Canadian Heritage Committee on June 12th, 2023

[Tara McNeil]

We are in the process of rewriting all of those policies. We've submitted some to OSIC in terms of signing on as a signatory.

At present, we are enacting right away, at the end of June, our emergency mental health plan through Game Plan, whereby we are having organizational counselling to understand managing organization trauma and how it has affected people's perceptions and mental health, how they treat each other, how they treat themselves, and how they allow themselves to be treated.

We have also enlisted a whole-of-mental-health performance psychology group that will be working individually with coaches and athletes to talk about appropriate interactions. They've created a handbook for us, which reads a lot like a first aid or CPR manual: “If this is said, this is what you do; this is where you go.” We're going to be having a deep-dive instruction, like a course, if you will—

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I get that education is really important, but my question is very specific: If you find out that there is a coach in any place whom you have decided to suspend or terminate, is there a national list that everyone in your sport has access to in order to know not to hire that coach?

[Tara McNeil]

We don't have a specific policy about that yet, but we are working on it.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Ms. Armstrong, your sport is, obviously, much more evolved in this. It's a much more well-funded sport, and it has more concrete policies in place. You have a unique situation where athletes hire their own coaches, and coaches are not necessarily working with entire teams but, at a higher level, with two, three or four athletes.

Can you talk about what you have done with respect to protecting athletes if you determine that a coach has engaged in misconduct?

[Debra Armstrong]

Thank you very much for the question.

We have a public registry of sanctioned and/or permanently expelled coaches. We also have the “coach in good standing” tool, which all of our clubs across the country have access to. If a coach is sanctioned—i.e., temporarily or permanently expelled—we immediately notify the provincial and territorial sport organization and all clubs in that jurisdiction. As I mentioned, everyone in our system has access to our public registry.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I appreciate that very much, because it's kind of unique.

Ms. Armstrong, I also noted in your board minutes that you have discussions at the national board level about requests for reinstatement. It doesn't just get buried by a staff member. You are discussing it at the board.

[Debra Armstrong]

Yes, that's correct.

Our particular position is that our membership is very important to us. If we are going to make a decision to expel and ultimately reintegrate someone, it is important for the board of directors of Skate Canada to opine on that decision.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I agree. It is a good model of governance, which I appreciated when I was reading through your board minutes. Your minutes are very detailed and very impressive in terms of how you handle that, versus the other sport organizations I've seen in the country thus far.

To Rugby Canada, you recently had an issue with a coach. Could you talk to us about whether or not there's a public registry?

[Nathan Bombrys]

We have a sanction list available on our website that shows.... We have a list on Rugby Canada's website.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

That's fantastic.

I'm hoping that Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton will hear that and take that step as well.

Madam Chair, I think my time is probably up now. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have one minute left, Anthony. It's a six-minute round.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Oh, thank you, Madam Chair.

I have one last question, for Skate Canada.

One issue that has come up—I know this is somewhat away from the safe sport issue—is the idea of how people are chosen for national teams, and the subjectivity involved, for example, when you can override a decision of who came first or second at nationals to determine who goes to the Olympics. I am wondering whether Skate Canada has any comments on trying to create a more objective process, rather than the subjective one that has existed to date.

[Debra Armstrong]

We have transparently posted selection criteria for all national and international championship events, which we make available to all of our athletes. You are correct that there are a series of different events that go into the determination of that.

The good news about figure skating is that competitions are determined by scores, so we have objective criteria that factor into the overall consideration. We make the criteria publicly available to all of our athletes so they're aware of how decisions are made.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Armstrong.

I'm going to ask the clerk how we're doing for time, because I wanted to go, for 12 minutes, to Mr. Julian and Mr. Lemire.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Chair, there are 20 minutes remaining until the vote. If you take 12 away, that would give us eight. I think people are willing to wait.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Okay, that's great. Thank you.

We will go to Mr. Lemire.

Sébastien, you have six minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Armstrong, I'd like to know more about what you did to question athletes. As we understand it, on April 27, 2023, you received a complaint from figure skaters against coaches at the former BC Centre of Excellence, a club now known as the Champs International Skating Centre. Within your organization, did you speak with the board of directors about apparent problems involving those coaches?

[Debra Armstrong]

You were referring to the letter we received from Figure Skating for Change Canada on April 27. This matter was brought to the attention of the board of directors of Skate Canada. We immediately responded to the open letter. It is an open letter that is anonymous. It does not name any particular athletes.

We are very disturbed when allegations like this come to our attention. We immediately provided links to Skate-Safe, as well as to Abuse-Free Sport. We then took the initiative to send the information that we received in that open letter on the 27th directly to Skate-Safe, our investigator. We have no knowledge of what has happened since we sent it there.

We have an ongoing dialogue with Figure Skating for Change. We are hopeful that we can work together with them to ensure that any of these allegations—we had no previous knowledge of the allegations—are thoroughly investigated.

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

Thank you for your answer.

Did the complaint change the everyday lives of athletes or the organization, as well as your relationship with them? For example, in January, social media was flooded with sympathetic messages for a young athlete, Aleksa Rakic. Did you investigate that incident, specifically?

[Debra Armstrong]

Madam Chair, may I ask for clarification? I was not able to understand the first part of the translation. Could I ask that it be repeated, please?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Yes.

Could you please repeat, Sébastien?

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Armstrong, since receiving the letter, did you change anything affecting everyday activities and your relationship with the athletes?

[Debra Armstrong]

Thank you, and I apologize.

We are not aware of the athletes who are involved in this particular set of allegations that are raised in the open letter, so we have had no change in our approach to athletes since that time.

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

Nonetheless, did the interactions between the organization and the athletes change?