Status of Women Committee on Jan. 30th, 2023

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to meeting number 47 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on October 31, 2022, the committee will resume its study of women and girls in sport.

Today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format pursuant to the House order of June 23, 2022. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses and members.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike, and please mute yourself when you are not speaking.

For interpretation for those on Zoom, you have the choice at the bottom of your screen of either floor, English or French audio. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.

I will remind you that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For members on Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.

In accordance with our routine motion, I am informing the committee that all witnesses have completed the required connection tests in advance of the meeting.

Before we welcome our witnesses, I would like to provide this trigger warning. This continues to be a difficult study. We will be discussing experiences related to abuse. This may be triggering to viewers, members or staff with similar experiences. If you feel distressed or if you need help, please advise the clerk.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses.

As an individual, we have Professor Gretchen Kerr, who is online. From Gymnastics Canada, we have Ian Moss, chief executive officer, who we have right in front of us here on the panel. From the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, OSIC, we have Sarah-Ève Pelletier, sport integrity commissioner.

I am now going to pass it over to Gretchen Kerr for opening remarks.

Gretchen, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Dr. Gretchen Kerr, Professor, As an Individual]

That's wonderful. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you for this opportunity to appear before your committee. The challenges that this committee is addressing are so important and have significant potential to bring about long-needed changes to the culture of sport in Canada.

My remarks today are informed by a long history of engagement in sport, including as a former elite gymnast and coach. I have been researching gender-based violence and gender equity in sport for over 30 years and have applied this expertise to the development of the UCCMS, for which I was the subject matter expert. I was a contributing author to the Coaching Association of Canada’s safe sport modules and recently published a book entitled Gender-Based Violence in Children’s Sport. I have served as a volunteer case manager for Gymnastics Canada and as co-director of the national gender equity in sport research hub. My current role is as dean of the faculty of kinesiology and physical education at the University of Toronto.

In these brief opening remarks, I'd like to address three key points.

The first is that the substantial body of research in the area of gender-based violence in sport confirms what athletes have been reporting. The second is that addressing gender-based violence in sport requires systemic change, including system alignment. The third is that we must build upon what we already know and what has already been done to address gender-based violence—including from international examples and previous research—and identify what works in order to advance the progress made thus far.

I'll review each of these three points in greater detail.

A wealth of research evidence exists that spans decades, including research conducted in Canada with Canadians. For example, in 2019, of 1,000 Canadian national team members representing over 60 sports, 23% said they experienced psychological violence on a repeated basis, 21% experienced neglect, 7% experienced sexual violence and 3% experienced physical violence. These were all on a repeated basis, not one-offs. Importantly, these findings from Canada have been replicated in other westernized countries, which is important because it points to common denominators across the culture of sport and confirms athletes’ accounts of their experiences.

We also know from research evidence that athletes have not had access to safe, transparent and trauma-informed places to go with their disclosures or reports of maltreatment. There are many reasons for this, including structural barriers, which leads to my second point.

Addressing gender-based violence in sport requires systemic changes, including system alliance. It's a systemic issue and therefore needs systemic solutions. We need to go well beyond police checks and ridding the system of bad actors; we need to address everything from policies to education, complaint mechanisms, support for survivors, jurisdictional constraints, funding and other incentives. It also means addressing the challenges presented by the multi-jurisdictional structure of sport in Canada, including resolving the gap that exists in awareness, policies and practices between NSOs and their PT counterparts and with those sport programmes offered outside of government jurisdiction entirely. Important next steps include alignment of all jurisdictions so that athletes at every level of sport in Canada have access to safe sport, gender equity policies, education, independent complaint mechanisms and support.

Finally, it's important to build upon what we already know, and we know a lot. For example, the 2019 prevalence study of national team athletes informed the development of the UCCMS and the OSIC. Similarly, the majority of the 2019 AthletesCAN recommendations have been fulfilled. We are making progress.

Of course, we have further to go. The recommendations from the 2018 FPT working group on women and girls in sport and the 2019 Red Deer Declaration have not been fully implemented and thus provide important road maps for next steps.

The introduction of OSIC is important in offering assurances of the independence that athletes need in order to report without fear of repercussions. Of course, OSIC will need time to gain the confidence of the sport community.

While the implementation of the UCCMS is a critical step forward, it needs to be adopted by all sport organizations at all levels in Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you, Gretchen. I'm going to have to cut you off there. We're already over time. You will be able to finish up some of these comments during your questions.

I'm now going to pass it over to Ian Moss with Gymnastics Canada.

Ian, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Ian Moss, Chief Executive Officer, Gymnastics Canada]

Thanks for inviting Gymnastics Canada to attend this meeting. I'm here to answer any questions the committee members may have as truthfully and openly as I possibly can.

We are deeply committed to support and advance recommendations that will help to make sport safer and more inclusive and equitable. While the focus of this committee is on girls and women in sport, the comments I offer are focused on the importance of creating an environment and culture that will positively impact all participants.

I have been working in sport since 1990 in a variety of roles. I share this because I have witnessed many attempts to modernize our fractured and outdated sport system over the last three decades, with limited success. In my opinion, until the system itself is modernized, we will continue to react to the emergence of new issues rather than proactively creating a solid foundation that's designed to mitigate risks related to safety, cheating, poor governance and maltreatment. We can't have good sport without modernizing the system, and for this reason I believe we ought to focus on modernizing the systems and structures that underpin sport.

Recently there have been calls to hold another Dubin-like inquiry. It's important to note that Dubin himself articulated that it was less about dealing with doping as a singular issue, but rather to address the moral crisis affecting the health and vitality of sport. He argued that sport required society to examine the values attached to the sector. Sport is now grappling with a more insidious moral crisis that would benefit from a re-examination of the root causes that continue to give rise to unethical conduct. Unless we address the root causes, more issues will continue to surface, and the sport system, as depleted and disconnected as it is, simply cannot bear the load of increased expectations as society continues to shift. We must modernize the system.

Gymnastics Canada has been one of the sports that have been at the centre of the safety in sport crisis. As with any issue, there are multiple perspectives and complexities that far exceed my capacity to articulate today.

The recently released McLaren group review of gymnastics in Canada provides a detailed précis of not only the current challenges facing the gymnastics community, but also a way forward in our collective desire to foster a safe and welcoming culture. The report and ensuing recommendations help us better understand some of the current limitations while, importantly, offering structural, cultural, financial and operational considerations to effect meaningful and sustainable change.

We need to start measuring what matters most to our collective community. The current sport system has not kept up with the contemporary humanistic approaches that are required to thrive in our increasingly complex environment. Once we start to measure alignment with cultural values we will be in a better position to meet societal expectations.

I commend the committee for providing sport leaders with a platform to examine the many outdated practices and approaches in sport that have contributed to unsafe environments. I believe this is a much-needed conversation in order for our system to change. While uncomfortable, it's critically important for sport to shift into the 21st century if we are to ensure a safe, welcoming and thriving culture and environment for all participants.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much.

We'll now pass it over online to Sarah-Ève Pelletier from the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner.

Sarah, you have five minutes.

[Sarah-Ève Pelletier, Sport Integrity Commissioner, Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner]

Madam Chair, members of the committee, thank you for your invitation and for your work on this important and troubling issue for people in the sport community.

Sport should be a positive, welcoming and enriching experience for everyone involved. That experience should be about joy, about friendship and about growth. This is the kind of experience I'm privileged to take away from my own participation as a former athlete.

Unfortunately, as demonstrated by powerful and heartbreaking testimonies before and outside of this study, as well as by studies about the prevalence of maltreatment, it is clear that too many have experienced harm in their sport journey. Even one experience of maltreatment is too many. It simply is not what sport is all about.

I have been guided by a deep motivation to act as a positive agent of change for sport, with the athletes at the heart of it. This is the same motivation that drove me to step into this role eight months ago, at such an urgent time for sport.

The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner shares your vision that all participants in Canadian sport should benefit from quality, inclusive, accessible, welcoming and safe sport experiences.

We are working hard to make sport safer by actively addressing the issues, while also broadening our services to support those who are reaching out.

We are nowhere near where we want to be and acknowledge that much more work is needed to attain this vision. As we build the foundations of this program, we note that sport in our country is in dire need of harmonized rules around maltreatment in sport and how to address it. The Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport, or UCCMS, provides a strong foundation at the national level. However, the current lack of consistency in the rules and their application at the different levels of sports participation remains an important gap to be addressed.

I echo the recommendations made by other witnesses who have appeared that education and prevention are required at all levels to truly effect the sustainable change in culture that is needed.

We are attentive to feedback from athletes and others directly impacted by experiences of harm. We continue to work diligently and relentlessly to strengthen our processes.

We are building. We are a place where people can now go for help. And just like this committee today, we are listening, adapting and doing everything within our power to make sport safer.

Thank you for listening and thank you again for your important work.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much.

We'll now start our rounds of questions. For the first round of questions, each party will be granted six minutes before I ask them to wrap up.

I'll start off with CPC and Anna Roberts.

Anna, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for joining us today. As we discussed in previous meetings, this issue has been going on for too long. It's time to act. Enough has been said. Enough witnesses have come forward. We're sitting idle and not protecting the most innocent people in our country.

I guess I'll start with Mr. Ian Moss.

You mentioned that with Gymnastics Canada, your primary job is to protect the athletes. Was I correct in hearing that?

[Ian Moss]

Yes.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

In protecting the athletes, what I'd like to know is this: How much money does Gymnastics Canada receive from Sport Canada?

[Ian Moss]

That's no problem at all. We receive essentially a core grant, like many national sport bodies do. That has been the same for the last decade. It's roughly a million dollars a year.

We also get what they call top-up funding through the Own the Podium process, which is a combination of Sport Canada and Olympic committee money. That currently totals also about a million dollars.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

In total, then, it's approximately $2 million per year.

[Ian Moss]

Yes.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Does Gymnastics Canada receive money from the registration fees collected by local clubs?

[Ian Moss]

That's correct as well. Yes. We get eight dollars per participant across the country.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Okay.

From two separate media reports, you as the high-performance director were aware of allegations against Alex Brad and Scott McFarlane. Did you take any measures to suspend the coach and investigate the allegations?

[Ian Moss]

I believe you're referring to Alex Bard.

I am fully aware of those situations, of course, because I was central, certainly to the Alex Bard matter. As in every decision I take, it was based on facts. As such, I made decisions related to Alex Bard's position initially and then the contractual termination based on the facts I had available to me.

With Scott McFarlane, with respect, that was a criminal case that we didn't have any actual involvement with, because it was through the criminal process. If I may clarify that, obviously there was an employee before me who was involved with the Scott McFarlane case at the Ottawa gymnastics club, though, so I wasn't directly involved.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Help me understand something. I was reading some information from CBC.

In 2017 a complaint about Brad was taken directly to you. Months before, Brad was promoted to head coach. Brad was allowed to resign.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I think you're referring to Bard. Is that correct?

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

I'm sorry. Yes, it's Bard. I apologize.

He was allowed to continue to coach, even though it was known that these allegations had been made. How can we protect our young athletes when we haven't fully, for lack of a better word, punished the individuals who created these situations?

Our athletes are struggling. We've heard it from many athletes. It's disturbing to me, as a mother and previously a recreational athlete, that we are allowing these individuals to get away with it.

[Ian Moss]

It is a very difficult scenario, of course. I'm in a position in which I have to ensure that there is due process in everything we do, which is based on facts. While allegations come forward, they have to be based on factual evidence.

When the decision was ultimately made in regard to Mr. Bard, that decision was based on factual evidence that was available to me.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

How many complaints were filed? Can you tell us that?

[Ian Moss]

There was ultimately one complaint filed, and action was taken. It was not in respect to abuse and maltreatment.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Was that complaint investigated?

[Ian Moss]

It was not, because it was a code-of-conduct complaint, and a decision was made in terms of a contractual matter.