Gilbert: Canadians deserve a judicial inquiry into abuse in sports

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There is mounting pressure on Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge and the federal government to convene a judicial inquiry into abuse in sport.

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The campaign has gained momentum in recent weeks after a group of more than 100 scholars signed an open letter asking for an inquiry (I am a signatory to that letter and a member of the loose coalition formed by Professor MacIntosh Ross called “Scholars Against Abuse in Sport in Canadian Sport”). In a recent interview with CBC, former minister of sport MP Kirsty Duncan related her own story of being abused as an athlete and repeated her call for a national inquiry.

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There are now two paths to addressing abuse in sport — both historic allegations and ongoing wrongs — and I think it important that we not set these routes up as competing alternatives.

The current approach is to emphasize the important initiatives of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), which in 2021 was chosen by the federal government to take ownership of the Universal Code of Conduct to Address and Prevent Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS). The UCCMS was drafted by experts in the field of sexual, physical and psychological abuse and leaders in the sport community. All federally funded sporting organizations must adopt the UCCMS, which is a comprehensive code of conduct.

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The SDRCC was tasked with creating an independent body to oversee complaints arising from the UCCMS. It created the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) which has a mandate to investigate and process complaints. To date 31 sporting organizations have joined the OSIC, including, after initial reluctance, the beleaguered Hockey Canada.

Some actors in the safe sport community worry that a judicial inquiry would detract from or undermine the work of the OSIC. Others believe the OSIC is fundamentally flawed and cannot be trusted. I think that the OSIC could be immeasurably strengthened by a judicial inquiry.

In the Fall of 2022 I participated in a workshop organized by the SDRCC with the express goal of sharing and brainstorming research to support safe sport initiatives. All of the researchers recognized that the OSIC is in its early stages. We all understood that it needs ongoing support and improvement to encourage athlete and organizational buy-in and trust.

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A judicial inquiry could have a mandate that supports the future work of the OSIC. It could for example, have a mandate that asks for recommendations on how to strengthen and improve the complaint process. It could recommend ways to use trauma-informed processes in investigations and it could consider appropriate consequences when allegations are proved. It could consider whether the OSIC, funded as it is by the SDRCC, is sufficiently independent to provide oversight over sporting organizations. It could recommend governance improvements to reassure future complainants of the professionalism of the complaint process.

But the most significant contributions of a judicial inquiry are two-fold and cannot be achieved by the OSIC. First, it will provide a space where survivors can tell their stories of abuse. This is crucial to moving forward with any semblance of trust between athletes and organizations. We must create a safe space for stories to be told. We must allow abused athletes to speak their truth and be seen and heard and validated for doing so.

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In hearings before the Status of Women Committee recently, the CEO of Gymnastics Canada, Ian Moss, made the unfortunate observation that “allegations are not facts.” Given that his organization is one of those subject to the most stinging criticism on how it handled complaints, victims can rightly point out that they never had the opportunity to see their allegations become anything more than that in the eyes of the organization. While a judicial inquiry may not be able to fact-find historic complaints, it could honour survivors in a way that informs how the most troubled and fraught sports move forward.

The second vital contribution of a judicial inquiry is to restore public trust in sports. Parents are rightly concerned, after significant media reporting, that sports organizations are rampant with abuse. We must address this shattered confidence. This is key not only to Canada’s future as a world-leading sporting nation, but also to the future of Canadian athletics at all levels.

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Sport is part of our history and our national psyche. Organized sport plays a huge role in families — their health, traditions and communities. The passion of sport is played out not only in arenas and training facilities, but at family dinner tables.

The crisis we find ourselves in cannot be underestimated. The mandate of a judicial inquiry can support ongoing efforts, while creating a space to unpack the crisis and propose ideas to fix it. Canadians deserve this moment of reckoning.

Daphne Gilbert is a professor in the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. The views expressed are her own.