Canadian Heritage Committee on May 11th, 2023

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you.

Your name appeared in Vancouver newspapers and it came up in the minutes of proceedings of the City of Vancouver. At the time, it had to do with the Olympic Games.

Can you tell us why? Was there some kind of controversy?

[Charmaine Crooks]

I'm sorry. I didn't.... With the Olympics...?

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I'm referring to the Winter Olympics which were held in Vancouver in 2010.

[Charmaine Crooks]

I was a board member of the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, from the bid all the way up and through to the successful games that left a lot of legacies for Canada.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Does Canada Soccer have a partnership with Nike?

Do you currently have a contract with CSB?

[Charmaine Crooks]

No. I have never received any contract from CSB. That would be a complete conflict of interest.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Were female athletes in touch with Nike representatives under its partnership with Canada Soccer?

[Charmaine Crooks]

I'm not exactly sure what that question pertains to, but I do not work as an agent for any of our players. That might be a question best posed to them directly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Ms. Crooks.

Thank you, Sébastien.

I'm now going to go to the NDP for two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, please.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm from B.C. It was quite shocking for the soccer community, certainly in B.C. and around the Vancouver region, where I was, when the news came out about Mr. Birarda.

My question is about some of the conversations that are happening now in the community on all sports, not just soccer, and the abuse and that imbalance of power that exists.

I see here that Richard McLaren and McLaren Global Sport Solutions called Canada Soccer's governance “dysfunctional and inefficient”. This was back in 2008.

I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on that. I asked you some questions earlier about governance. I'm wondering what your thoughts are about those words, “dysfunctional and inefficient” governance. Is that what you experienced in your term?

[Charmaine Crooks]

I can't speak to how it was back then, but I can speak to it now.

We have a board with some highly experienced individuals from the corporate world who have joined. We've just had a few new independent board members join today. I'm proud to say that almost half of them are women, and most are from the corporate sector. We can be proud of that. Many of them speak both official languages, which we are improving on, including our vice-president.

I believe that governance training is very important, particularly for sports boards. We are volunteers primarily, but a lot of us perhaps do other things outside of the sport world. Some of the potential governance changes we're looking at today for organizations are to make sure we have a higher level of expertise. We're constantly looking at how we can build our matrix of experts.

However, we have some voices that are missing. I believe the athlete voice is one of them. I went through as an athlete in many organizations, which gave me a chance to have a voice. We want our athletes to also have an opportunity to have a voice.

With regard to players' counsel, we have on our board a former national team player. She is there more as an independent member, but she is there, and she is an incredible board member. She gives such incredible context, because she lived that game.

The more we do that, I believe the better we will be able to serve the organization.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I want to get one more question in.

It seems that Canada Soccer was being run as a business. It started to be really about a business. It started to be about where the money was coming and going. I believe they lost sight of the athletes. We heard that even from the team.

Around youth and young people, you mentioned in your comments that you want to invest in them.

I want to understand whether you feel there has been a change in that mindset, from a handshake, gentlemen's agreement-driven business organization, to an organization that is going to be able to get itself on the path of caring about young athletes all the way through their lives.

[Charmaine Crooks]

You said that exactly how I was going to start my response. We are an organization that is complex because we have a variety of stakeholders, from the grassroots all the way up to the national team. We also have our professional teams as well that are part of that. It is complex, but we want to make sure we are serving all of the constituents.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

Now I will go to Richard Martel for the Conservatives.

You have five minutes, Richard.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Crooks, I know there have been many budget cuts and that it has affected your funding.

What impact did it have on the development of young players and on the structure of amateur sport? How does that play out in your plan?

[Charmaine Crooks]

I see that we are continuing to look at ways to make sure we do not compromise what the players and our youth of today have to do on the pitch.

We work very closely with the technical team, but we also have to open up other partnerships throughout the region to share some resources. We are not the only member association that has been under a lot of financial strain.

I can assure you that we will always do it with a gender-equity lens in mind, to make sure we are doing for the young men and young women the same as we're doing for all of them across the organization.

I hope that answers part of your question. I didn't hear the second part. I'm sorry.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Ms. Crooks, what is your plan with regard to the training of coaches? Will they get more training? Will there be a follow-up?

Will reports have to be presented?

[Charmaine Crooks]

We will continue to have more training, especially when it comes to safe sport, for all coaches, officials, administrators, volunteers and even the board. Nobody will not be part of the safe sport training that will be available, to make sure we have that throughout the organization.

That is a part of building a safe sport culture.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Who will train the coaches working with young players?

[Charmaine Crooks]

We currently have a system in place internally in which this is already happening, and we are going to strengthen that. We have on our staff those who are working on development, and they work directly with the provincial and territorial member associations on much of that coaching training certification that we're all aware of.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Ms. Crooks, I'm curious about something. I'll offer an observation. Quite a few questions have been asked of you today with regard to.... There were questions about being on the call when Mr. Nick Bontis called Sinclair a bitch. You denied being there, even though we have evidence to the contrary.

Further to that, you were asked questions with regard to the Canadian Soccer Business deal. You denied that, even though we have the minutes in front of us that say you seconded that motion at committee.

I noted that when you were asked those two questions, your posture was tight and you had a very formulated answer ready to go, but I've noticed that when we asked you other questions, you've been more free. You kind of chuckled. I wonder if you're lying. Are you being totally truthful with us today, or are you skirting our questions?

[Charmaine Crooks]

I vehemently reject that notion. I came to you today to speak openly, with respect and in the spirit of safe sport. That's why I'm here, and that's what I will continue to do.

To say that I missed something or what have you, or that I do not recall.... I've put a lot of motions on the table over these years that I do not recall, and I vehemently reject that notion.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

None of our questions have been skirted by you today, then. You have been as truthful as you possibly could be. You have told the truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth. You have not reserved anything from us today.

[Charmaine Crooks]

I took an oath before I presented before you today. Everything that I am telling you is the truth, based on everything that I knew at the time, and I am sharing with you openly.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

In the few seconds you have left, give me two solid steps you're going to take to “modernize” the CSB.