. This report was actually the start of my journey in politics, so I always credit Dennis Mills for bringing me into this and never letting me get out. I'm just going to pull them up here, because it's very important to me that I get this right. These recommendations form the basis of a lot of the work that has happened since, and I believe that they're absolutely relevant because they talk about all the things that I've just alluded to and the things you're talking about here today: increased participation rates, increased opportunities in coaching, increased data, and increased strategies.

What has come out of the Mills report, or these recommendations specifically, has been a focus by governments, federal governments and provincial-territorial governments, on women and girls in sport. What came out of the Mills report led to the development of our specific policy on women and girls in sport at Sport Canada. I sat on the advisory committee for that policy as well. What's come out of that is the Canadian sport policy, which sets the foundation for all government, I would say. It steers the ship in terms of sport for government and non-government actors. That's permitted the provincial-territorial governments, in collaboration with us, to focus their efforts on women in sport.

That's a long answer. I apologize. Absolutely, those recommendations remain relevant. Have we come far? Sure. Is there a way to go? Absolutely.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

That's great. Thanks.

I'll be sharing my time, but I have one more quick question, which is about infrastructure funding. We hear a lot about difficulties for girls' hockey teams, for example, in getting access to arenas and that type of thing. To the extent that the federal government is investing in providing infrastructure funding toward different sports facilities, should we be creating any ties to requiring equal access time?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

It's a very interesting question. It's something that we're looking at across the board in terms of how far you go as a government to tie programming requirements to infrastructure investments. I'm not sure, to be honest, that we've landed on a decision around that.

One of the things that we did do in our budget this year was to create a dedicated $150-million fund for sport and recreation infrastructure, reinvestment, and refurbishment. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities identified that the most dilapidated bundle or type of infrastructure in this country is sport and recreation infrastructure, and it identified an incredibly large dollar amount, a $9-billion deficit. There's a reason why our recreation centres and rinks have the word “centennial” in their name: because that's when a lot of them were built. They haven't been upgraded since.

We wanted to make sure that rec and sport facilities got the attention they deserved. That, to me, was a bit of a “TSN turning point”, to use a sport analogy, in terms of how we're looking at sport and recreation infrastructure.

With respect to tying programming requirements to infrastructure investment, we haven't landed on that yet, to be fair. I'd be really interested to hear if that is a recommendation that will come out of your report, because that will inform some of the decisions we make.

I don't know if Marie-Geneviève or anybody.... I apologize. I didn't introduce my team: Marie-Geneviève Mounier, Alan Zimmerman, and Sean O'Donnell, from Heritage and Sport Canada. They're my officials.

[Alan Zimmerman, Director, Policy and Planning, Sport Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage]

With regard to the infrastructure fund, in terms of Sport Canada's involvement in infrastructure, as you probably know, we're not the experts in that. Any infrastructure funding that has gone to sport and recreation facilities has been through the appropriate departments, such as Infrastructure Canada, or through the RDAs, the regional development agencies.

We have been in discussion with them to see how we can improve the infrastructure that's there, how we can reduce the infrastructure deficit that was reported in the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' infrastructure report card last January.

Going forward, I think we're also looking at ways that accessibility, in broad strokes, as well as women and girls, become part and parcel of infrastructure investments going forward.

However, I would say that these are early discussions at the official stages right now, and we'll have to continue to work on that.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

First of all, thank you for your personal and your political leadership on this issue.

I'm interested in your policies on indigenous people and sport, and I'm referencing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There are five related calls to action in the TRC report. It calls upon the government to amend the Physical Activity and Sport Act, to support reconciliation, to reduce barriers to sports participation, and to increase the pursuit of excellence in sport relative to indigenous people.

We don't have a lot of time. I'm wondering if you could comment.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

We've taken a whole-of-government approach to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports, and we at Sport Canada have had to tell Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada how we are going to make sure that those five that pertained to sport are going to be acted upon.

Do you want to talk about those?

[Alan Zimmerman]

In terms of our view, what do officials do? We create a working group on aboriginal sport, and we've been working to try to address the recommendations, particularly the five that pertain to sport and recreation.

I think we're in the process of developing a framework that looks at leadership. So, looking at the Aboriginal Sport Circle, for example—

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

I only have time for one quick one. The North American Indigenous Games was very successful in Winnipeg in 2002, I believe. They're coming up in Toronto, is it?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

They'll be in Toronto next year.

[Alan Zimmerman]

They'll be in Toronto in 2017. That's part of the framework, yes.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Is the federal government involved in that?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Absolutely. I went there to announce our involvement in it. We take a strong leadership role around the FPT table around the North American Indigenous Games and, in fact, we may actually be hosting the World Indigenous Games in Toronto. Is that still happening? That was a bit up in the air.

[Marie-Geneviève Mounier, Assistant Deputy Minister, Sport, Major Events and Commemorations, Department of Canadian Heritage]

It's still up in the air.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

I think Winnipeg would be interested in that.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Right? Understood.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Vandal.

Thank you, Minister.

The Chair would like to apologize for not noticing Senator Nancy Ruth. I would like to acknowledge your presence here.

Senator, you're so shy and retiring always that I really didn't see you sitting there.

[Nancy Ruth, Senator, Senate]

That's a compliment, Hedy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

We'll now go to Mr. Kitchen, for the Conservatives.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for coming.

I'm going to try to get in a couple of questions.

On the issue of coverage of women in sport outside of the Olympics, I think you said roughly 24% was the number.

Interestingly, yesterday, I went to a “lunch and learn a cause” with Ms. Dabrusin. We sat there and listened to part of the conversation. They were referring to taking things off of main-channel TV and putting them onto the Internet, because that's where the younger generations are looking at things. Following through with that, we all know and we agree that the reality is that we need more female role models to inspire young women to get involved.

Have you looked into that? Have you challenged your committee to take a look at that aspect?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Absolutely.

In Rio, I had the opportunity to spend some time with both Mr. Lacroix and Greg Stremlaw from CBC Sports. One of the educations I got was on just that, the alternative platforms that were available to showcase sport, women in sport, paralympic sport, any kind of sport that may not be on television per se. I was very intrigued by the idea that television isn't the be-all and end-all that it used to be and, in fact, most young people are engaging in watching sport in very diverse ways, such as on their computers, or on their phones, or through other social media, and Internet platforms.

The thing that fascinated me was the opportunity that this provides, because, in some ways, these platforms are only limited by the content, as opposed to the hour or the minutes on a television, and the notion was that as long as there was content available, we could have a really robust representation of these groups available for people.

As I left Rio, I committed to convening some kind of round table or meeting of people involved in media, such as CBC and others, to talk about how we can get traditionally under-represented groups onto these other external platforms, because I think they present a huge opportunity for awareness.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you.

Obviously, getting young girls to participate is the main goal here. We are doing a great job with our high-performance athletes, and we are seeing great results in that. Kudos to them and the coaching staff who get them there. I'll touch on coaching a little later, if I get a chance.

The Canadian sport policy is basically calling for getting more Canadians, and particularly women, participating in sport. In your meeting with the provinces and territories in June, I know there was expression of strengthening that participation, that aspect of it.

How do you measure those results? How are you going to measure whether someone is actually participating more and whether we are increasing that level?