A group of Canadian sport researchers, experts and advocates will address the safe sport crisis related to athlete abuse and mistreatment at an upcoming forum hosted by the Center for Sport Capacity at Brock University.

The event will take place in person and online on Friday, November 1. 17 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Forum on safe sport: can sport self-regulate? will focus on the structure and design of sports system governance. Discussions will focus on policy and rule development, monitoring and enforcement, self-regulation, athletes’ experiences with safe sport mechanisms, and changes needed to ensure safe environments for all participants.

Speakers include former Canadian Olympic skier Allison Forsyth; Curtis Fogel, associate professor of sport management at Brock; Charlene Krepiakevich, CEO of viaSport; Eric MacIntosh, associate professor at the University of Ottawa; Peter Donnelly, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto; and sports law experts Marcus Mazzucco and Hilary Findlay.

Findlay, a retired associate professor of sport management at Brock and current member of the Center for Sport Capacity, said initiatives such as the Safe Sport Forum are crucial to continuing to highlight issues of abuse in sport and to discuss ways in which sports organizations can address this. systemic factors contributing to incidents.

“Mistreatment and abuse in sport is not new: it has been an open secret in sport for decades,” she said. “What has become clear is that the sports system itself is broken and the prevalence of abuse is symptomatic of system-wide problems.

“Certain characteristics of sports organizations can create an environment conducive to abuse and also actively and persistently enable such treatment,” Findlay said. “This is not about diminishing the damage caused by individual error, but rather about recognizing the power of the organization in determining the conduct of those in positions of authority and the culture within. organisation. »

Unfortunately, sports organizations have not been able to address these systemic issues within their current autonomy framework, she said.

“We need to fundamentally rethink the way sport is governed to fully address this problem. Some of this work has begun at both the provincial/territorial and national sport levels and will be highlighted as part of the forum program.

Everyone is invited to attend the Hybrid Safe Sport Forum. Registration includes on-demand, anytime access to recorded presentations and resources.

Further information, including registration, speaker topics, in-person event location and online access, is available on the Center for Sport Ability website.