Canadian Heritage Committee on April 14th, 2016

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Yes, it's in the fiscal framework.

I apologize; I didn't know the government-speak for it.

It will also be matched by private dollars. Right now we're talking with stakeholders about how to best deliver that money. What's the best organization to house the next-gen funding? Is it Own The Podium? Own The Podium isn't historically in the business of looking at athletes five years out. Is it the Olympic Committee, the Paralympic Committee? Should it be a grants and contributions program that Sport Canada manages?

We're working with stakeholders now. That money is definitely there. I think we're almost near the end of those consultations. I'm personally extremely excited to provide a whole-of-athlete program suite for our athletes, whether it be athletes who are five to eight years out or athletes who are zero to four years out. Then, of course, we need to think of our transitioning athletes. Again, that's where the AAP provides some of that education support.

I'm really excited about that money, and I'm really excited to be able to come back and announce—in the near future, I would say—how we're going to distribute those funds.

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

As you mentioned in your preamble, and from what we saw in your mandate letter from the Prime Minister, you're basically to collaborate, develop a strategy, and raise awareness for parents, athletes, and coaches on the issue of concussions and their prevention and treatment. The Canadian Heritage 2016-17 report on plans and priorities indicates that it's already started.

Can you expand on that and tell us where it started? What's been going on?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

That's an important question, and I appreciate your asking it.

There's some good work being done at the national level on concussions, whether it be by the Canadian Concussion Collaborative or the FPT, the federal-provincial-territorial, working group on sport and recreation. What the Minister of Health and I are tasked with is providing federal leadership in developing a national or federal strategy for concussion.

What we are planning to do in June of this year is to have an FPT ministers' meeting on sport. One of the things on the table is discussion of approving a framework for building a national concussion strategy in collaboration with the provinces and territories. What we don't want to do is duplicate efforts or reinvent the wheel, because there are some brilliant minds already turning their thoughts to these issues regularly—and certainly more than I have in my life. I'm humbled every time a concussion expert walks into my office and shares with me the thinking about and impact this issue has on our kids. I have young kids, and as they head into more aggressive sport opportunities, I am extremely mindful of the impact, for lack of a better word, of concussion on our children.

I'm excited that we're moving forward with this. There are some key milestones coming in the next year in delivering this for our country. I think we have some strong advocates at the national level, including the Governor General. This is of particular interest to him, and he's lending his support to any of our efforts around concussions.

What I can assure you is that we're on top of this, that it is a top priority of mine and the Minister of Health. We look forward to sharing our plans and strategy as we move forward on this file.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have less than one minute, Mr. Kitchen.

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

I'll follow up on that. Maybe you can expand a little on it. One of the concerns we have is the following. I agree with you that there's a lot of great research on it, having been a sports practitioner and having dealt with athletes who have concussions. One of the biggest problems we find is that although we have the research and the information, knowledge transfer and knowledge translation is a big issue, and not only knowledge translation but also knowledge retention. Oftentimes we present that information to the personnel in a rural area, wherever it may be, and they stay with the best practices for a week, and then the next week they go back to what they're used to. Are you looking at that as being part of the process and ensuring that is in the project?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I would say, absolutely. I think you're bang on when you say we have some good research, but we need to make sure the practitioners are living it and that it becomes the way we do business.

It's also a huge culture shift must happen in the sports community. In some sports in particular there's a culture of, “suck it up and get back on the field”. What I've told parent groups and others is that if I, as an athlete, sprain my ankle, you don't throw me back in the pool. If I, as an athlete, sprain my brain, you're more than willing to put me back on the ice, and I don't understand that. I think a big component of this for us, particularly in sport, is going to be education and a culture shift around respecting that this is in fact a brain injury and that we need to treat it as such.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. The seven minutes are up, so thank you, Minister.

Mr. Nantel for the NDP, for seven minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Qualtrough, my thanks to you and the folks who are here with you this morning.

I was about to write to a volunteer from the Jeux du Québec that were held in Longueuil in 2014. I also volunteered and it was a fantastic experience. What has often moved me to tears is seeing the feeling of accomplishment that sport can bring to youth. There is also the experience of working as a team, of being part of a great movement, of coming together and celebrating.

I heard that the 2016 Jeux du Québec organizers, which will be held in Montreal, is expecting news from your department about its funding. I have no doubt that it will receive it, but I wanted to point out that they are starting to be a bit concerned. The Olympic Games were held in Montreal in 1976, and it so happens that this is a nice anniversary.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Absolutely.

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

We are increasingly hearing about the Olympic stadium in the news, and for good reason. Its director is very dynamic and he is raising awareness about the scale of that monument and the life it can hold.

Do you have any news for the people from the Jeux du Québec about the funding?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I'm sorry, but I cannot read what it says because the font is too small. The Associate Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage will answer on my behalf.

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

No problem.

[Patrick Borbey]

Minister Joly has recently met with stakeholders in Quebec and they had a discussion about the proposals submitted. The project is being studied and we can assure you that we are taking it very seriously and we want to provide an answer as soon as possible. We must also consider the Canada 150 activities. We also have an opportunity to provide assistance for that. Everything is being studied right now.

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

Thank you for not evading the question and for answering frankly. But I must admit that I'm a little surprised because the 150th anniversary won't be in 2016. The 150th anniversary will be celebrated next year, in 2017.

Having said that, so much the better, and I hope the delays won't be too long. I am constantly seeing that the government machine is missing many pieces because the pieces have been sold to avoid a deficit. I'm joking, but there's some truth to it.

I have another question for you.

You're an athlete, and you can imagine the determination required in your training, in your deeds and in your performance. Anyone remotely interested in sporting success was amazed to learn recently that Jean-Luc Brassard, chef de mission of the Canadian Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games in Rio, had resigned from his position. He criticized the COC's management of the case of former COC president Marcel Aubut, who is accused of sexual harassment. Mr. Brassard faced the storm with courage, in a conference room worthy of Star Trek.

Could you give us an update on the situation at the Canadian Olympic Committee? The COC is funded by private partnerships, but also receives a lot of public sector funding. There's also the whole aspect of national pride that the COC inspires. What's happening at the COC?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I fully agree with you: it's very serious. The Government of Canada has a zero-tolerance policy on harassment, and we must be 100% certain that our workplaces are absolutely free of harassment.

Mr. Brassard made his decision. I want to congratulate him and thank him for his efforts. He is a hero, an athlete I admire greatly, and he worked hard for the COC. I am encouraged because he and I both have a lot of confidence in the new COC president. I would also say that she is bringing a new management style. Tricia Smith is an athlete as well: she has competed in rowing at four Olympic Games and won a gold medal. She is also a lawyer and arbitrator with the Board of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport. She is a person of integrity, and I have absolute confidence in her.

Two or three days ago, Jean-Luc Brassard said he would return to work at the COC one day, in another capacity, because he knows that Tricia Smith will clean things up at the Canadian Olympic Committee. I feel the same way. Curt Harnett, the new chef de mission, also said publicly that if he didn't have confidence in the management of the COC, he would not have accepted the position.

I speak to Tricia regularly. She has her own style. She remains more behind the scenes. She launched an investigation, and the process continues. She doesn't want to influence the decision or the process. When an athlete is running an organization like the COC, the approach is a little more different. She knows the athletes and their needs, and what it takes to get to the podium. I have the utmost confidence in her leadership.

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

To restore public confidence, I invite you to talk about it and to raise the profile of the new COC president. You do it cheerfully and enthusiastically. We already know Mr. Brassard, and the new chef de mission seems to be a fine person.

By the way, you speak French very well. Congratulations.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you.

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

It's important to talk about the positive aspects of this situation because the story is drawing out and goes beyond sexual harassment accusations. It's starting to sound like a Swiss banking scandal.

Good luck.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you very much.

I think that changes about the future of the organization will be announced in the coming days.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Dabrusin from the Liberals, for seven minutes.

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

As the mother of two girls who are involved in sports, one competitively, I see the impact of sports on their self-confidence and development.

In my own community, I've coached girl's ball hockey for many years. We had a ball hockey league that was co-ed. Girls weren't participating for very long; they were dropping out. Then we expanded into a girl's division and now there is an interest in it. There are waiting lists. It's a growing league.

How are you and the department going to focus on encouraging women and girls in sport, to encourage their numbers and participation?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

This is a really important question, something that I'm quite passionate about because, as the mother of a 5-year old girl and a 16-year old girl, I've lived the experience of my daughter losing her love for sport. We lose girls around the age of 14. We need to build systems and we need to create experiences for them where we won't lose them.

One of the things Sport Canada does is fund CAAWS, the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, to the tune of approximately $250,000. CAAWS works with national sport organizations and multi-sport organizations basically to increase awareness about how we can be more inclusive with women and girls in our sport experiences.

It's very interesting to me because of the 1,900 or 2,000 athletes we card through our athlete assistance programs, 50% of them are women. At that level we have a 50% representation in sport.

What's happening? How is it that we lose them, but then at the high performance level we seem to have them? I'm interested in figuring that out and it's something that we're turning our minds to as we look at being more inclusive.

The other piece I'd like to talk about is your comment about the kind of sport experience our girls are having. We need to be creative and inclusive. We need to provide integrated opportunities where girls get to play with boys, but we also need to respect the fact that some girls like to play with girls and that the experience is different when you play in a girl's league than when you play in a co-ed league.

The more the variety and the range of sport experiences we can provide our girls the better. We need to be mindful not to lose them.

What kind of good sport experience will keep them in the game longer? We know, as I said in my opening remarks, that by a certain age they're no longer experiencing sport at the same levels as boys.

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

Given that you mentioned inclusive sports and trying to develop that, I think it's wonderful that our Minister of Sport is a Paralympian. Was it in 1992 and 1998?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I was very young, yes.