Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much for your question. There are many areas where athletes are involved. If you look at the international level, there is an IOC Athletes' Commission, on which the current IOC member from Canada is Beckie Scott. I was a member of that commission for 15 years. My

Canadian Heritage committee  First of all, thank you for that, and I certainly share your thoughts about the importance of coaching. For me, my coaches have meant so much to me, and they were all volunteers, particularly the ones I had in Canada. I went to school in the U.S. to train. At that time it was a g

Canadian Heritage committee  It will be very short. As I said before, investing in sport is investing in all Canadians, especially our youth. I think we collectively need to do as much as we can to break down those barriers to access, whether it's to facilities, to programs. There are a lot of excellent pro

Canadian Heritage committee  He was from Burkina Faso.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much for that question, Madame St-Denis. First, sport was everything to me. As a young girl watching the Olympics and seeing those athletes do great things, I thought I could also do that. I got involved and was able to get a scholarship to go to university and st

Canadian Heritage committee  Every athlete approaches their sport differently at that starting line. It's one I went through for Canada for 20 years. That starts in practice. You practise for many years and you simulate those circumstances, but on the day anything can happen, whether it's a factor such as t

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Gill, for that question. First of all, it would be by tuning in to watch these performances on our official networks, who are the supporters of the games, of course. Also, if athletes live in their communities, if there are ways to be part of some of the

Canadian Heritage committee  I just joined Twitter a few months ago, and of course it is. It's a huge way of supporting that. The International Olympic Committee also has guidelines as to how athletes can use social media. I know Chris and the team are working with communicating with the athletes on how to

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. I think most athletes do that. I've been doing that since I was in high school, going into schools and speaking. You're right, you talk to the kids there and you help to inspire them, whether it's to be the best in music, in the arts, what have you. The inspiration

Canadian Heritage committee  First of all, thank you for your question. I'm very proud that here in Canada we have an excellent organization, the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, which we work very closely with in order to further the leadership role of wom

Canadian Heritage committee  There are several. When you look at the technology, I think that's a big area. Hosting the games in our country was a real catalyst for the injection of more funding into sport. That really helped. Whenever we have a chance to host the games or different events, it helps immensel

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, and your excellency. What a pleasure it is to be here with you all today and have the opportunity to share with you the journey of the Canadian athletes as they move toward London, 2012. As we heard, there will be about 14,000 a

Canadian Heritage committee  Exactly. That stage has never been a more difficult one, quite frankly, for our summer athletes. Competing with over 204 Olympic committees, Canada's goal is to be in the top 12 in 2012. It's a goal that we all strive for, and a goal that we are all committed to on a daily basis