Increasing funding a first step in addressing sport issues, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO says

Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker sees the Future of Sport in Canada Commission's report as a road map to fixing a multitude of issues surrounding sport in this country.

To Shoemaker, the first few steps on that journey are clear: prioritizing safe sport, and increasing funding to athletes and national sport organizations.

National sport organizations in Canada haven't seen an increase in core funding in more than two decades, while the cost of everything continue to rise — costs that inevitably get passed on to athletes.

It's an issue the Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee and athletes have been raising the alarm about for years.

When it came time to speak to the commission, which began its work in 2024, Shoemaker emphasized that an underfunded sport system is an unsafe one.

"It is an important thing for everyone to take note of that the commission agrees, and that the commission not only sees the urgent need to increase core funding to national sports organizations as among the top priorities, but draws a link between that funding and the safe sport situation and maltreatment in sport across the country that we need to address as well," Shoemaker said on Wednesday in an interview with CBC Sports.

The Future of Sport in Canada Commission's final report, released on Tuesday, calls for sweeping change to the way sport is structured in this country. Its work found "the widespread presence of maltreatment and abuse” in an underfunded and poorly organized system described as "broken."

Led by former Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve, the commission issued nearly 100 calls to action that range from immediately increasing funding to the sport system, to a long-term goal of creating a