2. Background
Page 4 of 14
In the course of the study, we examined the administrative and linguistic resources that the federal government invests in high performance sports, and the results of this investment. We observed that there had been progress on the language front, but that French and English did not enjoy equal status within the Canadian sport system.
We also considered the extent to which members of both official language groups participated in high performance sports, compared with their representation in society as a whole. During our study, 18% of Sport Canada carded athletes said French was their preferred language, while 82% said it was English. The participation of French-language carded athletes was less than the 24.6% of Canadians who reported French as their first official language in the 1996 Census.
Data on carded athletes obtained in March 2003 revealed that 17.3% of this group reported French as the language they preferred to use in communications with Sport Canada, slightly less than the figures of our study. See the appendix 1 to the follow-up report. Based on the 2001 Census, 24.1% of Canadians report French as their first official language, while 74.5% list English (1.4% of the population said neither French nor English was its first official language). We shall consider the issue of French language representation in Section 5 of this report.
Sport Canada’s 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”. Sport Canada makes financial contributions to nongovernmental sports organizations. As Sport Canada falls under the Official Languages Act, fifteen of the study’s sixteen recommendations were directed to it. However, all the sports organizations in question should also play a role in implementing the recommendations. The recommendations that appeared in our June 2000 study were part of a strategic plan for change aimed at ensuring a sports system that fully reflects Canada’s linguistic duality. Our follow-up enables us to assess the progress that has been achieved in this area.
Organizations that receive Sport Canada contributions include national sport organizations (NSOs) and multi-sport organizations (MSOs), such as the Coaching Association of Canada and Athletes CAN, as well as national sport centres (NSCs). The federal government provides funding to NSOs under contribution agreements administered by Sport Canada. Under these agreements, sports associations have agreed to offer services in both official languages.
In May 2002, Sport Canada published the new Canadian Sport Policy, which states that linguistic duality is an essential feature of the sports system and that all persons regardless of language or culture should be able to participate in this system. The Canadian Sport Policy is aimed at eliminating language barriers imposed on Francophone athletes by providing them with essential services in their language, such as coaching. The policy is the result of concerted efforts which led to federal-provincial-territorial agreements. Sport Canada consulted with the Office of the Commissioner in the course of formulating this policy.
