Question Period Note: Safe and Welcoming Sport and Cultural Environments

The Government of Canada continues to assume a leadership role to ensure that sport and cultural industries are free from harassment, abuse and discrimination.

• The safety and security of participants in sport and the cultural industries is a priority for the Government of Canada.
• The government requires federally funded sport and cultural organizations to take measures to create a workplace free from harassment, abuse or discrimination of any kind.
• We are providing funding to support sport and cultural organizations to create safe, welcoming and inclusive environments.

• The Minister of Canadian Heritage’s mandate letter included the commitment to “continue to work with partners, including provinces and territories, to foster an environment that is safe, welcoming and inclusive in the sport and cultural industries”. The letter also included the commitment to “foster a national culture of safe sport, including physical safety, sporting environments free of harassment, promoting diversity and inclusion in sport and research into injury prevention”.
• Budget 2019 provides $30 million over five years, starting in 2019–20, with $6 million per year ongoing, to enable Canadian sports organizations to promote accessible, ethical, equitable and safe sports.
• On June 19, 2018, the following measures were announced to enhance the existing policy framework in these areas: Federally funded sport organizations must: 1-Take all necessary measures to create a workplace free from harassment, abuse or discrimination of any kind; 2-Immediately disclose any incident that could compromise the project or programming to the Minister responsible for sport; 3-Make provisions for access to an independent third party to address harassment and abuse cases; 4-Provide mandatory training on harassment and abuse to their members by April 1, 2020.
• In February 2019, during the meeting of federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers responsible for sport, physical activity, and recreation, ministers endorsed the Red Deer Declaration for the Prevention of Harassment, Abuse and Discrimination in Sport. As part of this declaration, Ministers will develop a collaborative approach to increase awareness, prevention, identifying and reporting, and monitoring to address harassment, abuse, and discrimination in sport. Ministers also agreed to make "safety and integrity in sport" a standing agenda item for future meetings.
• In March 2019, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) launched of a pilot project for a helpline for referral and for an investigation unit to extend its expertise and services to offer an independent third-party service to investigate harassment and abuse complaints, directed by a National Sport Organization, a Multisport Service Organization or a Canadian Sport Centre. After an evaluation of the pilot projects, the SDRCC has determined that it will continue the projects for at least another year.
• Sport Canada supported the Coaching Association of Canada to host a series of nationwide consultations on the development of the Universal Code of Conduct to address harassment and abuse in Canadian sport.
• The resulting Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS), which includes general principles, definitions of misconduct and prohibited behaviours, and an approach to sanctions was endorsed by the majority of national-level sport organizations and released publicly in December 2019.
• Beginning in April 2021, Sport Canada will make the adoption or integration of the UCCMS into organizational policies and procedures a condition of Sport Support Program Funding. Additionally, organizations are required to provide their members with access to an independent third party to receive and manage reports of maltreatment, and to ensure that their members complete mandatory training on the prevention of maltreatment.
• In November 2020, Sport Canada released a call for proposals to fund a single Canadian organization, on its own or in partnership with other organizations, to establish and deliver an independent mechanism to administer the implementation of the UCCMS for federally funded sport organizations. The mechanism will be established, with funding from the Sport Support Program within the 2021–22 fiscal year.
• On January 5, 2018, following a number of serious high-profile allegations of sexual harassment in the cultural sector, the Minister of Canadian Heritage issued a statement saying that “there is no tolerance for harassment,” and announced a review of funding policies to ensure that recipient organizations promote healthy and harassment-free work environments.
• On April 25, 2018, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Canada Council for the Arts announced changes to their respective funding instruments to ensure that recipients commit to creating a workplace free from harassment, abuse and discrimination.
• Changes to the Department’s funding instruments to ensure recipients understand their responsibilities regarding workplace integrity have been phased in gradually according to operational timelines.
• The Department’s Centre of Expertise has developed a departmental protocol for dealing with issues of workplace integrity when they arise within recipient organizations. This protocol will include an escalation process (e.g. warning, recommendations, risk mitigation measures, reduction and/or termination) to support program staff in the management of such files.
• Also, on April 25, 2018, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Director and CEO for the Canada Council for the Arts announced combined support of $552,000 for the “Respectful Workplaces in the Arts” project led by the Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) and its partners to support workers and employers to build better workplace environments in the cultural sector.
• The Department of Canadian Heritage provided $251,372 to Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) in 2019-2020 fiscal year for the Respectful Workplaces in the Arts project, through the Strategic Initiatives component of the Canada Cultural Investment Fund. This phase focused on the development and delivery of workshops by trained facilitators from the sector using tools and resources developed through the support provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.
• For the period of April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, 61 workshops, in both English and French, were delivered to nearly 700 participants. Organizations that have participated represent all disciplines from the arts sector: music, dance, theatre, film, visual and media arts, and literary arts. Workshops were hosted by discipline-specific or multi-disciplinary arts services organizations at the municipal and regional level across the country. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and closures in mid-March 2020, 10 planned workshops were cancelled.
• Given the high demand for these workshops that provide opportunities for deeper discussion on harassment in all its forms, the Department approved supplemental funding of $107,172 to conduct an additional 50 online workshops between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.
• Arts organizations are also receiving federal funding for various workplace integrity initiatives through Employment and Social Development Canada and Justice Canada.
 
• Canadian Heritage stakeholders, notably artist unions, guilds and arts and cultural sector associations, have shown significant independent leadership in addressing harassment in the cultural sector. For example, Not in Our Space - the theatre community’s national anti-harassment and respectful workplace campaign – was developed collaboratively by Equity and the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres.

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