Revising Canada’s policies on Harassment and Abuse in Sport: A Position Paper and Recommendations

By the late 1990s Canada had produced one of the most progressive examples in the world of a policy to deal with harassment and abuse in sport. Sport Canada’s funding regulations required all national sport organizations (NSOs) in receipt of federal funding to have a policy: (a) to deal appropriately with incidents of harassment and abuse; (b) to have designated arm’s length trained Harassment Officers (one male and one female) with whom athletes and/or their parents and others could raise queries, and to whom they could address complaints without fear of reprisal from coaches or other sport officials; and (c) to report annually their compliance with the policy in order to receive that funding.