Question Period Note: Violence in sport

The Government of Canada continues to assume a leadership role to ensure safety and security for all participants in sport.

• Harmful and intentional physical acts of violence have no place in sport.
• It is imperative that sport organizations have prevention measures in place, specifically addressing the rules of the game, training methods and behaviours.
• The safety and security of athletes, coaches and officials is a top priority for the Government of Canada. Our government will continue to work with the sport community to address these issues.

• Violence is a multi-faceted and complex social issue and its prevention in sport requires the commitment and involvement of many sports and non-sport stakeholders.
• Since the mid-2000, violence in sport has been a recurring preoccupation for federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers responsible for sport, physical activity, and recreation. This issue has evolved into several sub-themes bringing to light safety concerns within the areas of combative sports, concussions and harassment and abuse.
• In 2008, Ministers responsible for sport, physical activity, and recreation collectively acknowledged the issue of violence in some sports and paid particular attention to hockey. Consensus was reached to encourage sport organizations to take actions to eliminate violence in sport with a view to creating a safer sport environment. The Ministers agreed to continue to monitor progress on eliminating violence in sport.
• Safety in sport is specifically addressed in Section 83 (Prize Fights) of the Criminal Code. In 2013, the Criminal Code was expanded to permit to hold contests in sports on the Olympic and Paralympic program (which currently includes boxing, judo, para-judo, taekwondo, and wrestling); to provide more power to provinces and territories to manage combative sports; and to add mixed martial arts to the list of professional combative sports permitted in Canada, under the authority of an Athletics Commission or similar body.
• From 2013 to 2016, Sport Canada co-chaired a Safety in Combative Sport Working Group with the government of Quebec, which examined issues related to provincial and territorial jurisdictions’ response to the amendments to Section 83 of the Criminal Code with a view to prepare recommendations for Pan-Canadian standards in combative sports.
• In 2016, Ministers responsible for sport, physical activity, and recreation approved: 1) the creation of a Committee of Canadian Athletic Sport Commissions to facilitate communication and cooperation; 2) the implementation of pan-Canadian standards and the supervision of professional combat sports in each province and territory. They also endorsed the proposed amendments to section 83 of the Criminal Code relating to Prize Fights.
• Recent case law related to violence in sport has indicated that sport is no longer immune from legal actions and criminal ruling. Players, coaches, administrators, and spectators are exposed to sanctions for violent behaviours in the same manner that they would outside of a sport context.
• On June 3, 2019, the Standing Committee on Health tabled the 24th Report on the Subcommittee on Sports-Related Concussions in Canada’s study, entitled Tackling the Problem Head-on: Sports-Related Concussions in Canada, in the House of Commons. The report contains thirteen recommendations calling on the Government of Canada to continue to act in the areas of research, awareness, prevention, detection, management, and surveillance. The Federal government’s response was presented to the House on June 23, 2021.
• Recommendation 13 of the Subcommittee’s report asks that the Government of Canada work with the sport community to ensure a cultural shift on safety in sport, specifically by focusing work on the prevention of concussions through rules of the game; training methods; and behaviors of participants, coaches, officials, administrators, medical support personnel and parents. The scope would include work in the area or prevention of violence-related behaviors in sport.
• The federal Budget 2019 provided $30 million over five years to enable Canadian sport organizations to promote safety and integrity in sport. This funding supports policy development and prevention management initiatives in the areas of concussions, harassment and abuse, and anti-doping.
• The Government of Canada ensures that all sport organizations eligible for funding support have concussion, harassment and abuse, and doping policies in place.
• Sport Canada, together with the government of Saskatchewan, co-chairs the federal-provincial-territorial Workgroup on Ethics, Safety, and Integrity in Sport and prepares recommendations for consideration by ministers on safety-related matters. The sport community, provinces and territories are well represented on this committee. The issue of violence would fall under the purview of this workgroup.

None