Why federal funding isn't enough to stop abuse in Canadian sports

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Last year, the federal government made headlines by announcing a $16-million investment over the next three years in "safe sport" — a blanket term for efforts to rid sports of sexual abuse, bullying, toxic culture, concussions and other dangerous elements. As instances of children being sexually abused by coaches continue to occur nationwide, the government's funding announcement may have given parents the impression that something substantial is finally being done about it, and that safe sport is a well-funded, well-organized initiative.

However, the latest set of stories in the Shattered Trust series — part of a continuing investigation by CBC News and CBC Sports into abuse in amateur sports in Canada — paint a different picture. In their reporting, Jamie Strashin and Lori Ward found widespread frustration with the top-down, disconnected manner in which the problem of abuse in Canadian sports is being addressed.

One major criticism is that the vast majority of resources to prevent abuse in Canadian sports go to national organizations whose primary role is serving the relatively small number of elite athletes competing at the national and international level. For the most part, those resources do not trickle down to the smaller, community-based clubs where most children play their sports — and where most cases of abuse in youth sports occur.

"It remains an absolute blind spot in the system," said Marco Di Buono, president of Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities, one of the largest youth sports charities in Canada. "99-plus per cent of the cases happen at the community