Question Period Note: Funding for Canadian high-performance athletes, coaches and support personnel to cover costs of new travel measures

Sport Canada is proposing to use existing program funding to cover the costs of the new travel measures for high-performance athletes and support personnel returning to Canada after participating in Olympic or Paralympic-related events and activities.

• Our Government’s priority is to prevent the spread of COVID 19 and safeguard the health and safety of Canadians.
• Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls will have to adhere to the new travel restrictions recently announced by our Government.
• We understand the impact that these new travel measures place on our high-performance athletes as they prepare to compete in the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• We are currently looking at options to alleviate the financial burden being placed on athletes, coaches and support personnel.

• On January 29, 2021, the Government of Canada announced new measures to help limit the spread of COVID-19 and its variants in Canada.
• The new measures include a requirement for travellers to take a COVID-19 molecular test on arrival to Canada and reserve a room in a hotel for three nights at their own cost while they await their test results. The estimated cost of the new measures is $2,000 per traveller, and measures will be in effect until April 30, 2021.
• The Canadian sport community, led by Own the Podium, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee, reached out to the Government of Canada to inquire about the feasibility of exempting high performance amateur athletes and support personnel from the new measures in order to support their preparation for the coming major games (Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022).
• At this time, Sport Canada has received indication that high-performance athletes and support personnel would not be exempt from the new measures. Other government departments such as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada are also looking at the possibility to use their existing program funding to cover the costs of the new measures for their client groups (i.e. asylum seekers, resettled refugees).
• Sport Canada proposes to cover the costs of the new measures for high performance amateur athletes and support personnel until April 30, 2021, to support their preparation for upcoming major games (Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022).
• Funding would be limited to high-performance athletes and support personnel participating in Olympic or Paralympic-related events and activities abroad. Sport Canada anticipates that approximately 750 high-performance amateur athletes and support personnel would be impacted by the new measures.
• Approximately $1.5 million would be required for the proposed approach. Sport Canada would use existing Sport Support Program funding to cover the costs through April 30, 2021. No new funding would be requested to cover this time frame.
• The proposed approach was presented to the Minister of Canadian Heritage on February 3, 2021, and subsequently accepted.

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