Protecting youth in sport: an examination of harassment policies

Abstract

In response to a series of high-profile cases of sexual abuse of athletes in the 1990s, sport organizations across several nations engaged in policy development intended to introduce preventive measures and processes to address athlete maltreatment. In 1996, Sport Canada – the funding body for national sport organizations (NSOs) – stipulated that such funding was to be contingent upon each NSO having a harassment policy and trained, arm’s-length harassment officers who would address complaints. Some 17 years have passed since these requirements were mandated, and it is timely to address the current status of these policies. The purpose of this study therefore was to examine the extent to which the policies of sport organizations meet the requirements stipulated by Sport Canada. A review of a sample of sport organizations revealed that 86% of national and 71% of provincial (Ontario) sport organizations had accessible harassment policies. In many, however, critical information, such as a detailed complaint process, or articulation of the rights of the complainant and respondent was missing. Although all of the national and provincial organizations’ policies included references to a harassment officer, only 10% and 14%, respectively, actually had harassment officers; furthermore, none of these were at arm’s length to the organization. The results clearly indicate that Canada is falling far short of the requirements initially stipulated by Sport Canada for athlete protection. Recommendations are made for having a centralized pool of trained harassment officers and an approach to policies and practices that reflect a broader ‘ethic of care’ approach.

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