Over the last 40 years, there has been a great deal of work done to make sport environments safer and more inclusive in Canada. In the latest wave of progression, Equestrian Canada (EC) has been focused on education and implementing regulatory alignment with other national and international sporting organizations.
In discussion with Director, High Performance (HPD)James Hood, we covered both the historical and current movements of inclusion, discipline complaints processes, sexual abuse prevention, and what EC is doing to support the shifts.
Hood, who has been involved in the Canadian sport landscape for his entire career, began by explaining the changes that happened in the early 1990’s when there was a push for inclusion of athletes with impairments with several of the National Sport Organizations (NSO) to provide opportunities for more Canadians to become involved in sport. This movement has continued over the last 30 years where we see opportunities for athletes with impairments in most of the national sport organizations.
The work on inclusion became part of a wider sport movement that started to focus on the development of directed programs for the advancement of women and girls in sport, Canadian Sport For Life trying to build a more active Canadian population and programs that followed the principles of growth and development. This work also then added to the fair play movement and sport for all. Government of Canada funding also started to change to address the needs of the wider sport system.
All these movements started to build on one another Hood explained, “the system started to look at how we re-frame sport culture to create a safer environment for all. The start of the safe sport pledge amongst communities and being able to sign-in to the fair play movement.”
The movement that continues to grow today, and has led to shifts in coaching dynamics, including the work of the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) and Provincial Territorial Sport Organizations (PTSO). It has led the way to building appropriate coach development and education pathways, but also societal changes in fostering safe sport environments.
What was once acceptable or deemed reasonable over the last two decades is no longer appropriate, and it became clear change was needed. “In Equestrian, we have done work to educate our community,” said Hood. “It has become mandatory for all sport license holders to complete EC’s Fostering Healthy Equestrian Environment education piece on the ECampus, along with Concussion Awareness modules, and all coaches with status have to be screened and depending on the context provide police background checks, vulnerable sector checks.” But that is just the beginning.
Work is not just being done by NSOs like EC, but the Canadian sport system overall, with major programming changes in the Federal and Provincial governments, providing NSOs with a support system. The Minister of Sport, Pascale St-Onge is making progress in moving the system to the next phase to creating a safer sport environment for all Canadians. The newly created Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, publication of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport and Rule of Two training are intend to both provide clear guidelines on codes of conduct and behaviour, but also a mechanism for investigation and compliance.
Sport Canada currently requires every NSO to have an independent third party in place to adjudicate complaints and allegations of misconduct. This structure makes it safer for complainants to come forward and voice their concerns so they can be addressed fairly and objectively via the independent complaints process.
Most organizations have also adopted a whistleblower policy, to protect those individuals who come forward and support victims in feeling comfortable and supported without fear of biases. Sport has a history of challenges in this regard. “abuse happens in all components of our society, so to think that sport should be different would be hiding our heads in the sand, and we need to strive to be better as sport deals with children youth and adults with impacts on power dynamics and safety.” said Hood. “And, our equestrian sport community is not immune. We have a responsibility to make sure that we are building the right environment for our sport. We have to make it safer to participate and safer to speak up when it’s not.”
“In my role as HPD, I have been working with our safe sport mechanisms and continue to support the systemic changes alongside our new REDI (Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) Coordinator, Laurie Ehrman, our Director of Sport Operations Rachel Huebert and we all liaise where necessary with our third party provider. We know there continues to be lot of education and work to be done,” said Hood.
The independent third party, Brian Ward from W&W Dispute Resolution Services Inc. provides EC and the equestrian community with expert and objective facilitation of complaints and helps support EC’s commitment to Canada’s Safe Sport movement. Ward deals with three core areas including complaints, disciplines, and appeals. All components are important to review from a non-biased opinion, with process requirements precisely followed.
“More recently we have seen a focus on the complaints piece,” Hood outlined. “We have seen an uptick in the number of complaints being filed, but we see it as a good thing. With a clear channel where individuals feel comfortable to submit a complaint and the third party process working well, it means our education efforts are working and the community is building confidence in the system. Change is happening.”
Although the primary goal is to protect athletes, it is also important to clarify why decisions are made and to explain how staff and coaches interact and engage with them. Rule of Two, is a new free safe sport course in EC’s ECampus that explains the responsible coaching movement’s concepts of open and observable environments or Rule of Two when dealing with athletes at any level.
“In the Rule of Two, if you are going to have a meeting or be in a 1-on-1 setting with an athlete,” said Hood, “it needs to be in a public or open setting where people can see you, so you can ensure safety and protect everyone’s rights. Athletes need to understand that we always need three people in meetings or why we can’t meet behind closed doors.”
With many Canadian athletes regularly competing in the United States, it is also important we have reciprocation with the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF). The USEF has an equivalent program for safe sport, which has a requirement for national level competitions. “EC’s agreement with USEF,” said Hood, “allows us to recognize their disciplinary actions and sanctions and ours rollover to them as well.”
“With the international federation (FEI), there are components of their regulations that require the recognition of sanctions,” continued Hood, “that when we have issued a sanction, we as a national federation can contact the FEI, and they can determine whether it fits in their context. We don’t adjudicate on commercial responsibilities such as horse sales, but if there is a case of abuse, harassment, or bullying; that misconduct all fits into the system.”
What makes our sport of course unique is that we have both human and equine athletes. EC continues to work with the government and the agricultural sector on education and advocacy in the areas of biosecurity, horse welfare and abuse. A new horse welfare code of conduct is forthcoming, and courses continue to be developed and available in the ECampus on horsemanship, ownership, biosecurity and basic equine care.
EC’s jurisdiction when it comes to all misconduct and abuse prevention remains with those that have a relationship with EC including staff, volunteers, coaches, athletes, horses, sport license holders, officials.
“All the educations, policies and complaints process we continue to work on, within the context of safe sport” expressed Hood, “is for the benefit of everyone in the equestrian community. These components sit inside the framework of creating a safe environment that is appropriate for humans and horses. We have made huge steps forward in this country, but still have a long way to go to create an environment for every Canadian to participate safely.”
For more questions on safe sport practices from our HPD James Hood, please contact him here.