Misconduct registry goes live
All Canadians can now see the names of those sanctioned online
Canadians now can see some of the people who have been sanctioned or are under investigation for misconduct, maltreatment and abuse in sport through the publicly searchable Abuse-Free Sport Registry.
The online database went live Thursday afternoon and includes five people sanctioned for sexual maltreatment in the sports of volleyball, figure skating and rugby, and another 21 facing provisional measures for allegations (not proven) of maltreatment and/or prohibited behaviour across nine sports: gymnastics, soccer, skating, volleyball, taekwondo, rugby, swimming, snowboard and basketball.
The list, made public by the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, is a part of Ottawa’s response to the safe-sport crisis that has seen a steady stream of athletes reporting abuse and maltreatment, toxic culture and governance problems at national sport organizations.
Athletes and sport advocates told parliamentary committee safesport hearings in 2022 and 2023 about problem coaches being quietly let go, allowing them to be hired unknowingly by another organization. The registry is an attempt to address those concerns, make sport safer and hold perpetrators accountable.
But it does not cover everyone. It only includes organizations that have signed on to OSIC be their independent investigator of maltreatment cases. That’s primarily national sport organizations — serving national team and Olympic-level athletes — that were required to join the office in order to receive Sport Canada funding. It only covers complaints made after sport organizations joined, so the earliest case dates back to last summer.
The Abuse-Free Sport Registry can include adult coaches, officials and players whose eligibility to participate in sport has been restricted because of violations of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport, which defines mistreatment and prohibited behaviour and provides a framework for sanctions. The code covers everything from physical and sexual abuse to issues such as grooming, neglect, retaliation, failure to report maltreatment, false allegations and misuse of power.
Interim commissioner André Lepage said the registry “provides another tool to the general public with regard to safeguarding against maltreatment, while also contributing to the deterrence and denunciation of maltreatment and helping prevent reoccurrence.”
Advocates have called for the expansion of federal safe-sport measures to other levels of sport in order to reach the vast majority of children, youth and adults who play sport at the provincial and community levels, outside Ottawa’s narrow jurisdiction.
That’s a step that Volleyball Canada, one of the first sports to sign on to the independent investigator, has already taken. It is the only national sport organization that required all of its provincial and territorial associations to join with it.
That means that more than 70,000 volleyball members are covered by the universal code of conduct and can submit complaints to the independent investigator. As a consequence, it has a large portion of the cases on the registry at the moment — three sanctions and nine provisional measures.
“Volleyball Canada and its provincial and territorial associations are aligned on safe sport policies,” the organization said.
While a sport sanctions registry such as this one is new for Canada, some sport associations, including Athletics Canada, already maintain their own public registry of sanctioned individuals. Other organizations, such as Hockey Canada, have balked at doing that, claiming legal and privacy concerns.