Need for urgent reform looms over Canadian sport

The Future of Sport in Canada Commission released its final report on Tuesday after two years of analysis, concluding that the country's system is unsafe, fragmented, and underfunded, and proposing nearly 100 urgent measures to transform it.

The document sets out a far-reaching reconfiguration of the current model, with strengthened federal leadership, new governance structures and unified athlete protection mechanisms, in response to years of complaints and systemic failures.

The report, the result of consultations with more than 1,000 people, including 175 survivors of abuse and mistreatment, describes a landscape in which the problems are not isolated, but structural. The commission warns that the system is fragmented and lacks effective oversight, which has allowed abusive situations to persist at different levels of sport. According to the body itself, the mistreatment is 'widespread, systemic, and ongoing', and has been enabled by power imbalances and a culture of silence.

The severity of the diagnosis is reflected in the language used by the commission's chair, former Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve, who went so far as to question whether the current model can really be regarded as a system. In remarks reported by CBC, she said that "the challenges in Canadian sport are profound," listing problems such as a lack of funding, governance deficits and the prioritisation of sporting results over participants' safety.

Among the main proposals is the creation of a centralised body with public corporation status to take on the national coordination of sport, manage funding and oversee compliance with safety standards. This structure, inspired by models in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, is intended to reduce organisational duplication and bring coherence to a framework currently dispersed across federal, provincial and local levels.

The Future of Sport in Canada Commission also proposes establishing an independent national safe sport authority with the power to investigate cases across the country, as well as a public register of sanctioned individuals. The aim is to correct a complaints system described as confusing and ineffective, in which responsibility is diffused across multiple bodies.

The report insists that funding is a key element, though not sufficient on its own. "An underfunded sports system is an unsafe sports system," Maisonneuve said in remarks reported by The Canadian Press, underlining the direct link between resources and the protection of participants. In this regard, it calls for a sustained increase in federal investment, which has not been significantly updated since 2005, and for regular reviews of the funds allocated to sports organisations.

Criticism of the current model is not limited to the lack of resources, as the reliance on voluntary boards has, according to the report, led to recurring conflicts of interest, inconsistent decisions and poor handling of complaints. In addition, the document states that governance standards are applied unevenly and are subject to very limited oversight.

Another of the document's core themes is accessibility. The commission warns that sport has become increasingly expensive and exclusionary, limiting participation and worsening inequalities. In response, it proposes reducing financial barriers and strengthening inclusion, with particular attention to Indigenous communities and groups that have traditionally been marginalised.

The report also sets out institutional reforms, such as the appointment of a single federal minister responsible for sport with a dedicated department, instead of the current division across different portfolios. The lack of political continuity, with multiple leadership changes in recent years, is identified as an obstacle to the development of a coherent strategy.

From within government, Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden acknowledged the scale of the challenge by highlighting "longstanding gaps in safety, governance, and accountability across the system" and said the government would work on an implementation plan. "It was the voices of survivors that broke the culture of silence. Their time, insights, and lived experiences have created a pathway forward for a better Canada," he said, stressing the role of those who reported abuse in opening the way for reform.

The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees backed the report's conclusions and reiterated the need to increase funding. In a joint statement, they underlined that "Canada's National Sport Organizations require an urgent and sustained increase in core funding from the federal government. An underfunded system is an unsafe system, and one that will never be able to achieve the many tangible nation-building benefits sport can provide."

The report sets a five-year horizon for the implementation of the 98 proposed measures, although it insists on the urgency of acting immediately on critical issues such as safety and governance. The commission also suggests the creation of an independent monitoring mechanism to assess progress and prevent the recommendations from going unimplemented, as has happened with other reports in the past.

Ultimately, the Future of Sport in Canada Commission's report sets out a profound transformation that goes beyond piecemeal adjustments. "The status quo is not acceptable," Maisonneuve said, arguing that the system has reached a turning point. The ability to translate this diagnosis into real change will now depend on political will and public pressure to ensure that the reforms are not allowed to dissipate over time.