Canada's Minister of Sport Carla Qualtrough speaks to the media at Canada's practice session ahead of the team's Group B match against Australia for the Women's World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, July 30, 2023. Qualtrough has announced a national commission to address safe-sport issues, but stopped short of calling a national inquiry. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Victoria Adkins)
OTTAWA – Canada’s sports minister has announced a national commission to address safe-sport issues, but stopped short of calling a national inquiry.
Carla Qualtrough unveiled a suite of measures, including a Future of Sport in Canada Commission that will hold a summit and produce two reports during its 18-month mandate.
An independent commissioner and two special advisers will head the commission.
Qualtrough was re-appointed sports minister this year eight years after she was first assigned the portfolio in 2015.
The lawyer and visually-impaired former Paralympic swimmer returned to the file amid what her predecessor Pascale St-Onge called a safe-sport crisis.
There have been calls from several sport quarters for a national inquiry.
Among other measures announced were moving the new Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) and its abuse-free program out of the Sports Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), increasing the capacity of AthletesCan, elevating Sport Canada’s athlete advisory committee to a ministerial committee, modernizing Sport Canada’s funding framework and developing a sport integrity framework, with policies around match manipulation and safeguarding children.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2023.
