Safety in Sport Project Updates
The Province of British Columbia has invested $7.83 million over the next few years to support strategies to advance greater safety in sport in the amateur sport sector.
Our vision is for sport to be safe, welcoming and accessible to everyone.
This investment enables viaSport to work with government and the designated sport sector to strengthen the sport culture so that all of the benefits of sport can truly be realized. This will help the Province meet its commitments to federal and provincial partners on making a safer sport system in Canada. To reach this goal, we will:
- Help individuals and organizations create positive environments and recognize maltreatment by building on the PlaySafe BC tools and resources; and
- Establish an independent solution to address complaints in sport in a professional and trauma-informed manner that avoids conflicts of interest.
These initiatives fit within 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 created a phased approach to advance this work:
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. Read more about what we learned from those opportunities:
- Ethnographic Research
- Design Sprint & Theory of Change
- PlaySafe BC Community Summits – What we Heard
- Complaints in Sport Focus groups
- Complaints in Sport Online Survey
- Workshop results from leaders of Designated Sport Organizations about complaints in sport at SportScape 2023
CONFIRM – Underway
Announced on April 24, 2024, the Province, in partnership with viaSport, will establish an independent non-profit organization that will engage with a service provider to offer professional complaints case-management and other services to the BC sport Sector. Read the Information Bulletin here.
CREATE – Underway and Next Steps
- viaSport is currently working to set up a new non-for-profit Society that will house the complaints case-management service.
- Once created, the new Society will then publish a Request for Proposals to find a service provider to offer professional complaint case-management and other services.
- Once a service provider is in place, there will be a phased approach to onboarding Designated Sport Organizations to these service offerings in 2025.