Instead of creating a Crown corporation, the minister of sport should work with national sport organizations to secure a massive funding increase to support better coaching oversight. That is how perverted coaches and abusive practices should be eliminated, not by the creation of another bureaucracy.
By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on March 30, 2026.
OTTAWA—Two years and $10-million later, a federal commission has deemed that sport in Canada is underfunded and in need of a Crown corporation to manage it.
The Future of Sport in Canada Commission, led by Ontario Justice Lise Maisonneuve, concluded that the system is broken, unsustainable, and fragmented and issued 98 calls to action.
She recommends the establishment of a separate organization to oversee sport even though there is a minister of sport whose job it is to do so.
Maisonneuve also recommends more auditing of national sport organizations, and an increase in general funding.
The core of the oversight issue is the lack of funding that has been awarded to the national sport organizations by the federal government for the past two decades.
The commission budget was more expensive than any annual funding paid to national sport organizations. NSOs have not received a funding increase since 2005. These organizations are supposed to manage the safety and function of all elite sports in Canada.
As for fragmentation, the commission is reflecting a Canadian reality. Local sports organizations are funded by communities and provincial governments, not the federal government.
Elite athletes, who train for international competitions, and their funding structures, are financed by the national government.
Maisonneuve interviewed more than 1,000 people including 175 survivors of sport abuse.
The report reflects the problem of abuse, but it is hard-pressed to identify real solutions.
That is because abuse is not unique to sport. It is a societal problem, and by trying to pin it only on sports’ organizational shortcomings, Maisonneuve misses a golden opportunity to educate Canadians about the real origins and nature of sport development.
When it comes to sport and physical activity, by the time an athlete reaches the elite level, they have already cycled through many programs, including those offered by local sports’ organizations and, most notably, the education system.
While Canadians struggle with obesity, the responsibility of the education system in encouraging physical activity and equality is not even mentioned in the report.
In the commission, education is referenced in the context of sports organizations, not our school systems.
A fish may stink from the head, but building blocks for healthy and inclusive physical activity and sports start in the classroom.
There was a time when the federal government financed a national physical activity program called “Participaction.” It provided mechanisms for every school in the country to involve kids in games and testing to put fun into improving their fitness level.
It was launched by prime minister Pierre Trudeau in 1971, when only five per cent of Canadians were physically active. By 1995, the number was up to 35 per cent. But the funding shrunk from $1-million at the high point to $350,000 when its doors were closed in 2001 after a Health Canada budget cut.
Health Canada did not see a role for itself in supporting the active lifestyle of Canadians. And that hasn’t changed.
National sport organizations are required by contract to provide bilingual services, embrace gender and racial equity, with, in some cases, zero budget to support their work.
Instead of creating a Crown corporation, the minister of sport should work with national sport organizations to secure a massive funding increase to support better coaching oversight. That is how perverted coaches and abusive practices should be eliminated, not by the creation of another bureaucracy.
The commission spent two years interviewing sport participants with a particular focus on sport safety following abuse complaints after the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Almost 20 per cent of the presenters were there to describe the abusive situations they had faced.
Like society, sport is rife with predators, who seek association with vulnerable young people.
This problem is not unique to sport.
Life presents a similar dilemma. We would be hard-pressed to find any large company in Canada where there are no abusive bosses, or sexual predators in charge.
The Criminal Code is the place to deal with that abuse. And the Canadian Human Rights Commission is uniquely placed to tackle racial or gender inequality in all areas, including sport.
There were a number of good suggestions in the commission findings, but the creation of another Crown corporation is not one of them.
National sport organizations’ strengthening, and school-based involvement in sport and physical activity should be the two pillars from which change will come.
Everything flows from there. From the local minor hockey associations, to future Olympic medallists, it starts with education and ends with sport leadership, and definitely not from another Crown corporation.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.