Safety in Sport Project Updates

The Province of British Columbia has invested $7.83 million to support strategies to advance greater safety in the amateur sport sector.

viaSport’s vision is for sport to be safe, welcoming and accessible to everyone.

To reach this goal, we will:

Help people create positive sport environments by building awareness and education through the use of PlaySafe tools and resources; and
Establish an independent process to address maltreatment complaints in sport in a professional and trauma-informed manner that avoids conflicts of interest.

This work fits with viaSport’s four strategic pillars for safety in sport: Prevent, Report, Respond, and Uphold. Read more about viaSport’s position on Safety in Sport here.

Project Updates

viaSport has initiated a phased approach to advance this work:

Convene
Confirm
Create

We are currently in phase 3: Create. See below for details.

CONVENE – Complete

viaSport has been focused on advancing safety in sport since 2019 and has engaged with sport sector leaders and sport participants to understand the gaps and system needs.

Through consultations across all sport roles and levels in British Columbia, we heard a clear need for an independent complaints process that is accessible, safe from retaliation, transparent, and trauma-informed. Further, an independent process is essential to ensure impartiality, eliminate conflicts of interest, and build trust, while allowing complaints to be handled fairly without influence from the sport organizations involved. Participants also emphasized the importance of cultural safety, psychological support, confidentiality, and efficient communication to create a fair, user-friendly process for everyone.

Read more about what we learned from those opportunities:

CONFIRM – Complete

Announced on April 24, 2024, the Province, in partnership with viaSport, is establishing an independent non-profit organization (Society) that will engage with a service provider to offer professional complaint management to the BC sport Sector. Read the Information Bulletin here.

Independence is important to mitigate biases and foster accountability and transparency by prioritizing fair and impartial resolution of complaints. Setting up a Society separate from viaSport establishes independence from viaSport’s role in stewarding government’s investment in BC amateur sport. viaSport will be responsible for appointing the first Directors to the Board based on a roster of candidates that have been vetted through an independent recruitment process. viaSport will not be directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the Society.

viaSport will continue to own and develop PlaySafe, a centralized online hub with practical tools and resources for individuals to learn how to contribute to a positive sport culture and foster safe experiences.

(*Current Phase*) CREATE – Underway

Sport Safeguarding BC (SSBC) is the independent society being created to establish and maintain a complaint management system for amateur sport in BC. SSBC will independently oversee complaint resolution services with clear and enforceable standards. Read the Information Bulletin here.

To create SSBC, a Board of Directors must first be formed. An independent firm, Watson Advisors, Inc., is conducting an open call for potential SSBC Board Directors. They will be assessing potential Board Directors using a “Skills and Diversity Matrix” that was created by viaSport in consultation with the Province. Watson will recommend a slate of potential candidates who will in turn be appointed by the viaSport Board.

Next Steps: Sport Safeguarding BC will be formally registered as a Society by the Board Directors once they have been appointed. The first Directors will be responsible for overseeing the set up and operations of the new independent complaints process.

See FAQs for more details, including information on services and expected timelines.