Canada’s sport system ‘broken’ and in need of change: report

A new national report on how abuse and maltreatment are handled in sport says, ‘Canadian sport has lost its way.’ Andrew Johnson explains.

A new national report on how abuse and maltreatment are handled in sport says “Canadian sport has lost its way” and the federal government must act to better protect athletes across the country.

The Future of Sport in Canada Commission released its preliminary report Thursday, saying it heard that there are “deeply ingrained” issues across the country, from a culture of silence that has led to abuse and maltreatment to underfunding and a lack of diversity.

“The first finding that emerges is that the Canadian sports system is in crisis,” commissioner Lise Maisonneuve said at a press conference in Ottawa. “As many have told us, it is broken.”

Maisonneuve, former chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, was tasked with leading the commission after it was created by the federal government in 2023 in response to athletes speaking out about systemic abuse.

The commission visited a dozen cities, heard from more than 825 people and received more than 1,000 written submissions and survey responses before writing its 384-page report, which included 71 recommendations.

The commission’s findings are meant to guide debate and shape solutions at a September summit in Ottawa. A final report is expected by the end of March 2026.

Over the past year, the commission has heard about meagre funding, archaic governance, and a problematic focus on high-performance sports.

Athletes and witnesses also recounted abuse and maltreatment, ranging from physical punishment and sexual assault, to humiliation and intimidation to failure to provide medical care and training while injured.

Hearing the commission’s findings was validating, said Amelia Cline, managing director of Athletes Empowered.

“It’s fundamentally broken, the way we deliver sport in Canada,” said Cline, a former gymnast. “And the reality is, that system is not safe. So it’s heartening to see that the commission understands that.”

Pressure on the government to make change has been building since athletes started coming forward with their stories of abuse and maltreatment several years ago, she added.

“I don’t think they can ignore this at this point,” Cline said. “To fail to implement these recommendations in light of all of this would be absolute negligence at this point.”

Efforts to address abuse and maltreatment in sport have long been plagued by jurisdictional issues.

Currently, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport investigates only cases tied to national, federally funded programs, leaving lower levels to their own patchwork systems.

Of 111 reports that came into the CCES in the first quarter of this year, only 11 were deemed admissible by the CCES, and 82 were dismissed because they were not at the national, federally funded level.

Ottawa needs to work with provincial and territorial governments to create a national safe sport authority or tribunal that would administer all federal, provincial and territorial safe sport legislation, the report said.

“We can have a uniform, centralized system in Canada to deal with complaints mechanism, so that it is transparent, open, and that people understand where to go,” Maisonneuve said.

A national tribunal is something Cline and her colleagues have long been asking for.

“The current system is so fractured that it makes it almost impossible for victims to come forward and to navigate it and to know where to complain to,” Cline said.

“If you don’t have consistency in sanctioning and discipline and transparency around those things, of course you have a perpetuation of abuse. Because no one’s being held accountable, no one’s actually being removed from the system.”

The report also said Ottawa needs to mandate background screening requirements or develop a standardized background screening policy to be used by sports organizations that receive federal funding.

Allison Forsyth, a former Olympic skier and survivor of sexual abuse in sport, doesn’t believe standardized background checks will prevent abuse and maltreatment.

Screening needs to allow a sports organization to see whether a coach applying for a job has been sanctioned by another organization, and that information won’t be discovered in a criminal-background check or a vulnerable sector check, said the founder of Generation Safe.

“They’re not going to pull up 99 per cent of the people doing bad things, including the man that did bad things to me,” Forsyth said. “And it’s just a very narrow point of view.”

Public registries, too, pose a problem, she added, because each organization may have a different threshold for what kind of behaviours should be sanctioned.

Still, Forsyth was optimistic when reading the commission’s preliminary report and said many of the recommendations make sense.

Change, though, will take time, she said.

“There has to be a very deep level of cultural understanding, belief shifting,” Forsyth said. “What I see the most is really understanding what harm is and that harm can lead to trauma. And that’s a big societal conversation right now.”

Carla Qualtrough, who served as minister of sport in 2023 and 2024, called the report’s recommendations “thoughtful and bold” in a social media post.

“My first thought -- there needs to be a formal apology by the Prime Minister to victims and survivors of abuse in sport. In fact, we should all apologize. There can be no doubt that we failed,” she said in a series of posts on X.

“Bottom line: the sport system needs an overhaul. People have been harmed -- children have been harmed. We owe it to everyone who was hurt, maltreated, discriminated against, bullied, denied access, and excluded to see this as an opportunity to do better for all Canadian children.”

Canada’s current secretary of state for sport Adam van Koeverden said in a statement that the federal government welcomes the commission’s report.

“Like many in the sport community, the government will carefully analyze the full preliminary report,” the statement read. “As the commission’s work continues, we look forward to the final report to be released next year, which will offer further guidance on strengthening safety and integrity in sport.”

The Canadian Olympic Committee also issued a statement on Thursday, saying it “commends the efforts of the Future of Sport in Canada Commission to build a safer and more inclusive sport system.”

“We will take the time to carefully review the commission’s full report, and we look forward to helping shape the future of sport in Canada,” the statement read.

Governments have been prompted to act by athletes and witnesses who came forward with their stories of abuse, harassment and discrimination, Maisonneuve said, but “transformative and profound” change is now needed.

“We must seize this opportunity that we have,” she said. “We heard that people want to have a better system and are interested to work together.

“It’s time for Canada to shine on the podium, but also across this nation in hockey arenas, soccer fields, gymnastic clubs, pickleball courts, just to name a few. Let’s build on the current momentum.”

By Gemma Karstens-Smith