Status of Women Committee on Feb. 13th, 2023

[Jaimie Earley]

Thank you for the question.

As I previously mentioned, we did one specific consultation focused on athletes. However, given that athletes represent part of the general public, I think we can make the assumption that some athletes likely would have participated in other sessions within their provinces or territories, as well as by filling in the general information.

In addition to that, I would say that Sport Canada.... I cannot speak on behalf of the other provinces and territories, but we've done significant engagement with athletes over the past year. Minister St-Onge announced last June that one thing Sport Canada was going to do was create a healthier and safer sport environment that would be more athlete-centred. There was going to be the creation of a Sport Canada athlete advisory committee. We've met with that committee four or five times now. We just sent out, last week, a call for applications for general members to join that committee. It is a work in progress, but it's definitely a measure we put in place to make sure we're hearing the athletes' perspectives on all of our policy and program decision-making.

[Isabelle Mondou]

Can I add something very quickly?

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

Yes, of course.

[Isabelle Mondou]

Thematic consultations have also been held, on safety in sport, for instance. The minister held a session with athletes present. But if you know people who feel they have not been heard, we would like to have their names so we can consult them. The policy has not been finalized so it is not too late.

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

Thank you for your openness.

I would like to know which committee members are involved and whether you will be tabling a new funding structure in connection with the new version of the Canadian sport policy.

[Isabelle Mondou]

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if I understand the question.

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

I am talking about the committee established to update the Canadian sport policy.

[Isabelle Mondou]

Okay.

This includes all the provinces. Four provinces in particular have been designated as leads, but all the provinces are consulted. So all the provinces are represented on the committee. It is a federal-provincial committee.

What was your second question?

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

Will you be tabling a new funding structure in connection with the Canadian sport policy?

[Isabelle Mondou]

There will in fact already be a new funding structure in April, but as my colleague noted, once the new policy is adopted, there will be an action plan linked to it.

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

Thank you.

We have a very strict chairperson, so I will stop there.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's excellent, Sébastien. That's right to the minute, even right to the second.

Bonita, you have six minutes.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you so much.

When we spoke earlier, the minister introduced the Red Deer declaration. I want to ask a bit about that.

First, however, I would ask the officials what age groups the department believes or understands we are covering in this study.

[Isabelle Mondou]

The Red Deer declaration was a declaration adopted in 2019, when then-Minister Duncan was there. It followed a group of experts she put together—athletes and academics—to recommend what should be done on safe sport in particular, but also on gender in general. When ministers met in 2019 at a federal-provincial meeting, they agreed to put in place all the recommendations from that committee, and also to commit to having that discussion at every single one of their committees. They've all undertaken the responsibility to advance that file. That was the Red Deer declaration.

I hope that answers your question.

As for the children's ages, there are no specific ages, because in some sports, even at the national level.... I think about gymnastics. Some are pretty young, so we're not limiting ourselves by age. Any athletes in our sports should be receiving our support. In some cases—the Canada Games, for example—the younger athletes are in gymnastics. They can be as young as 12 or 13.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you.

You mentioned MP Duncan, the past minister who dug in and had some recommendations. Were all of the previously suggested recommendations implemented from when MP Duncan was the minister?

[Isabelle Mondou]

I would say that a large number of those recommendations were implemented. Others are being tracked regularly at the federal-provincial table, so the work is continuing on those. We are happy to provide you with a summary of that, if it would be helpful.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

That would be great.

I'm looking at the Red Deer declaration. There were some under “immediate actions”. Three were establishing a standing item on safety and integrity”, “implementing a collaborative intergovernmental approach” and “investigating a mechanism to report and monitor incidents”.

Are all three of those happening?

[Isabelle Mondou]

The mechanism is actually OSIC's. That's one of the outcomes of that meeting. The FPT table is now active on that front. They have a working group active all the time.

I missed the first one. I'm sorry. I don't have it in front of me.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Okay.

This is of interest because we've talked a lot today about wanting to have culture change, about culture flowing down and about the need for a change in governance, but if the people who are still implementing that governance are the same, we don't really get very far.

Have you seen any changes? Have there been any metrics? How are we measuring them?

[Isabelle Mondou]

All of those recommendations are being measured. I think you're absolutely right. They are measuring how they are being accomplished. We can provide you with exactly what has been done and exactly what is being done about it.

Some of it is for the federal government. Some of it is for the provincial government. We're tracking it as a collective. We are happy to provide that to you.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Is this cross-jurisdictional collaborative approach new, or has that been ongoing?

[Isabelle Mondou]

I will say that because sport has federal and provincial components, it's not new. I will say the focus of the table on sport is probably.... I cannot talk about events that happened before that. I was not there. I was there at the time when it was minister Duncan. I know that since then, it's a regular item on the agenda.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Okay.

Which ministry will this fall into? Will this fall into the sport ministry or will it fall into Canadian Heritage? If there is monitoring that's going on and if there are actions that need to be completed, which ministry is going to take accountability for them?

[Isabelle Mondou]

It's the sport ministry. Sport is within Canadian Heritage, but it's the sport ministry that's doing the follow-up when it's at the federal level.

Our colleagues in the provinces—they all have sports ministries too—are doing it for their own jurisdictions.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

As you were speaking about it, it's all ages. It can be very young kids. Everyone around this table and all Canadians want this fixed. What is the immediate “must” to be done right away? We've had testimony from victims and survivors who are saying they want a judicial inquiry. Is this the must?

What is the number one action that we can tell Canadians came out of these conversations, even before a report comes?