Canadian Heritage Committee on May 15th, 2023

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you.

[Anne Merklinger]

For Own the Podium, our annual budget is about $6.5 million.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Okay.

During a major sporting event, it must increase drastically. For example, when an Olympic Games comes up....

[Anne Merklinger]

There are no incremental funds that flow through Own the Podium. Own the Podium's responsibility is to provide investment recommendations to the partners. Those are the Government of Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee—

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

You distribute on behalf—

[Anne Merklinger]

—and the funds are distributed by those partners directly to the sport organizations. The funds don't flow through us.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Okay.

[Sylvain Croteau]

To answer your question, I'll use a sports metaphor: hearing those numbers, I know we are not in the same league. We receive about $800,000 a year. This funding comes mainly from the Quebec government, in particular through the ministry of education and the ministry of family, seniors and the status of women, and also from private partners. We do not receive anything from the Canadian government, for the time being.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Okay.

I noticed, Mr. Croteau, there was a new directive by the Quebec government to build in a complaints system.

Can you talk a bit about that and how it works? Is this something that's being replicated in other provinces?

[Sylvain Croteau]

To my knowledge, that does not exist in other provinces. The Canadian system has been put in place there.

In Quebec, the complaints officer system was set up in March 2021. So far, it has proven effective. It isn't perfect, and we knew that when we launched it in the fall of 2020. When I say "we,” I mean the Quebec government, the Regroupement loisir et sport du Québec, Sport'Aide and the Quebec sport community. Back when we announced the system, we were saying already that it could be improved upon.

After two years in operation, we are now realizing that some improvements need to be made. A committee has been struck and we are working together to determine what improvements we can make to the system. Although it is not perfect, the system has proven effective so far.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I'm assuming it's a wide range of different complaints. Any athlete or organization can...someone within an organization can complain.

Tell us how many complaints come in a year. What is the flow of those complaints? Do they go directly to your organization? How are they dealt with?

[Sylvain Croteau]

First, to be admissible, complaints absolutely must be cases of physical or sexual abuse or of neglect. As for complaints related to—let's call it sport governance—those are returned to the federations themselves. For example, those would be complaints by parents who are unhappy with the amount of playing time given to their child, or upset because their child was not picked for the Quebec or Canadian team.

Now, regarding the handling of complaints, it is completely confidential. The complaints officer works independently and is outside the sport community. He was hired to put this system in place. He is the one who receives the complaints and, based on the information provided to him, determines if they are admissible. From there, a sanction is recommended to the federation concerned. Our federations in Quebec have adhered to the integrity policy. Next, the federation must apply the recommendations.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I'm going to have to intervene. I don't want to be disrespectful.

I have another question I want to ask, but thank you for sharing. I'd like to get some more information on it.

Racism in sport doesn't come up in these meetings often, with the major organizations. There have been individuals who have come to speak on the issue. If we do a study on safe sport, maybe you can provide us some advice on what the internal experience of the organization has been when it comes to diversity, inclusion, fairness and equity.

Specifically, what is your organization doing to combat systemic racism in sport, which many people say exists?

We can start with you, please.

[Anne Merklinger]

Certainly, internally within our organization, we have had a significant focus on equity, diversity and inclusion over the last two to three years. We have a very intentional employment policy now, where we're recruiting with an EDI lens. Certainly, internally within the organization, that's been our approach.

Externally we know that numerous organizations are providing important leadership in this area. Again, change is happening. It's probably not happening as quickly as one would want, but it is definitely top of mind for everyone involved in sport in our country.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Do you have a diverse board?

[Anne Merklinger]

Yes, we do. We have a board of 10, with a very diverse group on the board, yes.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. That's the end of your time, Michael.

I'm going now to Sébastien Lemire for two and a half minutes, please.

Go ahead, Sébastien.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is for Ms. Merklinger from Own the Podium.

I was surprised to hear an athlete who appeared before the committee say that the Own the Podium program has really increased pressure on athletes. He said that the $5 million in funding allocated to his federation, to coaches and to the whole ecosystem of up-and-coming talent was based on Olympic sport performance. He said the difference between fourth place and third place had a major impact on a sport's future.

Is it necessary to put all that pressure on athletes? You have opened the door to reform and to thinking about your mission. Do you acknowledge that this pressure may have an impact on the athletes' psychological health?

[Anne Merklinger]

Yes, certainly, as I mentioned, we are an organization that works with sport organizations that have over an eight-year horizon of athletes on the pathway, so it is very much a future-oriented assessment from our perspective.

I believe our responsibility is to help all those athletes and teams on the pathway prepare to achieve their own personal performance objectives. They are their goals. They want to excel, and we need to do that in a way that their physical and psychological safety is protected at all times.

We have consulted extensively with athlete groups. They embrace the notion of our redefining excellence and making sure that winning well is part of the conversation.

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

Are there high-performance advisors on the ground to support athletes? Have those advisors ever reported cases of abuse or problematic situations to you? If so, what did you do with that information?

[Anne Merklinger]

Our outreach to different athlete groups over the last two years has been much more robust than it's ever been. We've just reformed our governance model to have two athlete directors who are full and equal voting members on the board. We have created an athlete advisory council so that we can listen and reach out to a more robust athlete voice, so that we are consulting on a much more robust basis going forward.

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

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

The time is up, and I'm going to have to move on to Mr. Julian.

Peter, you have two and a half minutes, please.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Luke, you mentioned education and training of coaches. I've been a coach in two sports, and I know there haven't been a lot of resources available. It really depends on the organization. Obviously this is something that could make a difference.

Do you believe that Canada should be ensuring that there are more resources available for coaches at all levels, both in terms of the expertise for the sport but also to ensure that there is zero tolerance for any possibility of sexual abuse or sexual violence?