Thank you for inviting me to speak here today on behalf of Swimming Canada.
I would like to thank the committee members for all their hard work and investment in this imperative topic. I would especially like to acknowledge the athletes, victims, their families and their friends for having the courage to be here and share their experiences and their stories.
I've been the CEO since July 2013. I would like to share a glimpse of our sport and our organization. We consist of over 75,000 registrants in addition to thousands of volunteers. Our women's team is in the top six in the world, and accounts for many of the best performances Canada has ever seen. Across officials and athletes, we are virtually fifty-fifty in terms of men and women. In participation with the Lifesaving Society, an estimated 1.5 million children are in various types of swimming lessons across the country.
We are an approximately $9 million organization. About two-thirds of that comes from government sources. Because we are relatively well funded in comparison with some smaller sports, I'd like to recognize that we've been able to implement some safe sport practices, projects, programs and systems that many other NSOs might not be able to. We feel that we've done many things well, but like all sports, we need to look in the mirror and see where we can do better.
When I started there, there was a lack of women in leadership positions and a lack of human resources in general. We've grown from 10 staff to 50 staff. The majority of our employees are women, including multiple senior managers and one of our senior directors. Four of our nine board members are women, including our current president and our past president. With the assistance of the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the Government of Canada, we have developed a safe sport system focusing on education, prevention and response.
We consulted heavily with our friends at USA Swimming, who had a head start on us. They were glad to share tools and resources with us. Our provincial sections and the Canadian Swimming Coaches Association all worked with us to navigate a very complex jurisdictional challenge, lack of available funds and resources, and, specifically, complex case management.
In 2016 we began to roll out a national program that addressed issues, complaints and allegations via an independent safe sport officer. We strengthened our response by signing on with OSIC. Our existing program will remain in place as our OSIC partnership grows in areas that they may not cover. We want all participants to have a safe place to come forward in a safe environment during the most difficult of situations.
OSIC is a key building block for the sport community to continue strengthening the safety of all participants. It will take time for everyone to understand OSIC's role and to start to see the positive effects. It will need to be supported all the way down to the grassroots level. Everyone in our sport is committed to ensuring a healthy and positive environment and to maintaining a safe and inclusive culture for all.
Once again, thank you for your important work with this committee. We welcome any questions you may have as we work together to make sport as safe as possible.