OTTAWA — More than 60 national sports organizations will share $60 million in additional federal funding as the government moves to shore up a national sport system that has been described as chronically underfunded. At a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday, Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden said the money will help elite athletes compete on the world stage and advance safe sport measures. “We’ve landed on a fantastic new era in Canadian sport. One of the reasons that I think we’re all here is because we believe that sport can connect people and communities in ways that very few other things can,” van Koeverden said, flanked by Liberal and opposition MPs and high-performance athletes. The organizations set to receive the largest boosts in funding include Canoe Kayak Canada ($2.4 million), Canada Basketball ($2.3 million) and the Canadian Rugby Union ($2.8 million). Some of the money, like the $2.77 million for Alpine Canada, has already been announced. The Future of Sport in Canada Commission’s final report, released in March, made 98 recommendations. Former chief justice of the Ontario court of justice Lise Maisonneuve, who headed the commission, spoke at the time of widespread and ongoing abuse at all levels of sport, fragmented and confusing complaint mechanisms, power imbalances and chronic underfunding. “An underfunded sports system is an unsafe sports system,” she said. Van Koeverden said the government’s sport strategy is built on many pillars, including improving safety. “It is not an option. There is not a boutique program for safe sport,” he said. “Safe sport is a pillar and a necessity and a priority for every national sport organization, and I would say we’ve seen a lot of great progress so far.” -With files from Nick Murray Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
