The Canadian sport landscape is rife with challenges. Among them are a widespread maltreatment of athletes and other participants, a lack of access and participation by women and girls, and a lack of accountability and transparency in governance. But there is a way forward.
Recently, experts from the University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology, Bruce Kidd, Gretchen Kerr and Peter Donnelly submitted a brief to the federal government outlining these challenges and providing key recommendations for advancing safe, healthy, inclusive and welcoming sport.
And, on February 2, the Faculty hosted an interactive online discussion on how to achieve safe sport featuring Kerr, who is dean of KPE, Adam van Koeverden, member of parliament and parliamentary secretary to the ministers of health and sport, Erin Willson, a doctoral student at KPE and president of AthletesCAN, and Bob Copeland, senior vice-president at McLaren Global Sport Solutions.
Moderated by Kidd, the panel discussion was part of the KPE science café series designed to share the Faculty’s expertise and ignite new discussions beyond the classroom.
“The long struggle for safe sport is entering a crucial phase,” said Kidd. “The good news is that there has been more progress in the last five years than in the previous 100. What’s discouraging is that we still hear about bullying and abuse, proposals to address these problems still haven’t been implemented and a decentralized system persists.”
Kerr shared that research into athlete abuse and prevention, including criticisms of early specializations and the win-at-all-costs mentality, has existed for over 50 years with input from many different academic fields, starting with feminism, which focused on sexual abuse. Recently, the focus has moved to include emotional abuse, with research showing that various forms of harm are interrelated.
“According to eight recent studies, two of which were conducted in Canada, psychological harm is the most prevalent and normalized, wrongly perceived as contributing to talent development,” said Kerr. “However, these practices run contrary to everything we know about how to nurture talent.”
Kerr pointed to structural causes of the issue, including a decentralized sport system, self-regulation, and an absence of athlete voices and ways of assessing their experiences. Her recommendations include ensuring accountability to existing policies, revising funding models to focus on athlete health and well-being, and focusing on the achievement of performance excellence through health and wellbeing.
“All prevention and intervention initiatives should be research-informed and athlete validated,” she said.
Willson said the focus on emotional abuse of athletes in recent years has created the perception that this is a recent problem, however research and practice have both shown this to be a long-standing issue.
“This isn’t new, we have the data to act now, we don’t have time to go backwards,” she said.
Copeland used the analogy of a chair noting that all four legs of education, accountability, policies, and system alignment are foundational to ensuring safe sport.
And, van Koeverden echoed the anger, frustration and grief shared by Willson and others as more stories of abuse become public.
“It’s hard to accept something you love is so flawed,” he said, “but it’s a call to action for all of us.”
Kidd asked Kerr for her take on recent calls for a judicial inquiry into Canadian sport.
“We all want abuse free sport,” she said. “We may have different opinions on how best to do that, but it’s so important to have open dialogue. The judicial inquiry is framed as helping us better understand the program. I would argue the 50 years of research already provides us with this understanding. A judicial inquiry is expensive and time consuming. That extra funding would have to be taken away from something else. Let’s keep the momentum going, let’s not stall initiatives that are underway.”
Kerr argued that judicial inquiries tend to be top driven, focusing on what happened and finding blame. She suggested a more restorative approach, one guided by collaboration and inclusive of athletes.
“We understand what the problems are, now is the time to come together and work together to find solutions informed by evidence,” she said.
Willson proposed giving athletes a seat at the table, ensuring every sport organization has at least one athlete on the board of directors.
“In my view, a healthy sport environment and competitive pursuit are not in conflict,” said van Koeverden. “Athletes should be able to pursue their goals without fear of abuse, that’s how you get the most out of athletes, and athletes are a big part of ensuring this.”
The panelists were each asked to share a single practical step they would contribute to realizing the promise of safe sport.
“Provide education to all the stakeholders about all the various forms of abuse. Make sure they understand what is wrong, but also what is right and how to get there,” said Willson.
“A club licensing program is a great step, along with consistency and clarity,” said Copeland.
“Provide evidence informed initiatives that are athlete validated,” said Kerr.
“Put more athletes in positions of leadership,” said van Koeverden. “And, remain open minded. There is not one solution.”