Canada's first sport integrity commissioner Sarah-Eve Pelletier to resign in early 2024

Sarah-Eve Pelletier will resign as Canada's first sport integrity commissioner early next year.

The Quebec lawyer and former artistic swimmer was appointed in April 2022 to head the Office of Canada's Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) that opened two months later to handle reports and complaints of abuse and maltreatment.

After her 18 months in the job, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada that established OSIC has announced Pelletier will step down in early 2024 for personal reasons.

OSIC's stated purpose is to be an independent handler of abuse reports and complaints, although it's jurisdiction is limited mostly to the federally-funded sports organizations required by the sports minister to become signatories.

Most provincial, territorial and community sport bodies are not yet signatories and thus not under OSIC's jurisdiction.

It's independence has also been questioned. Sport minister Carla Qualtrough announced last week that OSIC will be moved outside the umbrella of the Sports Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC).

"As sport integrity commissioner, I have been driven by a deep motivation to act as an agent of positive change for the Canadian sport community — with athletes at the very heart of it," Pelletier said Tuesday in a statement. "Since taking on this role, my passion for this mission has never wavered. I am proud of the groundwork accomplished within the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC).

"I am certain that it will serve as a springboard for the Abuse-Free Sport program's evolution, one that can only be beneficial to the advancement of safe sport for all."

Pelletier will stay on the job for the first few months of 2024 until a successor is hired, and to help that person with