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.