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Highlights

In May 2021, the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC) announced the launch of its Community Activation Grants. This program supports sport organizations in developing and disseminating concussion and Safe Sport resources in Canadian communities.

The launch was set against the backdrop of the Government of Canada’s commitment to reactivate local sport organizations, after the COVID‑19 pandemic’s devastating financial, social and health-related effects.  In its 2021 federal budget, the government allocated $80 million over 2 years to support local sport organizations.

One issue that’s been at the forefront for sport organizations during the pandemic has been ensuring a Safe Sport environment as participants return to play. With the Safe Sport movement growing rapidly at the national and provincial levels, the Community Activation Grants are aimed at further growing the movement in local sport communities.

Successful applicants each received a grant of up to $5,000 and access to SIRC’s evidence-based resources. With SIRC’s support, grant recipients are championing resources that promote concussion awareness and safety in sport at a time when Canadians are returning to play.

We spoke with 6 grant recipients about the importance of Safe Sport and concussion awareness for their organizations, and about the initiatives their grants helped them build. Learn more about how Pickleball Hamilton, Soccability Canada, Freestyle BC, the Edmonton North Zone Soccer Association, the Castaway Wanderers Rugby Football Club and the Ottawa Sport Council are activating Safe Sport in their communities. They also share how you can jumpstart Safe Sport and concussion awareness in your community.

Spotlight 1: Pickleball Hamilton

Pickleball is a relatively new and rapidly growing sport with Pickleball Canada only having been incorporated within the last 10 years.

In 2020, a Pickleball Hamilton member fell while playing pickleball. While undergoing testing to diagnose a suspected concussion, an MRI revealed an undetected cancerous tumour that could have been life threatening. But it wasn’t just the tumour that came as a surprise. As a non-contact sport, concussions aren’t typically top of mind for pickleball players.

“This incident heightened our club’s awareness of concussion in the sport, but also revealed a knowledge gap among members and the wider pickleball community that needs to be filled,” says Matt Cunningham, Director of the Pickleball Hamilton Association.

That’s why receiving this grant and its timing was so important for Pickleball Hamilton.

“Thanks to the grant, we’re embarking upon a concussion prevention and awareness campaign that’ll both inform and protect our members,” he says.

The grant is supporting the creation of 6 short videos, each demonstrating real, on-court errors that could lead to concussions and about how to prevent them. Pickleball Hamilton already completed 2  of the videos, demonstrating how to safely retrieve a lob when playing singles and how to retrieve one when playing doubles.

“These videos are being talked about within our membership. That’s an early success that wouldn’t have been realized without the Community Activation Grant,” says Cunningham.

The videos will also complement concussion awareness posters to be displayed prominently at courts in the Hamilton area.

Using SIRC’s concussion resources, Pickleball Hamilton is working on its concussion policy and protocols. As a newer racquet sport with work to be done on concussion awareness and education, it’s leading the way at the community level.

Spotlight 2: Soccability Canada

Like Pickleball Hamilton, receiving the Community Activation Grant was a big first step for Soccability Canada. Spanning the country, Soccability provides accessible soccer programs for children and youth with disabilities. Officially incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in November 2020, Soccability is excited to use the grant to launch its concussion policies and initiatives.

“Receiving the grant was especially meaningful because of the recognition it provides to the organization, to Para sport and to Para sport concussion research,” says Matt Greenwood, Soccability Canada’s Program Director.

He discussed the lag in concussion research and policy for Para sport. Until recently, the International Concussion in Sport (CIS) consensus papers lacked the research necessary to address the needs of children and youth with disabilities. For this reason, and to ensure appropriate concussion treatment is provided to Para athletes, a multidisciplinary team of experts created the concussion in Para sport (CIPS) group.

Learn more about concussion in Para sport and the first position statement of the CIPS group in a SIRCuit article led by CIPS member Dr. James Kissick.

The grant provides Soccability with a starting point to consult and gain access to CIPS research experts. Greenwood was particularly enthusiastic about putting new Para sport concussion research into practice through the development of new protocols, educational videos and infographics. These resources will target several different stakeholders in the Soccability community.

“Soccability athletes are often accompanied by companions, which means that concussion initiatives targeting not just the athletes and coaches, but also parents, guardians, family members and companions are also important,” says Greenwood.

Soccability is currently in the design and development phase of many of its concussion and Safe Sport initiatives. Greenwood is excited to have their programs back up and running and is confident that the grant help spread awareness of concussion in their organization. Along with access to SIRC’s resources and new research, the grant is a major asset to growing Soccability and concussion education not only within the organization, but within Para sport more broadly.

Spotlight 3: Freestyle BC

Action shot of a freestyle ski athlete doing a trick in the air.Freestyle BC offers freestyle skiing programs in British Columbia, ranging from a fundamentals program that is designed for skiers as young as 6 years of age to high performance programs that support the best freestyle skiers in Canada to their flagship GirlStylerz program. Given the nature of the sport, freestyle skiing comes with risks that may lead to head injuries and concussions.

According to Executive Director Josh Dueck, Freestyle BC’s goal is to “create a barrier-free environment for all athletes to feel safe, welcome and included.” The funds from the grant are allowing Freestyle BC to continue its path to this goal and enhance their existing suite of services and resources.

Specifically, the grant has given the organization the capacity to work with experts of concussion, biomechanics, and mental health. In turn, Freestyle BC has refined its resources for athletes, coaches, and parents and guardians. The grant also supported access to experts in web design and communication who’ve helped Freestyle BC share this information in the most effective way with all members.

“We’re working on 5 critical resources for our community to draw upon to ensure our vision is achieved. No pillar in our commitment to Safe Sport stands alone, and each pillar needs to be guided and supported by experts,” says Dueck.

Once the materials for each of the pillars are in place, he says the plan is to “take full advantage of a captive audience at the annual general meeting in September.” They’ll summarize what’s available and expected as they shift Freestyle BC’s culture toward that of Safe Sport.

Overall, the grant has provided Freestyle BC with a launching pad to activate its concussion and Safe Sport initiatives. The funding has also helped to ensure that member clubs are in the best position to deliver safe, meaningful, and inclusive programs in the upcoming winter.

Spotlight 4: Edmonton North Zone Soccer Association

As part of the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association (EMSA), the Edmonton North Zone Soccer Association (EMSA North) is working toward achieving the national standards for Safe Sport outlined by Canada Soccer. Like most sport organizations, the pandemic halted EMSA North’s programs, requiring the organization to rethink how it operates.

“As we moved to re-opening, we really did a focused shift to try and provide a safe return and much of that includes education, particularly starting at the coaching level,” says Kylee Webster, Executive Director of EMSA North.

To support a safe return to play, the association is working with its governing body to obtain club licensing.

“Club licensing means we meet the National Standards of Quality for soccer, and we’re able to deliver a carefully thought-out program with highly trained volunteers,” says Webster.

The grant supports the licensing, which will focus on coach education. In particular, the grant will fund courses on concussion awareness, respect in sport, and making ethical decisions. It will also pay for the training of more than 150 coaches in the association.

“We’re focusing on coach training at this time because we feel this is the quickest stream to assist our association in a safe return to sport,” says Webster. “Coaches are on the field with players. They communicate directly with parents. That knowledge transfer is paramount to fostering a safe program.”

The association is buying course keys and will distribute them to cover the expenses for non-trained head coaches to further their education. In the meantime, EMSA North is using its social media platforms and newsletters to publish awareness posts, answer questions and provide information to coaches.

“Great resources have already been provided to [us] from SIRC concerning information and promotion of Safe Sport. We have and we will continue to use as many of these resources as possible to promote coach education and player education,” she says.

Spotlight 5: Castaway Wanderers Rugby Football Club

Concussion education and awareness are typically top priority in sports like rugby, where contact isn’t just inevitable, but a main element of the game. For this reason, clubs like the Castaway Wanderers (CW) in Victoria, British Columbia, are developing and promoting concussion and Safe Sport initiatives.

But after a lengthy stint away from the game because of COVID‑19, athletes must be reintroduced to effective techniques for preventing injuries during contact. This is a new challenge for sports like rugby.

“The ability to help athletes return to play in a safe manner is paramount for what we’re trying to do,” says David Hill, CW’s Mini Rugby Program Coordinator. “I think when you’ve players that haven’t had [any contact] for 15 months, if not more, it’s going to be challenging.”

While concussion initiatives have always been a part of CW Rugby, the SIRC grant will fund a new, post-pandemic era of return-to-contact campaigns. One such campaign is what Hill calls the “3 Ts.”

The first T is for “Tell.” Concussion symptoms may be more easily hidden than other injuries. So, athletes might keep quiet about a head injury if, for example, they fear they’ll be removed from play. That’s why spreading awareness about the importance of speaking up and encouraging athletes to tell someone is the first step.

“If you’re not telling at least your coach that you suspect a head injury, then you’re putting not only yourself at risk, but maybe some others at risk,” says Hill.

The second T is for “Teach.” For this component, CW focuses on how they’ll teach return to contact. This includes purchasing equipment, such as tackle bags, to teach contact technique while limiting human-to-human contact, according to Hill. CW Rugby also plans to host a Safe Sport and return to contact professional development session with coaches before the fall season starts.

The third T is for “Track.” Knowing players’ concussion history is important for decision-making. However, currently, there’s no system in place at CW Rugby for tracking this information. Some funds from the grant will be put toward a tracking system.

“It’s important from a club perspective that we set up something, so we know who’s sustained concussions over a period of time and so that we’re better informed,” says Hill.

Spotlight 6: Ottawa Sport Council

The Ottawa Sport Council (OSC) supports more than 750 community sport organizations in Ottawa. Through education, advocacy, and philanthropy, it strives to foster quality sport experiences at the community level. But, as Executive Director Marcia Morris states, education is perhaps its biggest task.

“At the end of the day, funding for community sport often gets forgotten in all the initiatives that get rolled out from Sport Canada,” says Morris. “So, we’re really interested in the grant to help promote SIRC’s resources, but also to amplify the work that we’re doing and have already done, and pull it all together to make community sport safer.”

Prior to the pandemic, OSC had major concussion education programs and resources ready to roll out. However, with minimal in-person sport activity over the past year, the focus became finding new ways of dispersing information to those who need it.

Ottawa Sport Council Concussion Education Video – August 2020

One outcome of the OSC’s “pandemic pivot” was its successful Concussion Education Initiative video. Another is its online Safe Sport toolkit. Currently in design, the toolkit is meant to be a user-friendly resource for any sport or organization. It will provide bite-size pieces of information sectioned into different “drawers” (for example, policies, minimum training requirements, and resources). The goal of the toolkit is to ensure that every sport gets the information it needs.

“Some sports weren’t getting any Safe Sport information from their NSO [National Sport Organization], and others are way beyond in their policies. So, everybody’s at a different part of their journey,” says Morris. “The whole point [of the toolkit] is that you can hop in and just look at one drawer. But, all the drawers will be available for the people who don’t have that luxury of being a well-funded, well-defined sport.”

The grant from SIRC is helping to launch the Safe Sport toolkit. It will serve as a major asset for community sport organizations, especially those looking to start or fill in gaps in their concussion and Safe Sport initiatives.

Conclusion

Our conversations with some of SIRC’s Community Activation Grants recipients unearthed stories of resilience, success and innovation within community sport. After the abrupt and extended disruption by the pandemic, the grants provided many recipients with the boost they needed to get their Safe Sport and concussion awareness programs up and running. For others, the grants provided additional capacity and support while pivoting existing initiatives to align with pandemic restrictions.

When we interviewed grant recipients, several also shared suggestions for how other community sport organizations could enhance their Safe Sport and concussion awareness initiatives, or simply get them off the ground. Top tips include:

Aligning with the federal government’s commitment to reactivate local sport organizations as they recover from the COVID‑19 pandemic, SIRC’s Community Activation Grants provided support to community sport organizations moving toward national standards for concussion safety and Safe Sport.

According to David Hill of CW Rugby, fostering Safe Sport environments is a sure bet for enhanced sport performance:

“The biggest thing about sport safety is that it’s a performance enhancer. The safer [an athlete] feels the more they can push the envelope on performance.”

Recommended resources

Learn more about the Community Activation Grant recipients.

Discover SIRC’s concussion in sport resources.

Explore SIRC’s Safe Sport hub.

“Senior decision-makers in community sport organizations need to create opportunities for program leaders to share their experiences and knowledge. Staff know the barriers and challenges experienced by participants, but those barriers and challenges can persist if insights aren’t filtered up the organizational hierarchy.” – Amina Haggar, a University of Ottawa graduate student, shares insights from her research on the sport experiences of second-generation African Canadian girls.

Financial fraud can have devastating effects on a sport organization’s service provision, reputation, and long-term viability. Research suggests a three-tiered approach to fraud prevention, including training for leaders on financial management to understand the risks; sound financial management practices; and early detection systems.

For community sport organizations, newcomers to Canada are an important source of future participants/members, staff, and volunteers. Taking the time to consider the experiences of newcomers when they walk through your doors or onto your fields – and taking action to make those experiences better – can help build authentic and long-lasting relationships.

Research about the community sport experiences of second-generation African Canadian girls identifies several challenges to participation. Tips to support participation include all-female spaces, providing concurrent programming for younger siblings, and engaging multicultural health navigators to build trusting relationships with families. 

Research suggests newcomers to Canada turn to sport and physical activity for many reasons, including expanding one’s social network, improving health and wellness, and integrating into Canadian society. Sport organizations can build on this opportunity to expand their networks and membership through authentic engagement.

Directions from public health organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered the sport sector, causing many sport decision makers to reconsider what their organization does and how they do it. Although the full scope of the short- and long-term impacts are yet to be seen, some organizations have not survived. Others have used this period as a time to adapt their operations, develop, and incorporate new ideas.

Documenting how decision makers have adapted to this unprecedented crisis provides important insights about the adaptive capacity of sport organizations.

Why adaptive capacity matters

Adapting to crises requires sport organizations to undergo a dynamic process of learning, modification, and responsive decision making to effectively respond to a changing, unpredictable environment (Filo, et al., 2015). Adaptive capacity is “the ability of systems, institutions, humans, and other organisms to adjust to potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to respond to consequences’’ (Pachauri & Meyer, 2014, p.118) and is intertwined with the concept of organizational resilience. Broadly defined, organizational resilience is the process through which an organization reacts to a period of stress or uncertainty and emerges from that challenging time as a stronger and more resourceful organization (Gallopin, 2006; Vogus & Sutcliffe, 2007). Adaptations are the changes that organizations make that ultimately facilitate the resilience process.

Due to the widespread and unprecedented impacts of COVID-19 on the sport system, our research team sought to examine how sport organizations in Ontario adapted to the pandemic to better understand adaptive capacity and resilience. We spoke to representatives from several provincial sport organizations (PSOs) and community sport organizations (CSOs) in May of 2020, during which time organizations were in the process of making adaptations. Below, we share some reflections on our findings and the associated implications.

Adaptation is a fluid process

Male soccer player tying cleats and preparing for training outdoors, wearing a mask.In early March 2020, new information about public health measures and COVID-19 response programs rapidly emerged. Some sport decision makers responded by temporarily closing their programs and facilities; moving programming outdoors and using new or different equipment to reduce the likelihood of transmission; implementing additional sanitizing, social distancing, and other health and safety measures; and providing different options for members to socialize and engage with sport organizations. As CSOs adapted programming based on guidance from their governing bodies and local health departments, they discovered adaptation was not a one-off, singular, or linear activity. Rather, the adaptations were part of a fluid process that involved constant review of guidelines and prior learning to respond to the evolving public health crisis.

Lesson #1: Decision makers within sport organizations should be nimble, flexible, and creative in how they adapt to a volatile environment to remain resilient.  

Sport organizations are beholden to multiple systems and stakeholders

Community sport organizations are part of Canada’s complex sport system and are also beholden to the municipal and provincial/territorial governments in which they operate. Thus, CSOs take direction from both sport and government entities.

Some sport organizations could access federal and/or provincial wage subsidies and loans because of income loss from the pandemic. Some also benefited from close relationships with their corresponding municipalities. For example, CSO decision makers could request direct or easily accessible rent relief arrangements for municipal facilities. The adaptations of these organizations were supported by relationships with municipal governments.

Lesson #2: Sport decision makers should have a clear understanding of the environment in which they operate—including knowledge of the key systems and stakeholders. Creating and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders can result in support to the organization in difficult times.

Organizational purpose matters

While some sport organizations cautiously opted to shut down completely, others adapted by providing virtual programming (e.g., online training, esports leagues, informal happy hours, homework clubs). If or how the organization adapted its activities to satisfy members was determined by how decision makers defined the purpose of the organization.

For some sport organizations, primarily providing social experiences to members was key. These organizations were able to continue operations by providing alternative opportunities for members to socialize—with or without sport programming (Peloton ride and virtual wine and cheese, anyone?). Organizations that primarily provided recreation opportunities and relied on volunteers often opted to cease operating. Although this meant a break in programming and the potential loss of members, in many cases these organizations experienced little financial risk. Larger organizations with professionalized operations, on the other hand, were likely to adapt and engage with members in creative and interesting ways, which were partly driven by a need to satisfy their memberships and maintain revenue.

Lesson #3: Having a clearly articulated vision of an organization’s core purpose was helpful in streamlining and prioritizing decision making and adaptation. Sport organizations play many roles beyond just providing sport participation opportunities, so pivoting to non-sport programming may be an appropriate and productive adaptation.

Timing is important

The timing of adaptations was also an important consideration. The initial shut-down led to some drastic measures, such as the cancellation of provincial championships with athletes already on site. Sports that were in their off-season in March were able to think, consider, and adapt in a more proactive way. The timing of sport seasons was also relevant for organizations with multi-sport facilities (e.g., curling and golf clubs). These organizations were not able to push back seasons or adapt timelines as easily, particularly for seasonal sports relying on the weather.

The timing of adaptation was particularly important when resources were involved. For example, cancelled fundraising tournaments were a major hit to many organizations’ finances. Timing therefore intersects with adaptation because it relates to fiscal management and the opportunity an organization does (or does not) have to adapt and recover.

Lesson #4: Each sport and organization will have unique circumstances based on time, location, resources, and capacity. Adaptations should reflect these unique circumstances. In particular, decision makers should be aware of how the timing of adaptation and the seasonality of their organization will impact the outcomes of their adaptations.

The past year has been a tremendous learning experience for many organizations and policy makers. Organizations – and indeed the entire sport system – have demonstrated resilience in many ways. These processes are wrapped up in adaptations, complex environments, identities, and timing. As the sport sector continues to adapt and strives for resilience, we hope these insights provoke some thoughts for organizers regarding how they can plan and adapt for uncertainty in the future.

Community sport clubs in Canada can be vulnerable to financial fraud, where someone uses their position for personal gain by deliberately misusing an organisation’s resources or assets. According to our research, recently featured in a CBC Sports investigation, the impact of fraud can be deep and last for years, regardless of the amount of money stolen. Sport organizations in Canada are speaking up and telling their stories to help others learn and reduce their risk.

Incidents of fraud not only impact a sport organization’s finances, they can also affect the organization’s reputation, the experiences of sport participants and volunteers, opportunities for participation, and can generate community mistrust (Kihl, Misener, Cuskelly, & Wicker, 2020). The purpose of this blog is to provide research-based evidence about how and why sport clubs may be vulnerable to fraud and outline ways that sport organizations can be pro-active and reduce their risk. It draws upon our research team’s examination of media stories from Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United States from the years 2008-2018.

Indicators of Fraud

Fraud infographic
Download the infographic

Our research, building on the fraud diamond outlined by Wolfe and Hermanson (2004), shows that there are four common indicators and themes in cases of fraud in community sport:

  1. Pressure – individuals who commit fraud often have incentives such as personal financial stressors, health problems including addiction, or lavish lifestyles.
  2. Rationalization – those who have committed fraud may deny responsibility, claim good intentions, or may self-justify their actions.
  3. Capability – individuals who possess the characteristics and skills to conduct fraudulent activity may be educated in finance or have a learned advantage.
  4. Opportunity – a lack of oversight regarding account access to bank accounts, financial reporting mechanisms, or vacancies of board positions can increase the risk of fraud.

These indicators help us understand how and why fraud can occur in sport organizations.

How is money being stolen?

According to our research, the main form of fraud that occurs in community sport organizations is embezzlement of four types:

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (2018) reported that skimming schemes (cash being taken prior to it being entered into an accounting system) were more common globally in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industries than in other sectors (e.g., banking, manufacturing, health care or social services). 

How can sport organizations prevent fraud?

Business creative coworkers team Meeting Discussing showing the results chart and graph Work.

Sport organizations should use a three-tiered approach to fraud prevention including training/education for organizational leaders on financial management best practices to increase awareness of risk; enhancing internal club management processes to limit opportunities for fraud; and detecting instances of fraud quickly after they occur. Is also important that sport organizations develop and implement specific measures. For example:

  1. Ensure timely and accurate financial reporting systems, including mandatory monthly financial reporting and full disclosure to the board.
  2. Implement procedures to safeguard assets, such as requiring expense and account creation authorisation by two or more individuals.
  3. Implement practices that are compliant with laws and regulations, including regular procedures to detect any possibility of fraudulent activities (i.e., external auditing, independent reconciliation of bank statements).
  4. Evaluate routines for handling organisational resources, such as eliminating e-transfers through personal bank accounts and ensuring the organization has established policies for collecting cash through player registrations, concessions, and fees, and mandatory reporting of fraud to authorities.

Moving towards a more robust anti-fraud strategy is an ongoing process that will require education, planning, and time as systems are changed to both prevent and detect potentially fraudulent activities. While these controls may be accompanied by increased costs for the organization in terms of time, energy, and some additional financial expense, the benefits should outweigh the costs and associated risks of not implementing financial controls. Ultimately, preventing fraud in sport will ensure the long-term sustainability of your organization and the important sport programs and services you deliver to your community.

Our research team is continuing to examine risk management practices and the ways fraud can be prevented in community clubs and associations. Community sport leaders interested in being involved in the next phase of the research are invited to click here for more information and to connect with the survey.

Events of 2020 provided a catalyst for sport administrators and community leaders to more directly consider how to create inclusive sport and physical activity opportunities for underrepresented communities (e.g., ethno-racial minorities, LGBTQ2S communities, persons with disabilities). One community receiving increasing attention is newcomers to Canada. Research shows that individuals who have recently immigrated to Canada turn to sport and physical activity for many reasons, including expanding one’s social network, improving health and wellness, and integrating into Canadian society (Barrick et al., 2021; Curtin et al., 2016; Rich et al., 2015). As sport and physical activity stakeholders work towards building back better from COVID-19, we need to think critically about how to address known participation barriers faced by newcomers (e.g., cost, transportation, language barriers, lack of knowledge about Canadian sport and physical activity, bureaucratic registration processes) to make sport more representative of Canada’s rich ethno-racial diversity.

In March 2017, I co-founded an intersectoral community partnership with WinSport, the Centre for Newcomers (CFN), and the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA). The WinSport Welcomes Newcomers Initiative (WWNI) was designed to provide programming to introduce newcomers in Calgary to iconic Canadian winter sports—ice skating, ice hockey, and downhill skiing. Over the past three winters, we have refined our partnership approach, enhanced programs and services, and engaged more than 400 newcomer children, youth, and adults in winter sports.

The following recommendations provide sport administrators with tangibles strategies to increase their capacity to create welcoming sport experiences for newcomers.

1. Recognize your limitations

It is critical to identify your strengths and weaknesses (as an individual or organization) and surround yourselves with collaborators who possess expertise in your weak areas. From day one of planning the WWNI, we (myself and my WinSport collaborators) recognized that our strengths were in research and winter sport programming; and that we lacked rapport and connections with the local newcomer communities in Calgary. This led us to invite representatives from CFN and CIWA to join the partnership, which proved integral to the success of the project. The strength of the WWNI partnership lay in our collective belief in the value of sport and the trust afforded to each partner to contribute what they do best to the process (e.g., WinSport administrators running high-quality sport programs and settlement services administrators recruiting and supporting newcomer participants).

2. Context matters/know your community

Young Muslim female smiling and holding a badminton racquet

Communities, sport organizations, facilities, and sports differ from one another in a myriad of ways. At a local level, two neighbourhoods that share a border may be very different demographically, ethno-racially, and/or socio-economically. Thus, it is essential to understand the composition of the population you want to engage to best involve them. After learning from our CFN and CIWA partners that Calgary possesses great diversity in terms of immigrant source countries and backgrounds, we decided to recruit newcomer program participants regardless of background to best reflect the immigration realities of Calgary, rather than focusing on a particular community (e.g., Syrian refugees). This type of research and insight can be gathered by tapping into local expertise, or by reviewing your municipal, provincial/territorial, and federal census reports for general demographic data.

3. Go right to the source

Building on the last recommendation, it is essential that community champions and/or groups from the community you are intending to work with are included as active contributors from the beginning. This ensures you are not speaking for particular communities with whom you do not share similar lived experiences (e.g., sport administrators who are Canadian citizens determining what is best for immigrant children). Involving relevant community members is also key to building individual and community buy-in for your initiative. Involving settlement practitioners from CFN and CIWA—many of whom belong to the same ethno-racial communities as the newcomer program participants—throughout the program planning, delivery, and evaluation phases helped establish trust and rapport with newcomer community members, thereby contributing to program success. Insights from newcomer participants were also gathered through formal (i.e., interviews and focus groups) and informal (i.e., casual conversations before, during, and after programs) approaches. These insights proved invaluable in identifying and addressing programming challenges (e.g., improving program attendance by providing transportation between WinSport and where program participants live), thereby strengthening the WWNI’s overall effectiveness.

4. Critically reflect on your values and beliefs

Junior football team stacking hands before a match

It is also important to turn your focus inwards, both individually and collectively, when embarking on newcomer inclusion efforts. For instance, critically examine whether your organization, facility, and/or sport are truly welcoming. Would a newcomer feel welcome entering your space and participating in your programming? Identifying and addressing unwelcoming aspects (e.g., lack of representation in programming and administration, inaccessible advertising materials, no introductory programming) is an essential step to create welcoming, inclusive spaces for everyone. This is another example where directly engaging with representatives from the relevant community is important. Conversations about how WinSport could make internal changes to be more welcoming to newcomers, and by extension all Calgarians, led WinSport administrators to begin exploring broadening dietary options across the facility and translating advertising materials into prominent languages besides English. Additional areas to consider include: ensuring your staff and volunteers reflect the diversity of your local community (e.g., gender, age, language, and ethno-racial backgrounds); refining organizational policies and procedures that promote and protect the inclusive, welcoming environment you are striving for; and providing diversity and inclusion training and on-going support to staff and volunteers.

5. Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate!

Newcomer inclusion initiatives within community sport are complex. Therefore, receiving diverse forms of feedback throughout the project (not just the end) will help ensure you are progressing towards achieving your objectives. A mix of quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (words) feedback tracking participant experiences during the program, program registration numbers, retention rates, and future sport participation intentions will give you a rich picture of what you are doing well, what needs to be changed, and what future possibilities lie ahead. Popular data collection tools include surveys, interviews, and focus groups, all of which can be completed in person, virtually, or by phone.

Continual evaluation is one thing that WWNI collaborators have identified as needing improvement. While the partnership team met at the end of each year to debrief the program, a lack of capacity prevented us from integrating more informal, periodic evaluations during the program. As evaluation is an essential component of intersectoral partnerships (Parent & Harvey, 2009), scheduling intermittent (e.g., quarterly) and final evaluations from the outset of your initiative is recommended.

Conclusion

The above recommendations should be treated as guidelines for authentically engaging with newcomers to Canada. There are many great organizations working in this space (e.g., Winnipeg Newcomer Sport Academy, Calgary’s Soccer Without Boundaries, Commonwealth Sport Canada’s Sport for Newcomers’ Initiative) – I encourage you to reach out, network, and learn from one another to amplify your impact.

Given our growing understanding of how COVID-19 is causing disproportionate suffering among Canada’s vulnerable communities (e.g., Findlay et al., 2020; Moore et al., 2020), the federal government’s pledge to increase immigration targets to historic levels (Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada, 2020), and our collective reckoning with #BlackLivesMatter and anti-Black racism, expanding the involvement of newcomers as participants and leaders represents a necessary action in making sport and physical activity in Canada truly representative of our population. How will you contribute to positive change in this area?

Developing a response to crises like COVID-19 pandemic requires “all hands on deck.” To help develop their return to sport strategies, the Rocky Point Sailing Association reached out to founding members who were in their 70s and 80s, and recruited new leaders from amongst their membership. This helped ensure they had diverse perspectives and experience around the decision-making table.