A group of Canadian sports researchers, experts and advocates will address Canada’s safe sport crisis of athlete mistreatment and mistreatment at an upcoming forum organized by the Center for Athletic Capacity at Brock University.
It is scheduled to take place in person and online on Friday, November 17 from 9am to 3pm, at the Safe Sport Forum: Can Sport Regulate Itself? It will focus on the structure and design of the sports system. Discussions will include policy and rule development, monitoring and enforcement, self-regulation, athletes’ experiences with safe sport mechanisms and changes needed to ensure safe environments for all participants.
Speakers include former Canadian Olympic skier Allison Forsyth; Brooke Curtis Vogel Associate Professor of Sport Management; viaSport CEO Charlene Krebikiewicz; University of Ottawa Associate Professor Eric McIntosh; University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Peter Donnelly; and sports law experts Marcos Mazzocco and Hilary Findley.
Findlay, a retired associate professor of sport management at Brock and a current member of the Center for Sport Capacity, said initiatives like the Safe Sport Forum are crucial in continuing to highlight issues of abuse in sport and discussing ways in which sport organizations can address these issues. Systemic factors that contribute to accidents.
“Mistreatment and abuse in sport is nothing new, it has been an open secret of sport for decades,” she added. “What has become clear is that the sports system itself is broken and that widespread abuse is a symptom of system-wide problems.
“Certain characteristics of sports organizations can create an environment vulnerable to abuse, and also enable and perpetuate such abuse,” Findlay said. “This is not to minimize the harm caused by the individual perpetrator, but rather to acknowledge the power of the organization to shape the behavior of those in positions of authority and the culture operating within the organisation.”
She said that unfortunately, sports organizations have not been able to address these systemic issues from within the current self-administration framework.
“We need a major rethink of how sport is governed to fully address this issue. Some of this work has begun at the provincial/territorial and national levels of sport and will be highlighted as part of the Forum’s agenda.”
Everyone is invited to attend the Mixed Safe Sports Forum. Registration includes on-demand, anytime access to recorded presentations and resources.
More information, including registration, speaker topics, in-person event location and online access, can be found on the Center for Athletic Abilities website.
