viaSport British Columbia – Vancouver, B.C. – viaSport applauds the leadership of 23 sport organizations in B.C. who have taken the Canadian Coaching Association’s Responsible Coaching Movement pledge, and in particular, the nine provincial sport organizations who are helping to lead this movement through their commitment and collaboration with viaSport as part of a Safe Sport working group. The group will review and develop policies, establish best practices and provide input into resources related to child protection for the B.C. amateur sport sector.

The working group is one initiative of a multi-phased action plan to provide education and policy resources, build accountability frameworks and lead culture change to minimize risk and ensure positive sport experiences. Specifically, the B.C. Safe Sport action plan will deliver on the following objectives:

1. Organizations, coaches and parents are educated on how to prevent, identify, intervene and report on all forms of abuse.
2. Sport organizations have a suite of policy templates to adopt.
3. Sport organizations are accountable to policy standards and implementation plans.

Abuse prevention is a long term task, with national, provincial and local alignment required. viaSport is committed to working with leaders at all levels to advance positive change within B.C. and is recognized for its ability to bring leaders together to transform and scale the impact of sport.

“All athletes deserve to participate in sports free from bullying, hazing, sexual misconduct or any form of emotional or physical abuse,” states viaSport CEO, Sheila Bouman. ”This past year, there were several high-profile cases of athletes being exploited and abused, including recent media involving Alpine Canada’s former coach, Bertrand Charest. By working together, we can create an environment where every child is able to benefit from B.C.’s strong network of quality coaches.”

viaSport is encouraging all sport organizations (national, provincial and local) to join us by first taking the Responsible Coaching Movement Pledge to show their commitment to ensuring athletes are safe. For each B.C. organization which signs the pledge, viaSport, on behalf of the provincial government, will provide three licenses to Commit to Kids training. Commit to Kids is the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s step-by-step plan to help prevent sexual abuse from happening within child-serving organizations.

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About viaSport British Columbia
viaSport British Columbia is a not-for-profit organization created with the support of the Provincial Government in 2011 to lead the province’s sport sector to build a stronger, more effective system that brings more families to the field of play, more fans into the stands, more athletes to the podium, and more sports events to the province. viaSport’s mandate is to increase awareness, opportunity and participation in sport across the province – at every stage of life and in every community. Learn more at viasport.ca

Media Contact:
Michelle Tice
Director, Communications & Engagement
778-655-1774
michellet@viasport.ca