ANALYSIS | Canada’s Olympic CEO makes argument for more safe-sport resources at the local level | CBC Sports

David Shoemaker isn’t much for controversy. The head of the Canadian Olympic Committee is always careful with his words. And that’s why attention should be paid to his appearance this week before a parliamentary committee examining safe sport in this country.

Against the backdrop of loud calls from certain circles about the need for a public inquiry to address the safe sport “crisis” in Canada, Shoemaker did his best to focus the committee on what he called “an enormous gap” in this country’s sport system.

Shoemaker appeared alongside officials from Fencing Canada, the latest sports governing body to be called before this committee to answer allegations of mishandling safe sport issues. In recent months, the committee has heard tearful testimony from athletes across a number of sports about alleged sexual, mental and physical abuse they have suffered.

Shoemaker called these stories “horrific” and supported calls for a public inquiry of some kind. He reminded the committee that work and resources are being devoted to areas around safe sport that for years have been ignored.

He pointed to recent mandatory rules put in place for national sport organizations (NSO) around financial transparency and governance, including increased athlete representation on boards. He also pointed to the year-old Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC), an independent investigator of athletes’ complaints.

“Change is happening. It has been too slow for the witnesses who shared their tragic stories before this committee,” Shoemaker said.

WATCH: CBC Sports panel on safe sport in Canada:

Safe sport in Canada panel discussion

CBC Sports’ Scott Russell and Andi Petrillo host a panel discussion focusing on the issue of safe sport with CEO of Own the Podium Anne Merklinger, CBC Sports journalist Jamie Strashin and Olympians Allison Forsyth and Cynthia Appiah.

But his real message was that attention and resources are desperately needed elsewhere, at the local and club level of Canadian sport, where a vast majority of participation takes place.

“I believe that we have made substantial progress for the 3,500 national-level athletes. They have a place that they can go and register a complaint and it is investigated,” Shoemaker told the committee. “But there are millions of young people at the provincial and club level in this country that don’t have that and I think we need to focus on that.”

Shoemaker’s comments reflect the findings of CBC’s ongoing Shattered Trust investigation into abuse in sport. It found that since 1998, nearly 300 coaches — mostly at the local level — had been charged or convicted of a sexual offence against athletes under their care across multiple sports, provinces and jurisdictions.

Since the most recent instalment of Shattered Trust was published in February, about 10 more coaches at the local level have been charged with sexual offences. The latest, in late May, is a Toronto area badminton coach who has been charged with sexually assaulting a minor under his care.

CBC Shattered Trust investigation:

And while most abuse happens at the local level, most of the resources to prevent it go to national organizations and, contrary to popular belief, do not trickle down to the smaller clubs and their younger players. 

Shoemaker kept trying to steer the committee’s focus toward this blindspot in Canada’s sport system.

“We believe that young athletes and all participants in the sport system need to understand their rights,” Shoemaker told the committee.  “What are the rights and wrongs in sport, where do you go when somebody has done something wrong…? We have made progress at the national level but there are millions of participants in sports — my three children are examples — who wouldn’t know what to do.”

The Canadian Olympic Committee jurisdiction is limited. It has no authority over NSOs or local sports and is really only responsible for athletes during the Olympics. But its voice and resources are important on what is a small Canadian sport landscape.

When the committee asked Shoemaker what recommendations it should make to the Minister of Sport, he said the focus should be on the local level with a push to increase awareness and education among young athletes and their parents.

“I can think of only one sport out of the dozens my children participate in where there are materials that relate to safe sport,” Shoemaker said. “That provides parents a basic primer on what is right and wrong and where you need to go if they want to make a complaint.”