Question Period Note: Canadian Olympians receive financial rewards for winning medals, but Paralympians do not

Canadian Olympians receive financial rewards for winning medals ($20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, $10,000 for bronze) but Paralympians do not receive a reward. A journalist from La Presse reached out to the Minister of Sports on February 9, 2022, enquiring about Canada’s Paralympic athletes and the fact that they don’t get a financial reward for winning a medal at Paralympic Games. On February 24, 2022, a question about this same issue was raised in the Senate.

Canadian Olympians receive financial rewards for winning medals ($20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, $10,000 for bronze) but Paralympians do not receive a reward. A journalist from La Presse reached out to the Minister of Sports on February 9, 2022, enquiring about Canada’s Paralympic athletes and the fact that they don’t get a financial reward for winning a medal at Paralympic Games. On February 24, 2022, a question about this same issue was raised in the Senate.

• The article in the La Presse newspaper quotes the Minister of Sport as saying: “I believe our Paralympians deserve the same rewards and treatment as Olympic athletes. That's why I'm very interested in working on the file in partnership with the private sector or with the Paralympic Committee to find solutions with them. ...I'm really available and interested in looking for solutions and seeing how the government could be an actor in this issue and serve as a catalyst to bring a little more equity between Olympic and Paralympic athletes" and that she wants her government to be "an agent of change in this quest for fairness".
• The Canadian Olympic Committee began providing financial rewards in 1997. The funding has been provided by the Canadian Olympic Foundation through The Canadian Olympic Committee’s Athlete Excellence Fund since 2006. This is a separate support and reward program that provides Canadian athletes with performance awards of $20,000, $15,000 and $10,000 for winning Olympic gold, silver or bronze medals respectively. It also provides funding of $5,000 for performances in the top five at senior World Championships (or equivalent) during non-Olympic years, to support living, training, and competition expenses.
• The Athlete Excellence Fund is not funded by the Canadian government. The Department of Canadian Heritage’s Sport Support Program does not permit use of federal funds for prize money and focuses instead on athlete and sport development.
• The Canadian Paralympic Committee has expressed an interest in providing financial rewards for athletes but also states that it does not have sufficient funding to do so. The Canadian Paralympic Committee does not have the same level of sponsorship funding as the Canadian Olympic Committee, which receives more exposure and publicity.
• The Paralympic Foundation of Canada provides financial support to three main program streams: parasport development; Next Generation programming; and high performance. ParaSport development funding supports community based parasport delivery organizations. Next Generation Programming funding supports coaching, training environments, equipment, health and wellness and sport science for the development of Paralympic hopefuls. High Performance funding supports the training and competition opportunities for Paralympians.
• In 2021–22, the federal government contributed $7,671,470 to the Canadian Paralympic Committee. Funding was distributed as follows: $5,819,700 – reference level funding, $19,500 – gender equity, $6,500 – safety in sport, $1,710,237 – COVID recovery funding, $115,533 – Team Canada safety and security.
• The Athlete Assistance Program grants are standard amounts for all athletes whether able bodied or disabled.
• Through the Athlete Assistance Program, there is also special supplementary support aimed solely at certain identified classifications of para-athletes, which is not available to able bodied athletes (training and competition allowance for Paralympic athletes with high support needs), as well as in some cases, carding towards guides for athletes with a disability who are eligible and compete in categories requiring this type of support.

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