COC making $10 million investment into safe sport

MONTREAL –

The Canadian Olympic Committee is investing $10 million into protected sport initiatives, citing a name to motion from Canada’s minister of sport Pascale St-Onge.

David Shoemaker, the Canadian Olympic Committee’s CEO and secretary-general, made the announcement on the COC’s annual session on Saturday.

“Athletes and sport leaders agree that the present state of affairs in our system is untenable,” Shoemaker said in an announcement. “All of us need a protected and accessible system that additionally produces outcomes on the world’s stage. To get there, we have to work collaboratively to search out and implement options.”

Minister St-Onge has said there is a protected sport disaster in Canada, and in current months gymnastics, boxing and bobsled and skeleton have written to Sport Canada, asking for unbiased investigations into their sports activities.

“We have to interact all the sport group in our efforts to create a safer Canadian sport atmosphere,” Minister St-Onge said. “It is a collective drawback that requires a collective resolution.

“We should hold working collectively and constructing on what has already been completed collectively to ensure that our athletes are in a position to thrive in a sport atmosphere that is freed from abuse, harassment, discrimination and mistreatment.”

The COC said it is going to proceed to work with athlete representatives, nationwide sport group leaders, Sport Canada, the Teaching Affiliation of Canada, the Workplace of the Sport Integrity Commissioner and others to determine areas for funding, which can embrace prevention, training, and governance.

 “This is a crucial announcement from the COC, and an encouraging step in the fitting route for all the Canadian sport system,” said Rosie MacLennan, two-time Olympic trampoline champion and chair of the COC athletes’ fee.

“To ensure that athletes to carry out at their greatest, we want a system that’s protected, equitable, and that places the psychological and bodily well being of athletes on the centre,” said MacLennan.

The three-day annual session introduced collectively the COC’s management, board of administrators and nationwide sport group leaders and featured a sequence of conversations round protected sport, the COC said. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed June 12, 2022.