Ontario funding new research on sports-related traumatic brain injuries

Ontario's Minister of Sport Neil Lumsden said Wednesday he intends to one day donate his brain for concussion research, while announcing new funding for a provincewide study on traumatic brain injuries.

Lumsden, the MPP for Hamilton East–Stoney Creek, played for 10 years in the Canadian Football League as a fullback and running back. He won three Grey Cups as a player with the Edmonton Elks and another as an executive with the Hamilton Tiger Cats before entering politics.

"I'm privileged to have had a long career playing a high-collision sport, and I am fortunate to have not experienced the negative long-term effects of concussions. But many of my teammates and others that I have played with and against haven't been so lucky," Lumsden said at a morning news conference in Toronto.

"It is my hope that with my donation, and many others like me, we can find out why that is. We need to find answers. We have the ability to find answers," he said.

Lumsden announced $52,500 in provincial funding for research to better understand the patterns and risk factors for sports-related traumatic brain injuries and their impacts on mental health. The project will be led by Jesse Young, a research scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and former junior hockey player.

"I've seen first hand the impact that repetitive traumatic brain injury in sports can have," Young said.

Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada, a charity that supports athletes, veterans and children living with traumatic brain injuries, will be a partner in the year-long research project.

Young said the work will integrate multiple provincial data sources with the aim of better understanding the prevalence of concussions and chronic