4. OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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4.4 The Institutional Infrastructure
4.4.1 SPORT CANADA
Sport Canada is a branch of the Canadian Identity Directorate of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Its mission is “to support the achievement of high performance excellence and the development of the Canadian sport system to strengthen the unique contribution that sport makes to Canadian identity, culture and society.”13 The federal government adopted this strategic orientation for its sport policy in response to the minister’s task force report, Sport: The Way Ahead, in 1992. As noted earlier in this report, the minister’s task force consulted widely with sport organizations and commissioned a report on official languages in the sport system, which provided an orientation for Sport Canada’s present official languages program.
Sport Canada funds activities and organizations in three major categories: support to sport organizations (including national sport organizations, multi-sport / multi-service organizations, and national sport centres); support to individual athletes through the Athlete Assistance Program; and support to major games (including the Canada Games and support to host single-sport events). Most recipient organizations are voluntary non-profit societies that sign contribution agreements outlining their obligations, including linguistic requirements.
The Treasury Board Secretariat conducted an official languages audit of federal grant and contribution programs in 1999 to assess whether federal institutions are ensuring that organizations that receive funding can serve the public in both official languages. The audit found that Sport Canada’s official languages program is better than most: “Sport Canada is the only institution [audited] that regularly informs applicant organizations of their official languages obligations...Only Sport Canada audits the official languages accountability agreement.”14 Among other initiatives aimed at helping sport organizations to provide better services in both official languages, Sport Canada organized a one-day information session on this subject in the fall of 1998.
While acknowledging that Sport Canada’s official languages program has appropriate objectives, established in consultation with sport organizations, and administrative controls that meet accepted government standards, we attempted to determine whether this well-structured and well-run program actually meets the linguistic needs of Canadian athletes.
