In Indigenous cultures, the state of the environment is highly valued as it is often regarded as interconnected with human health. Poor environmental conditions, as seen today, is negatively impacting occupational participation, which is participation in everyday activities, for indigenous peoples. Because of this, indigenous peoples are limited in what physical activities or sports they can participate in.
Use double quotes to find documents that include the exact phrase: "aerodynamic AND testing"
Use double quotes to find documents that include the exact phrase: "aerodynamic AND testing"
Elite or high-performance athletes often demand an immense focus on health factors outside of sport, such as nutrition and recovery. A recent study conducted on male and female high-performance athletes found that approximately 8.3 hours of sleep were necessary to feel rested. Despite this, an overwhelming majority, 71%, fail to meet this requirement.
Massage therapy is a highly popular practice among modern athletes, ranging from the community to professional level. Despite its popularity, a recent study found that its application had no significant negative or positive effects on motor performance, except for enhancing flexibility. However, there may still be benefits for various psychological states, including decreases in depression, stress, anxiety, and fatigue perception, as well as increases in mood, relaxation, and the perception of recovery.
As leaders of amateur sport in Canada, national sport organizations (NSOs) are tasked with addressing gender equity and increased engagement of women and girls. NSO leaders may focus their efforts through new policies, initiatives or programs, but their ability to successfully develop and implement these new ideas is dependent on their organization’s capacity to do so. With the Canadian government focused on achieving gender equity in sport by 2035 (Government of Canada, 2021), now more than ever, sport leaders need to identify and evaluate the capacity of their organizations to engage women and girls in sport.
This article introduces organizational capacity, provides a framework for NSOs to evaluate their capacity, and concludes with recommendations to achieve gender equity goals.
Organizational capacity
Capacity is an organization’s ability to draw on and utilize any and all available resources to meet its goals (Hall et al., 2003; Misener & Doherty, 2009; Patil & Doherty, 2023). An organization has multiple capacities:
- Human resources: The ability to use the skills and competencies of staff and volunteers in an organization.
- Financial: The ability to generate and access funds.
- Relationships and Network: The ability to draw on partners for financial and non-financial resources.
- Infrastructure and Process: The ability to draw on the culture, processes, and systems in an organization.
- Planning and Development: The ability to draw on strategic and long-term plans for goal achievement.
Together, these 5 dimensions, which are interconnected and impact each other in different ways, can be used to describe an organization’s ability to achieve its goals. For example, human resources capacity may be impacted by an organization’s ability to draw on sufficient funds to hire, train and retain staff. Human resources capacity may also influence an organization’s ability to build and maintain relationships that are fundamental to its relationship or network capacity.
Additionally, factors from the external environment may impact any or all of the capacity dimensions. These include environmental constraints and facilitators, access to resources such as volunteers or technology, and historical activities, norms, and behaviours in an organization.
Critical elements of organizational capacity for gender equity
It is important to identify elements within the capacity dimensions that are critical for gender equity. We completed interviews with 15 NSO staff and board members involved in the development or implementation of gender equity initiatives in 3 NSOs from January to March 2018.
Based on these interviews, we identified the critical elements for gender equity within the capacity dimensions of organizational capacity, summarized in Table 1. Some elements were common across NSOs, while others were specific to 1 or 2 NSOs. Similarly, some elements were strengths and helped NSOs, while others were limitations and challenged the organizations in their efforts for gender equity.
Table 1: Critical Capacity Elements for Gender Equity
|
Capacity Dimension |
Critical Elements |
|
Human Resources |
|
|
Finances |
|
|
Infrastructure and Process |
|
|
Planning and Development |
|
|
Relationships and Network |
|
Human resources: Knowledgeable, experienced, and committed staff and leaders were strengths and helped the NSOs develop and implement their initiatives. NSOs were challenged by insufficient staff and volunteers dedicated to the initiatives. This limited their ability to support PSOs in understanding the importance of the initiatives and develop educational material related to the initiatives.
Financial: A dedicated line item in the budget was a strength as it helped earmark funds specifically for the initiatives and related programming. (In)Sufficient and irregular funding was a weakness as it restricted the NSOs in hiring adequate staff, developing resources and marketing campaigns, and supporting PTSOs with the initiatives. One NSO implemented a pay-by-user system, where program participants paid a fee to receive training and education, and these monies supported the operational costs of the program.
Infrastructure and process: A culture of collaboration was a strength because it allowed NSO staff to work on the initiatives and related programming with a team-based approach. Communication was another important element, but a challenge. NSOs were challenged financially in conveying the intent and relevance of the initiatives, building awareness, and educating stakeholders involved in implementation. Having a governing board was a strength because it facilitated the use of diverse skills and experiences of board members to ratify policies in support of the initiatives. Operations and technology were strengths in streamlining processes such as sponsorships and maintaining a database of relevant resources. Finally, quality facilities were crucial to deliver programming related to the initiatives.
Planning and development: Inclusion of the gender equity initiative in the NSO’s strategic plan was a strength. This allowed the NSOs to share their vision of providing opportunities to women and girls in sport. Long-term planning was a challenge, and this was attributed to the NSOs giving priority in terms of staff and resources to short term goals like planning international events.
Relationships and network: Advice and non-financial resources sourced from other sport organizations and multi-sport organizations (MSOs) were a strength and provided the NSOs with a pathway and educational materials and tools in support of their gender equity initiatives. The need to reshape or tailor these materials to their respective organizations was a challenge. Relationships with other NSOs engaged in similar initiatives were a bonus and helped with cost-sharing program-related expenses and evaluating their programs. Relationships with PSOs were critical to implement initiatives across different levels of the sport, but this was a challenge if the PSOs lacked the capacity for delivery.
Environmental factors that may impact organizational capacity for gender equity
Table 2 shows several environmental factors that we identified through our interviews with NSO staff and board members. Some factors impacted 1 or more capacity dimensions. Some factors were common across NSOs, while others were specific to 1 or 2 NSOs.
Table 2: External Factors
|
Factor |
Element Identified |
|
Environmental Constraints and Facilitators |
|
|
Access to Resources |
|
|
Historical Factors |
|
Environmental constraints and facilitators: Different aspects of the Canadian sport system facilitated and constrained NSO pursuit of gender equity. We identified pressure and expectations among sport organizations to pursue gender equity as a positive and driving force for the organizations to address gender equity and specifically include the initiative in their strategic plan. This was compromised by the challenges of working with other levels on the delivery of national sport initiatives owing to different priorities at the national, provincial, and community levels of sport.
We also found the political climate in Canada (i.e., the opinions and priorities of the current government, and particularly its focus, or not, on gender equity) to be a constraining force. This is because the uncertainty about whether a focus on gender equity and related funding would be continued was a concern for NSOs and their financial capacity to maintain programming.
In addition, the size of the country limited one NSO’s ability to effectively communicate the importance of the new policy in person across the provinces through face-to-face meetings. Climate change was a constraint for another NSO, where uncertainties in the weather and climate challenged their ability to make long-term plans for hosting events to support the increased engagement of women.
Access to resources: Capacity for gender equity initiatives was influenced by the availability of avenues to get additional funding for such initiatives. Specifically, the limited availability of discretionary funds from sponsors and donors and competition with other NSOs for these resources limited the NSOs’ capacity to plan for and implement their gender equity initiatives.
We also found that access to volunteers challenged NSOs in their capacity to plan for and draw on sufficient volunteers to implement their gender equity initiatives.
Historical factors: An underlying commitment to, and accountability for equity was a fundamental organizational value across the NSOs, influencing the dedication of funding to their gender equity initiatives and its prominence in their strategic plan. This was held back by the larger number of men in coaching and administrative positions. This imbalance in key decision-making positions in NSOs was identified as a factor in the slow development and movement towards planning for gender equity.
Recommendations for NSO leaders and sport administrators to advance gender equity:
- Use the process detailed in this article to audit the capacity of their organizations. This may help NSO leaders identify organizational assets, so they may approach investing in women and girls from a position of strength. It may also help them identify areas that need to be built up, so they can engage in capacity building to address those limitations (Millar & Doherty, 2016).
- The capacity of NSOs can vary based on different aspects of the organization. What works for 1 organization may not work for another. NSO leaders must be cognizant of this when developing and implementing initiatives.
- Capacity is multi-dimensional, and so, it is not just people or finances that make a difference to achieving gender equity. NSO leaders must consider all 5 capacity dimensions, as well as external factors and their potential impact on gender equity outcomes.
- The value of skilled, knowledgeable, and committed staff and leaders is crucial to advancing gender equity. It is imperative to support implementation of programs and policies related to gender equity with staff and volunteers who are dedicated to the initiatives.
- A dedicated line item in the budget and employing creative ideas (for example, a pay-by-user system) can ensure sustained financial commitment towards gender equity initiatives.
- A collaborative culture, communication, and education around the importance of gender equity initiatives, standardized processes, technology, and facilities can all make a difference in successfully delivering gender equity initiatives.
- NSO leaders must develop a long-term plan and strategic focus on the initiatives to ensure their success and viability. Also, NSO leaders must identify specific goals and objectives for the initiatives and objectives and use performance indicators to track their progress.
- Relationships with other sport organizations, particularly for planning, cost-sharing, and evaluating effectiveness can help support the successful implementation of gender equity initiatives. Relationships with MSOs can be beneficial to access educational materials and toolkits.
- NSO leaders must consider the role of external factors such as the Canadian sport system, the political climate in Canada, and sustained dominance of men in leadership roles, and their potential impact on any of the capacity dimensions.
Recommendations for Sport Canada and Multi-Sport Organizations
- Expectations from NSOs to meet directives from Sport Canada and multi-sport organizations that promote gender equity should be tempered with the understanding that implementing gender equity initiatives in support of engaging women and girls in sport is a complex endeavour.
- A ‘one-size fits all’ approach does not work for NSOs (Clutterbuck & Doherty, 2019). NSO capacity can vary based on the size of the organization, number of staff and volunteers available, finances, and other factors. This should be considered when directing NSOs to address gender equity.
- A formal initiative may be put in place that helps NSOs build relationships with other NSOs for sharing programming resources.
- Extra funding should be made available specific to gender equity to help NSOs develop educational and other supporting material and give initiatives and programming their due priority.
Addressing gender equity in sport is important. Canadian NSOs must find meaningful ways to engage women and girls through programs, policies, and initiatives that help improve access and opportunities. Their ability to do so is reliant on their capacity.
Using the framework presented in this article, NSO leaders can evaluate the capacity of their organizations and approach the development and implementation of gender equity programming from a position of strength. Finally, they can engage in capacity building to ensure limitations are addressed, so initiatives can be successful and viable in the long run.
Parkinson’s disease is a serious medical condition that still does not have any known cure. Parkinson’s is a disease of the brain that causes individuals with it to slowly lose control of their muscles, often leading to tremors, or shaking. A recent study done on Parkinson’s disease patients who engaged in exercise, found that aerobic exercise has the ability to stabilize disease progression and enhance cognitive performance.
Memory in late adulthood often tends to deteriorate with age. Aerobic exercise remains one of the most promising approaches for enhancing cognitive function in late adulthood. Recent research highlights the benefits of aerobic exercise on episodic memory among adults older than 55 years of age.
Cold therapy is a widely adopted practice for alleviating pain symptoms, mitigating inflammation in chronic diseases, and addressing musculoskeletal injuries. While partial body cryotherapy has proven effective, a recent study underscores the potential advantages of whole-body cryotherapy, indicating its recovery properties as a valuable tool in sports medicine.
U SPORTS 2020 Swimming Championships at Saanich Commonwealth Place, Victoria, BC, February 2020 (Photo: U SPORTS)
Looking back over the last 50 years of women’s sport in Canada, it’s amazing how we have progressed to bring equity, stability, and opportunity, not necessarily in all aspects of sport, but certainly in many.
For example, 50 years ago women’s soccer in Canada was almost non-existent although there were signs of a growing interest among children and youth (Hall, 2004). Scattered girls’ teams began to appear in the late 1960s, which had the immediate effect of attracting mothers, who developed an interest in the game by becoming team managers and league administrators. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, opportunities for girls to play soccer continued to proliferate in Canada.
Jumping ahead to the summer of 2023, Canada competed in the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the eighth time. That followed on the heels of the Canadian Women’s National Team winning the gold medal in soccer at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 2022, Canada Soccer reported that of 575,768 youth players in the country, 38% were female, and today, soccer is still the fastest growing sport among Canadian youth (Canada Soccer, 2022).
The phenomenal growth in girls’ and women’s soccer in Canada is just one example of how significantly women’s sport has changed over the past 5 decades.
It is not possible to cover all aspects of women’s sport between 1973 and 2023 in this short article. Instead, I examine themes that are significant and still require our attention and diligence, namely, feminism, leadership, professional sport, and finally safe and inclusive sport. Others might have chosen different topics.
Feminism and women’s sport
What has been the role of feminism, broadly defined as the belief in full social, economic, and political equality for women, in creating change in Canadian women’s sport over the past 50 years? Although second-wave feminism emerged in Canada in the 1960s, it did not have a significant impact on sport until the 1970s when it became clear that unless women acted, they would be routinely sidelined.
Also, from a feminist perspective, the world of sport was often dismissed as male, competitive, and not crucial to the widespread effort of improving the status of women in Canada. This changed in 1981 with the formation of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport (CAAWS), which provided a feminist and safe place, where controversial and difficult topics, such as homophobia in women’s sport, could be addressed. Also important was the establishment of the federal government’s Women’s Program in Fitness and Amateur Sport. For more about this history, see Demers, Greaves, Kirby, & Lay, 2014.
The question now, more than 50 years after second-wave feminism entered the Canadian consciousness, is whether it remains a guiding factor in bringing about change within the sport system?
CAAWS, for example, was rebranded in 2020 as Canadian Women & Sport, and most frequently uses the phrase “gender equity” in its policy and promotional material. Over the past few years, there have been several parliamentary and governmental studies with subsequent reports concerning Canadian women and girls in sport. These include the Government of Canada’s Actively engaged: A policy on sport for women and girls (2009) and the Women and Girls in Sport Report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (2017).
The most comprehensive report, released in 2018, was the result of the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Sport Committee (FPTSC) Work Group on Women and Girls in Sport. It lays out a series of outcomes and accountability measures that, if followed, should ultimately result in “all women and girls being equally and equitably represented, recognized, and served across all facets of Canadian sport” (FPTSC Work Group on Women and Girls in Sport, 2018, p. 12).
These studies and reports provide a wealth of useful information, especially about how to bring about change in sport for girls and women. However, it is not clear who is making certain that recommendations are tracked and ultimately followed.
Women in sport leadership
Beyond participation, women have made strides in leadership roles within the Canadian sports sector, and the impact of female leaders has played an essential role in advancing gender equality in sports governance.
Beginning at the top, since 1961 there have been 34 federal ministers responsible for sport and physical activity, 10 of whom have been women, and half of these were appointed in the last 16 years.
Looking at the latest statistics for leadership in federally funded sport organizations in Canada is encouraging. A 2022 snapshot of National Sport Organizations (NSOs), national Multisport Service Organizations (MSOs), and Canadian Sport Institutes (CSIs), representing 90 organizations in total, showed that women comprised 41% of board membership, 38% of board chairs, and 47% of the CEOs. The highest percentage of women CEOs was among the MSOs (62%) and the lowest (29%) was in the CSIs (Canadian Women & Sport, 2022).
Similar statistics from the early 1980s showed that women comprised approximately one-third of the volunteer sport sector and only 26% of the professional sector (executive directors, technical directors, program coordinators, and national coaches). There were more women involved in the MSOs at the professional level (47%), but they represented only 18% of the volunteer sector (Hall & Richardson, 1982, p. 63). Therefore, over the past 40 years there has been considerable improvement, yet there is still some way to go to achieve gender equity.
As for women coaches, especially at the national level, the situation is not as promising. For example, of the 131 Canadian coaches at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, approximately 18% were female, which was down from 20% at the Rio Summer Olympics 4 years earlier. On the other hand, 47% of the Paralympic coaches in Tokyo were women. Forty years ago, 60% of women playing on a Canadian university team were coached by a man (Hall & Richardson, 1982, p. 62). Still today, most university coaches are men except for assistant coaching positions on women’s sport teams, held mostly by women (Finn, 2022).
More interventions are needed, like the Alberta Women in Sport Leadership Impact Program, by creating equitable coaching and leadership opportunities (Culver, Kraft, Din, & Cayer, 2019). While women continue to make outstanding contributions to Canada’s sport sector but remain significantly under-represented in coaching, there are organizations like the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) that are working towards helping more women coach at all levels of sport through mentorship programs.
Professional women’s sport
When looking at the landscape 50 years ago, the opportunity for sport to provide women athletes with continuous paid employment and to pursue it as a career was next to nil. Golf, tennis, and figure skating were seasonal at best along with limited, semi-professional opportunities in sports like marathon swimming, roller derby, and car racing. There was also little potential for successful women athletes to earn money through endorsements and commercial ventures. As late as 1998, a parliamentary study of sport in Canada, which had a significant section on professional sport, made no mention of women (House of Commons, 1998). In other words, women’s professional sport was seen as unimportant.
While it is still not possible today for most Canadian women professional athletes, except in tennis, golf, and possibly figure skating, to make a living exclusively through their sport, there are encouraging signs that this will change. Especially in team sports like ice-hockey and soccer.
Even though a recent study argued that the current market for professional women’s sport in Canada is constrained by the lack of access to sustained professional sport properties like leagues, associations, or teams; this is slowly changing (Canadian Women & Sport, 2023). For example, a new North American women’s professional ice-hockey league is slated to begin in January 2024, and there are hopes of a Canadian women’s pro-soccer league by 2025. Canadian Tire has also announced a new multi-million-dollar Women’s Sport Initiative, earmarking a minimum of 50% of their sponsorship dollars towards women’s sport by 2026.
More high-profile events showcasing professional women athletes have also helped. For example, on May 23, 2023, the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx of the Women’s National Basketball Association played the first-ever WNBA exhibition game held in Canada at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. It attracted a sell-out crowd and enthusiastic chatter about the expansion of the WNBA to Toronto.
A week prior, also in Toronto, the espnW Summit, hosted by Canadian Tire, brought together global “industry leaders, influencers, and disrupters” for an immersive 1-day session to push boundaries, spark action, and effect change. Attended almost entirely by women, it was a day full of engaging discussion and reflection into the advancements and opportunities for women in sport, leadership, and business (espnW Summit Canada, 2023). There was also considerable focus on the potential for women’s professional team sport in Canada.
Although these investments are encouraging and needed, media coverage in its various forms is also essential to the continued development and growth of women’s professional sport in Canada. While it has improved over the past 50 years with the help of women’s hockey and soccer, there is still a major imbalance between the reporting of men’s and women’s sports.
Safe and inclusive sport
Beginning in the early 1980s, the attitude towards sexual abuse in Canadian social institutions was changing from silence to scrutiny, reconciliation, and punishment, which encouraged researchers to study the problem in sport, and journalists to profile known cases and incidents, especially in women’s sport (see, for example, Kirby, Greaves, & Hankivsky, 2000, and Robinson, 2002).
By 1996, all NSOs receiving federal funding were required to develop a harassment policy, address complaints, and report annually to Sport Canada as a condition of funding. However, after 20 years, it was clear this self-monitoring policy was not working. In 2022, this prompted a new wave of athlete activism, resulting in the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner responsible for administering the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport.
Only time will tell if these new mechanisms are enough to stop the abuse. At its core, and as one researcher put it: “The safe sport movement is about optimizing the sport experience for all – athletes, coaches, sport administrators, officials, support staff, and others in the sport environment” (Kerr, 2021).
Not only must sport be safe, it must also be inclusive.
According to the latest census data, over half of Canada’s population (50.9%) identify as women. One in four Canadians identify as BIPOC (Black peoples, Indigenous peoples, and peoples of colour) and 1.7 million of these identify as Indigenous. Further, depending on different data sources, between 3% and 13% of Canadians identify as LGBTQ2S+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, or Two-Spirit).
The Canadian population of today, as compared to 50 years ago, includes more diverse individuals with intersectional identities. The reality is that low income and racialized persons, ethnic and religious minorities, newcomers, sexual minorities, and youth experiencing disabilities demonstrate the lowest levels of involvement and/or enjoyment in sport. This is particularly true for adolescent girls (Pegoraro & Moore, 2022; Hagger & Giles, 2022). Diversity, equity, and inclusion in Canadian sport means that all individuals should be treated with dignity and respect, and everyone has equal access to opportunities and resources.
Conclusion
By 2035, the Government of Canada is committed to achieving gender equality in Canadian sport at every level. In my opinion, this is unlikely to happen without a collaborative effort among governments and organizations devoted to bettering women’s sport. For example, Canadian Women & Sport partners with sport organizations, governments, and leaders to build better sport through gender equity. Their vision is to create an equitable and inclusive Canadian sport and physical activity system that empowers girls and women – as active participants and leaders – within and through sport. It remains to be seen whether, in little more than a decade, gender equality will have been accomplished in Canadian sport.
‘Girls’ Pole Push Competition at the Dene Games Competitions’, Arctic Winter Games 2010, Grande Prairie Alberta, March 2010 (Photo: Michael Heine)
Imagine what sport in Canada might look like had Indigenous peoples and their cultures not been colonized? Imagine how Canadians might understand who they are and their relationship to each other if Indigenous sports and games were part of their daily lives? Imagine what values and beliefs Indigenous sports and games might teach Canadians today? Sadly, these questions that invert history are hypotheticals because colonialism, and the settler colonialism that followed, caused serious harm to Indigenous cultures.
The 19th and 20th century were incredibly hard for the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples in Canada. During that time, they had to make the difficult transition from their land-based lifestyles to living on reserves and settlements, which were poorly resourced. They struggled through disease and starvation. Many of them watched their children being sent far away to residential schools, where they were provided with an impoverished education. Or, through the Sixties Scoop, their children were taken from their homes and placed with white families, never to be seen again. Nearly every Indigenous person wrestled with their loss of language, culture, and identity, in addition to poverty and poor mental and physical health, resulting in a phenomenon called “intergenerational trauma” (also referred to as transgenerational trauma or historical trauma) that Indigenous peoples are working through today.
The state used Euro-Canadian sports to both hasten the process of Indigenous assimilation and to make it complete. Government and church leaders, along with the white middle-class reformers who led the development of Canada’s fledgling sport system, widely believed their version of sports would help civilize the masses and produce a hard-working, patriotic citizenry. They believed their sports were especially productive for socializing Indigenous peoples into Canadian culture because, in their racist imagination, Indigenous peoples were biologically ‘naturally’ good athletes who would willingly take up the new sport forms and, in doing so, readily abandon their traditions, as if Indigenous physical practices were hobbies and not the deep connective tissue that sustained their ways of life and their connections to land. The government even formalized this dogma when, in 1884, it enacted the Potlatch Law through Section 141 of the Indian Act, a federal statute that (still) governs all matters concerning Indian status, bands, and reserves in Canada.
Potlaches, a gift-giving feast that was traditionally used to mark a variety of important milestones and occasions in West Coast tribes and customs, and as a way of celebrating life, were banned first; even though they were a vital part of west coast Indigenous cultures. Other ceremonial practices, like the sun dances that were central to Indigenous cultures on the prairies, were soon added to the list. To fill the void, the government encouraged Indigenous peoples to play Euro-Canadian sports instead. This is when “Indian Sports Days” emerged on reserves; they were usually held in conjunction with national holidays and treaty-day celebrations to reinforce the connection between sports and patriotism. In other words, from a statist point of view, making Indigenous peoples participate in Euro-Canadian sports was important for cultural repression and replacement.
Indigenous peoples did engage in sports and many, especially boys and men (who had more opportunities to play and compete), succeeded in spite of the hard obstacles in their way. The long list of names that comprise the Tom Longboat Awards, established in 1951, is an obvious reminder of their constant presence and achievements in Canadian sport. At the same time, the Awards’ history also demonstrates how much things have changed for Indigenous peoples in sport. The federal government through Indian Affairs created the Awards to stimulate assimilation by rewarding athletes who excelled at Euro-Canadian sports. But by the early 1970s, as Indigenous peoples began to exert their self-determination more broadly, they wanted greater control of the Awards to promote their own messages about integration.
The nomination letter for Doug Skead, from the Wauzhushk Onigum Nation (formerly Rat Portage Band near Kenora, Ontario), who would be named the 1971 national Award recipient, is a case in point. His nominator, Peter Kelly, writing on behalf of Grand Council Treaty No. 3, the political organization representing Treaty 3 interests in northwestern Ontario and eastern Manitoba, described Skead as a role model for his people, not because he had acculturated as the state hoped, but because he represented “the Indian person who will always remain undefeated,” thus using a common sports reference to make a strong statement about what “undefeated” meant to them. Kelly explained that Skead had come “through the demoralizing era of residential schools, the tough life of a trapper, guide and wood cutter, and the destructive experiences of alcohol, to become the manager of his band’s corporation and captain of the hockey team he co-founded 20 years before.” When asked by a reporter what advice he would give to youth, Skead, 41 years old, said “hold on to their culture and speak their native language” (cited in Forsyth, 2020).
Indigenous sport has grown tremendously since the 1970s. There are now more Indigenous-only events and more recognition and support for Indigenous sports and Indigenous participation in sports than ever before. The North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) signifies this growth. First held in 1990 in Edmonton, Alberta, the NAIG functioned for many years on a shoe-string budget and struggled with administrative capacity. That it survived those early years was due mostly to Indigenous leaders who were intent on providing their youth with an opportunity to experience competition in a culturally affirming environment. More than 30 years later, the NAIG is now the largest multi-sport gathering for Indigenous youth on the continent as well as an institutionalized part of the Canadian sport system supported by all 3 levels of government and major corporations. As with any system, there are still important challenges to address, which means sport and government leaders need to remain alert to the broader factors that shape Indigenous sport in Canada.
What follows are 2 key advancements, along with their continuing challenges, that have occurred over the past 50 years:
1) Strengthening the Indigenous sport system
In Canada, there exists an Indigenous sport system that is separate from, but connected to, the mainstream sport system. The term “mainstream” refers to the traditional Euro-Canadian or prevailing system of sport in Canada, made up of national, provincial and territorial, and community sport organizations. The relationship between the two can be visualized as a ‘double helix.’ Just as the physical structure of DNA is made of 2 independent strands that are supported by cross-links forming a ladder-like shape, Canadian sport is comprised of an Indigenous sport system and a mainstream sport system that connect at relevant points, creating possibilities for each system to benefit from each other, resulting in a stronger ladder. Even though the Indigenous sport system has been in place for more than a half century, there remains a general lack of knowledge about it, which makes it harder for Indigenous sport leaders to secure the resources they need to serve their peoples and communities, as well as support mainstream partners in their efforts to better serve Indigenous needs and interests.
The Indigenous sport system, as a separate system with governing bodies, rules, and events, emerged in the early 1970s, when Fitness and Amateur Sport, the precursor to Sport Canada, was looking to increase the participation rates of ‘disadvantaged’ Canadians in organized sports and identified Indigenous people as a group needing specific attention. The result was the Native Sport and Recreation Program, which was created to increase sport and recreation opportunities for Indigenous people on and off reserves. From 1972 to 1981, the program flourished as Indigenous organizers throughout the country coordinated local, regional, and national activities in a wide range of events that addressed pressing community issues stemming from colonialism, like the alarming suicide rates, substance abuse, high drop-out rates of students, and violence among families. Even though the program flourished, it was terminated in March 1981 when the federal government shifted its priorities from mass participation to elite sport development.
With the new focus on competitive outcomes, reviewers of the Native Sport and Recreation Program concluded that the range of pursuits fostered by Indigenous organizers like ‘cultural’ activities versus organized sports was outside the scope of initiatives the funding was meant to support and that the programs developed by Indigenous organizers would not produce the high-performance results desired by the federal government. During that time, however, Indigenous sport organizations were established in each province and territory with the mandate to develop activities within their regions. Those organizations are the forerunners to the Provincial and Territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies (PTASBs) that today comprise the membership of the Aboriginal Sport Circle (ASC), the national voice for Indigenous sport in Canada.
Today, the power imbalance, and the unequal access to resources, knowledge, and capacity, between the Indigenous sport system and the mainstream sport system has been partially addressed in that there is more consistent support for PTASBs and the ASC than before. Strengthening the Indigenous sport system will require governments and other funders to adjust the way they support Indigenous sport by providing multi-year agreements to stop the annual cycle of uncertainty, as well as foster collaboration across government jurisdictions, like sport, education, and health, so that more Indigenous peoples can use sport to address the critical issues they face.
2) Revitalizing traditional Indigenous sports
Prior to European settlement, Indigenous peoples had their own sports and games. Their activities, rooted in their land-based lifestyles, spirituality, and views of the universe, were perfectly geared for life on the land. How many Indigenous sports and games there were prior to European settlement is hard to say. Each Indigenous nation, community, and family would have had their own practices, some of which would have been shared across groups and regions, as they travelled from one place to the next meeting, greeting, negotiating, and engaging in competition, as well as ceremony, with other Indigenous peoples.
Present-day language statistics provide one indication of how diverse Indigenous physical cultural practices might have been. Using 2021 survey data, Statistics Canada reported that over 70 Indigenous languages are still spoken in Canada, though that number is decreasing at a worrisome rate, with 4.5% fewer Indigenous people reporting they could carry on a conversation in an Indigenous language and 7.1% fewer Indigenous people reporting an Indigenous language as the first language they learned at home (down from 2016 data). Those statistics are even more distressing in light of UNESCO’s 2010 assessment that all Indigenous languages in Canada are endangered, which prompted the federal government to create the Indigenous Languages Act in 2019 to preserve, promote, and revitalize them. The number of languages still in use today is important because it indicates how many different Indigenous nations are still present and their determination to each keep their language alive. Each nation would have also engaged in their own collection of sports and games, which means Indigenous physical culture prior to colonization, much like Indigenous languages, would have been extremely rich and varied.
Though colonialism has extinguished much of Indigenous physical culture, some of that culture is still seen today. The Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) game of lacrosse is one example. While most non-Haudenosaunee people will know of the competitive version, the game that Montrealer William George Beers appropriated from the Haudenosaunee in the latter half of the 1800s (and then banned from league play), few people may know that traditional forms of lacrosse are still practiced for ceremonial reasons at the community level. Lacrosse was never just about sport to the Haudenosaunee.
The games of the Inuit and Dene peoples in the far north are another example. They were worried about their youth losing their sense of identity, which was rooted in the land. Since they no longer relied on the land to sustain them, they transformed their sports and games into modern competitive formats to remind their youth about who they are and to instill pride in their culture. The Inuit and Dene Games, which are now part of the Arctic Winter Games, are an institutionalized part of the Canadian sport system.
Traditional Indigenous sports and games are still a vital part of Indigenous cultural transmission, though they too are endangered, perhaps even more so than Indigenous languages. But unlike Indigenous languages, there are no statistics that track how many Indigenous people engage in their sports and games today, where they learned how to play them (was it in the home, at school, or a community gathering?), how often they play or compete, or why they do so. The lack of information benefits settler colonialism, which is the ongoing removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands by erasing their cultures and identities. While Indigenous peoples throughout Canada are working hard to keep their cultures alive, there remains a significant amount of work to do where their traditional sports and games are concerned.
Introduction
Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) refers to the organization and mobilization of sport to meet non-sport goals of international development, such as health promotion, gender empowerment, education, and peace building and conflict resolution. The overall field or sector of SDP has grown significantly in the past 50 years, shaped in particular by the investment and involvement of global stakeholders like the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee, and various national governments. Canada’s involvement in the field of SDP in the past 50 years has evolved similarly, albeit through various iterations depending on the time and context.
Origins and context – 1980s and 90s
While the last 50 years are significant, SDP has a history that begins well before the late 20th century. As Bruce Kidd, former Olympian, academic and author notes, “SDP is a renewed expression of the ambition of ‘sport for good’ that dates back to the 19th century” and differs from traditional sports development by positioning sport in the service of the social good rather than increasing participation or producing champion athletes (Kidd, 2013, p.72).
Some of the impetus for renewing SDP in Canada in the past 50 years came from the various crises that confronted Canadian sport, particularly in the 1980s. First amongst these was the doping scandal that led to the Dubin Inquiry. The inquiry was a series of nationally televised public hearings held to examine the circumstances leading to Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson’s ban from the 1988 Olympics for testing positive for steroid use. When he published his report in 1990, Justice Dubin called for a renewed commitment to sport in the service of Canadian culture and the health of Canadians, and also called for reinvigorating notions of sport for good in Canada.
Similar pressures for sport for development emanated from the successful campaign to isolate white South Africa in international sport, as a way to pressure the repressive South African government to abolish the entire system of apartheid. In 1990, at a major conference in Stockholm, the South African anti-apartheid leader Sam Ramsamy called for First-World countries to assist with sports development in post-apartheid South Africa as ‘reparations’ from the years of investment in white South Africa. The Zimbabwean Olympic leader Tomas Sithole asked for the same support for the ‘front-line’ states, which had also been damaged by apartheid. The following year, Commonwealth prime ministers endorsed the call at their meeting in Harare, in what became known as the Harare Declaration. Canada’s delegation to Harare included Minster of Foreign Affairs (and former Prime Minister) Joe Clark, as well as Foreign Affairs Sports Officer Anne Hillmer, and saw the establishment of the Commonwealth Committee on Cooperation through Sport, to be chaired by Canadian politician and jurist Roy McMurtry.
Around this same time, Canadian athletes began to call for athlete-led sport for development as part of a broad program of reforms. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, the Canadian Athletes Association (later AthletesCAN) unveiled the Victoria Declaration, calling on the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHG) to empower and enable athletes’ contributions to “education, social development and intercultural understanding.” AthletesCAN also called for an ‘athlete centered system,’ characterized by athlete rights, stronger athlete representation in sport governance and policies to prevent sexual and other forms of abuse in sport.
After lobbying the Commonwealth to embrace sport in the service of the social good, the Canadian government began to explore further the possibility of funding international SDP projects. Consultant Judy Kent was tasked with developing a framework for Canada’s involvement in SDP and her scan of the international field formed the basis for early Canadian policy in SDP. In 1992, McMurtry and Hillmer arranged a meeting of Canadian sport leaders to develop a policy model. The question of where within the Canadian government such a program would live proved to be less than straight forward; the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was supportive but had no expertise in sport, and Sport Canada had difficulty securing funds for programs outside its sport development mandate.
Eventually, the Commonwealth Games Association of Canada (in turn Commonwealth Games Canada or CGC, and now Commonwealth Sport Canada) accepted the task of implementing an initiative called the Commonwealth Sport Development Program (CSDP), on the condition of federal funding. The initial goals of the CSDP were to support sport capacity and public sport systems in countries and communities where this was lacking, as well as to enhance sport participation for marginalized groups, particularly youth at risk, girls and young women and persons with a disability. The original CSDP had regional offices in Barbados, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka and networked with other donor countries such as Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the UK. The CSDP paved the way for the establishment of Commonwealth Games Canada International Development through Sport (CGC IDS). It included an internship program, the Canadian Sport Leadership Corps, and arranged Canadian university physical education graduates to serve as volunteer interns in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. In Africa, a major focus was the battle against the devastation of HIV and AIDS. In partnership with African organizations such as Kicking AIDS Out and the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), CGC IDS reshaped the delivery of sport and physical activity to conduct preventive education and anti-stigmatization.
CGC continued to operate international programs, with support from CIDA and Sport Canada, into the mid-2000s and Sport Canada dedicated an entire unit to international SDP. This unit eventually participated in the United Nations Sport for Development and Peace – International Working Group (SDP-IWG), a landmark stakeholder collective that advanced international SDP policy and advocacy.
While significant SDP activity was taking place in Canada via government involvement and public policy, notable non-governmental stakeholders were also emerging. Building on the groundwork and momentum laid out by the Canadian Athletes Association and the Victoria Declaration, Olympic Athletes Together Honorably (OATH) was a group of Olympians calling for reform in response to the 1998 bribery scandal of International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates by the organizers of the Salt Lake City Olympic bid. OATH was led by Canadian athletes, including swimmer Mark Tewksbury, rower Heather Clarke and speed walker Ann Peel, the latter of whom had been instrumental in organizing the Victoria Declaration. OATH launched officially in Lausanne, home of the IOC, and sought to hold the organization to ethical account.
A key actor to emerge from OATH was Johann Olav Koss, the champion Norwegian speed skater, who was inspired by OATH to translate athletes’ voices on social issues into practical actions on the ground. Koss had already been involved with international Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) like Save the Children. He had donated his financial bonuses for winning Olympic medals at the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer to the relief efforts in war-torn regions, particularly Sarajevo, home of the 1984 Winter Olympics, and Afghanistan.
Koss’ efforts led to the creation of a new humanitarian initiative, Olympic Aid, which was supported by the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee. Olympic Aid initially supported fundraising for the Red Cross and similar efforts, then eventually moved to building schools and supporting educational programs around the world. Projects such as these were instrumental in re-affirming sport in the service of the social good.
In the late 1990s, Koss relocated Olympic Aid to Canada, and hired Peel as the organization’s first Executive Director in 2000. Under Peel, Olympic Aid began to pursue Koss’ vision, expanding Olympic Aid’s activity beyond fundraising and into programming. Specifically, Olympic Aid developed sport-based interventions aimed at supporting vulnerable and under-served youth around the world. The organization’s initial foray into programming was through a partnership with the UN’s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), implemented in countries like Angola and Cote d’Ivoire. However, as the organization grew, the IOC’s increasingly insistence upon tight control sparked tensions. In 2000, by mutual agreement, the organization left the IOC and changed its name to Right to Play. Today Right to Play is still headquartered in Canada, and continues to organize and implement SDP programs around the world, as well as in Canada itself.
2000s and 2010s
By the 2000s, Canadian involvement – and public investment – in SDP, had shifted. The reduction in Sport Canada’s funding during the 1990s had left little support for SDP efforts into new countries. And when some funding was restored after 2000, it was primarily to support domestic sport. The promise and momentum created by the CGC IDS proved hard to maintain. Even then-Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps’ efforts to grow the number of interns within the Canadian Sport Leadership Corps was met with resistance by Sport Canada. Some of this resistance was based on skepticism of sport for the social good, particularly given the elitist image ascribed to some athletes and the criticism of over-spending on major sports events. The efforts of CGC IDS, AthletesCAN and Right to Play to challenge such narratives were unsuccessful. The struggle for SDP in Canada was further exacerbated by cuts to official development assistance spending. During this period, many G7 donor countries cut their support below the internationally recognized target of 0.7% of GDP.
Some Canadian SDP advocates responded by once again looking towards the Commonwealth, specifically the Commonwealth Committee on Coordination through Sport, and its successor the Commonwealth Advisory Board on Sport (CABOS). In 2010, backed by Commonwealth sport ministers, the Commonwealth Secretariat prepared policy documents to ‘mainstream’ SDP across development efforts and work with member governments to support sport in the service of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN’s international development agenda between 2000-2015.
These efforts, along with a significant number of interagency reports, lobbying and working groups within the UN system, resulted in a somewhat mixed bag of SDP activities and policies within Canada by the end of 2010. And in instances where SDP remained in policy, it often lacked support for implementation, with the effect of limiting overall progress. On the one hand, sport for development was included as one of the 5 contexts of the 2012 Canadian Sport Policy. And in 2015, when the UN released the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the successor to the MDGs and the core of its 2030 Development Agenda, sport featured more prominently than ever. Article 37 of the SDGs makes specific reference to the “growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives” (United Nations, 2015).
And yet arguably the momentum around SDP in Canada from the 1990s onward also slowed significantly at the end of the 2010s. The Canadian Sport Leaderships Corps was replaced by Sport Leaders Abroad, which put experienced leaders rather than recent university graduates on the ground. That same year, the International Policy and Programs Directorate was moved from Canadian Heritage to Sport Canada, even though international SDP was not a Sport Canada priority, and Sport for Development was included as one of the 5 goals in the Canadian Sport Policy with a stronger focus on domestic objectives. While Sport Canada’s mandate and funding continue to prioritize sport systems and athlete development, Sport Canada continues to support domestic sport for development projects through, for example, bilateral agreements with provinces and territories.
Currently
As of this writing, SDP continues in Canada. Right to Play, for example, currently partners with more than 70 Indigenous communities to support access to sport and play programs that are “community-led, (and) culturally relevant” to First Nations, Inuit and Metis, and designed to foster empowerment and life skills (Right to Play, 2023). Such efforts have received significant academic and researcher attention, some of it positive, and others questioning whether such programs unwittingly reinforce structures of settler colonialism (Arellano and Downey, 2019). Some have also called critical attention to the ways that extractive corporations, operating in the Canadian north, have used the notion of SDP as a way to justify unethical and environmentally destructive policies (Millington et al, 2019).
At the same time, Canadian sport today is again in near crisis, reeling from widespread allegations of sexual assault and other forms of maltreatment, unaccountable governance, and the misappropriation of public funds, and exposed on almost a daily basis by investigative journalists and athletes in a long list of sports. In addition, everyday participation has fallen or at best flatlined in the face of widespread cutbacks to public opportunities, widening inequality, and ‘pay for play’ in private programs. The decline in participation is a heightened worry in the post-COVID world when the resilience offered by healthy physical activity is so vital to community health. In this context, the focus on ‘own the podium’, and the pursuit of medals in international competition as the overarching goal of Canadian sport policy, is a matter of debate for many in the Canadian sports community as well as the general public.
READ MORE: Taking a person-first approach to high performance sport in Canada
In a March 2023 SIRCuit article, Chief Executive Officer of OTP, Anne Merklinger, acknowledged that “perception is reality.” But Merklinger also said it’s not correct and a “flawed” idea to think that if an athlete wins a medal, the sport gets funding. Merklinger said OTP makes funding recommendations not looking at past results but rather looking into the future over an 8-year time horizon that takes into consideration many factors and not simply winning.
“As an organization, I think we need to do a better job in increasing the awareness and understanding of what we do,” she conceded. Merklinger said the stories that have come out in the past year have caused everyone in the sports system to do some soul searching to examine how things can be improved. For more than 3 years, OTP has been focused on improving the culture in high performance sport. Merklinger said the organization has made “culture” a part of its mandate, to help National Sport Organizations (NSOs) achieve excellence through a clear set of values, including the provision of a safe and inclusive environment in the high-performance program.
What remains to be seen is if this will become a moment of reform, akin to the Dubin period in the early 1990s, when an emphasis upon renewing core principles of sport enabled innovative sport for development programming to emerge as an essential component of a values-based, inclusive approach. Whether, or to what extent, the soon to be released next Canadian Sport Policy includes reference to SDP, either domestically or internationally, will mark another pivotal moment for sport for development and peace in Canada.