Question Period Note: 2023 Budget

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister tabled the 2023 Federal Budget on March 28, 2023. It proposes to provide $13.8 million over three years to the Department of Canadian Heritage (Sport Canada) to enhance accountability and support efforts to build a safe and accountable sport system.

• Budget 2023 announced an investment of $13.8 million over three years to enhance accountability and support efforts to build a safe and accountable sport system.
• The Government of Canada is committed to building a sport system that is safe, welcoming and inclusive for all Canadians.
• The Department of Canadian Heritage is building capacity to collaborate with stakeholders and increase accountability and integrity within the sport system. These changes will help protect athletes and sport participants from maltreatment and support a sport system that adheres to principles of good governance and transparent financial management.

Safe and Accountable Sport System
• Budget 2019 provided $30 million over five years, starting in 2019–20, with $6 million per year starting in 2019–20, to enable Canadian sport organizations to promote accessible, ethical, equitable and safe sport.
• Sport Canada supported the Coaching Association of Canada to host a series of nationwide consultations on the development of a 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.
• In July 2021, the Minister of Canadian Heritage announced that the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) had been selected, based on the recommendations of a committee of representatives of Canadian sport and experts in prevention of abuse, to establish and deliver the independent mechanism, to be called the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC).
• On April 5, 2022, the SDRCC announced that Sarah-Ève Pelletier, former national team artistic swimmer, member of the Quebec Bar, and accredited civil mediator, was Canada’s first Sport Integrity Commissioner.
• Budget 2022 provided $16 million over three years, starting in 2022–23, to the Department of Canadian Heritage, to support actions to create a safer sport system. This included funding for the SDRCC to implement the OSIC and to ensure national sport policies and practices reduce the risk of harassment, abuse, and discrimination and create a safer and more inclusive sport system.
• On June 12, 2022, The Minister of Sport provided an update on and announced new measures for safe sport to be led by Sport Canada:
o Responsibility, Accountability and Governance. Effective April 1, 2023, Sport Canada will make changes to contribution agreements with organizations to ensure that sport organizations receiving federal funding meet specific governance, accountability and safe sport standards.
o Sport Canada Athlete Advisory Committee. A committee will be created to increase the representation of athletes in the sport system and allow Sport Canada to obtain advice and guidance.
o Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC). The Minister stressed the importance of the creation of the OSIC and that it will gradually become mandatory for all national sport organizations.
• On June 20, 2022, OSIC launched its first phase of operations. As part this phase, the OSIC received reports about violations of the UCCMS, initiated scoping for Sport Environment Assessments, and offered education, prevention tools and resources, including mental health and legal aid referrals.
• The Minister of Sport has made becoming a signatory to the Abuse-Free Sport program, including the services of the OSIC, a condition to receive federal funding for all national-level sport organizations. There are now over 60 sport organizations that have become a signatory to OSIC’s Abuse-Free Sport program.
• At their meeting in February 2023 in Charlottetown, Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers Responsible for Sport, Physical Activity & Recreation reaffirmed their commitment to work together to have every athlete and participant in Canada protected by an independent mechanism, targeting to achieve this by the end of 2023.

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