Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to speak on behalf of Sail Canada, at least in the opening remarks.
Thank you for this invitation today. Thank you for the work this committee is doing to create a better safe sport system. Thanks to Honourable Minister Duncan for leading this process and getting it under way. Her leadership within the sport community has been critical. This is a very important topic for us to address.
Sail Canada was established over 90 years ago. We've always been a driver in developing safe sailing practices in Canada. We welcome Canadians of all ages, all abilities and all interests, from recreational sailing to competitive sailing. Our tag line is “Sail for All, Sail for Life, Sail to Win”. We're very proud of our world-class athletes, but we're also very proud of every other sailor within the system. We have, over time, achieved nine Olympic and Paralympic medals.
Sail Canada works with 380 independent member organizations from coast to coast, including provincial sailing associations, sailing clubs, schools and class associations, each with unique needs and each committed to providing a safe sailing experience.
On the competitive side, the international racing rules of sailing have always emphasized reporting and disciplinary actions for maltreatment in sport, including penalties as far-reaching as lifetime bans from the sport. Sail Canada feels it is a leader in safe sport. We were charting the course of best practices even before we signed on with the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner last December.
In following Minister Duncan's lead, we have taken her recommendations seriously. We modified our harassment, bullying and discrimination policy in 2019. The same year, Sail Canada formed an inclusivity, diversity and equity committee. It also created policies to address that area.
We've also, under Minister Duncan's lead, created the hotline. We hired an independent third party investigator. A lot of work is being done in this area, but obviously a lot more can be done.
Sail Canada is an international safe sport leader. Recently we witnessed some world sport federations making decisions, including hosting competitions in countries that do not protect all communities. Sail Canada took action and sent a letter to World Sailing. We called upon them to ensure that we are working together to support, protect and include all communities that take part in sailing competitions.
Sail Canada supports the federal government's push for better safe sport environments, and last December Sail Canada announced that it would be one of the first to join the abuse-free sport program. We signed in December and put that in place on March 1.
Sail Canada went beyond the requirements of the Government of Canada in terms of scope. We worked with our provincial partners to create a harmonized safe sport policy for the whole sailing community and not just those at the national level. Sail Canada hired a safe sport officer to update and implement our safe sport package and to work with and assist our provincial partners, sailing clubs and schools in implementing these policies.
Sail Canada requires all staff, national community volunteers, certified officials, certified registered coaches and instructors, and all participants of Sail Canada regional and national championships to consent to our new code of conduct and the UCCMS and to be subject to OSIC if a complaint is lodged.
Sail Canada has set the tone for safe sport training across the country, for years providing seminars about safe sport to staff, volunteers, officials, and provincial sailing association staff and presidents. We require all staff, instructors, coaches and officials to complete safe sport training.
We recently presented a three-hour training session, which included participation by our national team athletes, development squad coaches and support staff, at which they focused on how to protect themselves from any safe sport issue and how to file a complaint if they felt they were being abused in any way. As of today six provincial sailing associations—not including Quebec, which has its own system—have passed the safe sport policy package and are in the process of rolling it out to their member organizations. Over half of the member clubs and schools have adopted safe sport policies, and the rest are working to do so.
There's still a lot of work to do to make sure safe sport objectives are efficient, attainable and able to guarantee an environment free of harassment, abuse and any other harmful conduct. We see that the following key objectives will ensure success for all NSOs.
First is to ensure there is a harmonized safe sport system in place for the whole system—at the club, provincial and national level—to avoid duplication and confusion with regard to which system is to respond, depending on the jurisdiction.
Second is to support sporting coordination from all levels of government—Minister Duncan referred to this, in terms of the Red Deer agreement—to achieve these safe sport objectives.
Third is to conduct cultural audits to confirm the effectiveness of our system and explore opportunities for improvement—