New sport minister backs 'formal process' on abuse, voices support for Canadian women's soccer team

Minister of Sport and Physical Activity Carla Qualtrough says she supports a "formal process" looking into abuse in sports, and also spoke positively about the national women's soccer team's fight for pay equity.

"I am absolutely committed to having a formal process [that] is trauma informed, where we support our victims, where we hear stories and we learn as much as we can to improve the system," Qualtrough told reporters in Australia during a visit in support of the women's team, which is competing in the World Cup.

Qualtrough is new in her role as sport minister, taking over from Pascale St-Onge. She declined to say specifically what sort of process she would support.

"I don't have my mandate letter yet from the prime minister, so we're going to have to wait and see on that one," she said.

Calls for a public inquiry in sport have grown after successive revelations and allegations of abuse across multiple sports. Both the parliamentary committee on the status of women and former sport minister Kirsty Duncan have backed a public inquiry.

St-Onge was supportive of the idea, but had not detailed its exact form.

"I've already committed to bringing a national inquiry. It's a matter of time," St-Onge said in May. "I'm still working on it. When I'm ready to announce it, we will. But I've said again and again that it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of how."

Qualtrough, who previously served as sport minister from 2015 to 2017, said she was looking to build on the work done by St-Onge.

"I'm going to work really hard to restore that trust, to put in place mechanisms to make sure all athletes are safe and supported and really get back to kind of the basics of why we all love sport," she said.

Qualtrough also voiced her