Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for inviting me. This is my third appearance before a parliamentary committee. I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the process aimed at improving the sport system.
As Ms. Béliveau mentioned, I'm here in my capacity as director of Laboratoire de recherche pour la progression des femmes dans les sports au Québec, a new research lab focused on advancing women in sport in Quebec. Accordingly, my remarks will focus on the importance of research, which can help bring more equality and equity to the sport system, and above all, make it safer for everyone.
I want to draw something to the committee's attention. Canada was fortunate to have the first gender equity in sport research hub from 2020 to 2022, but unfortunately, it received only two years' worth of funding. I had the pleasure of co-directing the hub with Gretchen Kerr, whom you've no doubt heard from on the issue of safe sport. It's really a shame that the research hub was funded for such a short time. We had started building the mechanisms to support the sport system and help you, as politicians, make informed, evidenced-based decisions.
Research should be the cornerstone of any initiative. Whenever a measure is introduced, or a mechanism or solution deployed, the ability to carry out an evaluation and determine the impact is key.
Ms. Bookal, the first witness you heard from today, shared a quote with the committee. I, too, have a quote for you. It comes from an eminent researcher by the name of Einstein. He said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I think that's often been the case in Canada. People think they have good ideas, so they implement them. My first message to the committee is this: go by the research. When you introduce a measure, you have to be able to evaluate it.
My colleague Ms. Carpentier talked about what we've learned from the research. It's been shown that, when more women are in leadership positions, violence and harassment rates drop rapidly, not only in sport, but also in a number of areas. That is true of the workplace, the prison system and elsewhere in Canada. In fact, the increased number of female prison guards has almost led to the elimination of physical violence in federal prisons.
The literature shows that the more women there are in a given setting, the better the conditions in that setting. Ms. Béliveau mentioned the percentage of women coaches in Canada. It's a similar situation globally. Athletes are trained predominantly by men, who account for nearly 80% of coaches, more in some sports.
I cannot stress enough that, first and foremost, research is key.
Second, we need to pay close attention to accountability. Some of my fellow witnesses spoke about that. Funding has to be tied to accountability. That requires an organization to support data collection. Again, this ties in with research. If the government decided to invest anew in the Gender Equity in Sport Research Hub, as I hope it will, the hub could oversee that accountability, as an impartial and independent organization, helping to inform funding policies and decisions.
I quite appreciated what my colleague Ms. Carpentier said. As she pointed out, when funding is tied solely to performance and when the winning of medals is all that matters, athletes will continue to experience abuse. Make no mistake.
The last point I want to make was also raised by Ms. Béliveau.