Question Period Note: The Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee is being formed to increase the representation of athletes in the sport system and to allow Sport Canada to obtain advice and guidance that reflect the realities of athletes in Canada.

In June 2022, the Minister of Sport announced several new safe sport measures including the creation of the Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee.
Sport Canada has worked with athlete representatives from AthletesCAN, the Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission and the Canadian Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council to develop the terms of reference for the Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee.

• Mr. Speaker, my top priority is a safe and inclusive sport experience for all Canadians, from playground to podium.
• The Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee will allow Sport Canada officials to obtain advice and guidance that reflect the realities of athletes in Canada. Athletes will be encouraged to bring forward topics important to them.
• We will continue to advocate for increased participation of athletes and the inclusion of their voice in the governance of the Canadian sport system.

• In June 2022, the Minister of Sport announced several new safe sport measures including the creation of the Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee (the Committee) “to increase the representation of athletes in the sport system and to allow Sport Canada to obtain advice and guidance that reflect the realities of athletes in Canada.”
• High-performance athletes are at the pinnacle of the Canadian sport system which represents a long path from community-level participant to competitive athlete to high performance competitor. That pathway has provided our country’s high-performance athletes with a range of lived experiences and, in turn, a unique perspective of the sport system on and off the field of play.
• The perspectives of high performance athletes are currently represented in a number of ways, including through the mandate of AthletesCAN (i.e., all senior national team athletes), the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission, the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s Athletes’ Council, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada Athlete Advocacy Committee, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport/AthletesCAN Anti-Doping Advisory Committee and on various committees or boards of national and/or multisport organizations depending on their governance structure.
• Although there are examples of athlete involvement in sport governance, there are still significant gaps and concerns raised regularly by athletes who feel outside the sphere of influence and decision-making in their sport.
• In Fall 2022, Sport Canada worked on the approach to establish the Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee with a working group of officials and athlete representatives from AthletesCAN, the Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission, and the Canadian Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council.
• The Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee will provide non-partisan advice and guidance to Sport Canada, influenced through the lived experience of athletes in Canada. The Committee brings together the perspectives of athletes across the sport system for meaningful dialogue to inform Sport Canada’s role as an enabler across the sport system.
• Sport Canada officials will consult the Committee as one mechanism to incorporate the athlete perspective in the development and on-going evolution of Government of Canada programs and policy. In turn, athletes will be encouraged to bring forward topics important to them.
• The Committee will be made up of (a) core members from AthletesCAN, and existing athlete committees from the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, (b) at-large members recruited through an open application process amongst the broad community of senior national team athletes, and (c) Sport Canada officials. Athlete reps from the core members will help Sport Canada to evaluate the submitted applications for the at-large members.
• A call for interest for at-large member positions on the committee was open to the community of Canadian senior national team athletes between February 1, 2023, and March 12, 2023. Final decisions will be made on the at-large members, and a first meeting of the committee will occur in June 2023.
• On May 11, 2023, the Minister of Sport announced new actions that the Government of Canada is taking to improve governance of federally funded sport organizations, enhance safe sport practices, and amplify the role of athletes in decision making. New measures were announced specifically to support the voice of athletes, including 1- a requirement that all National Sport Organizations have an athlete representative on their board of directors; 2- Sport Canada will dedicate $300,000 in funding for AthletesCAN to strengthen its capacity as athlete leaders, to collaborate across the sport system, and to support governance training opportunities so that athletes are fully prepared to take on governance roles; and, 3- reinforcing the critical role of the Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee.

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