‘Sense of urgency’ guiding Canada’s first sport integrity commissioner

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Sarah-Ève Pelletier’s office won’t start accepting abuse complaints until June 20, but Canada’s first sport integrity commissioner has spent the past two weeks laying the groundwork for what she says will be an efficient, compassionate, fair and independent operation.

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“We are working with a sense of urgency because my sense is that results will never come soon enough for those who have been waiting for them,” Pelletier said Wednesday. “We know that once we open our operations, we will need to address every matter as quickly as we can possibly do, and we’ll do that. However, we cannot do that by compromising first off, finalizing and developing right now the best system possible, and then implementing that system come June 20. We can’t compromise on offering a trauma-informed process to our users, offering something that will be compassionate, that will be efficient, as I mentioned around the urgency and time-sensitivity, as well as fair for all the parties involved. We’re balancing, I would say, those two aspects. But we are working with a sense of urgency.”

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The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) will operate as a separate division within the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada. Starting June 20, it will receive and address individual complaints of violations of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport. If the office receives broader complaints — Canadian gymnasts and boxers past and present have recently gone public with allegations of toxic culture, for instance — the office will have a process in place to address those as well.

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“If that’s the case, then our office will also look into more systemic and cultural issues by performing something that we call sport environment assessment. We are currently in the development phases of what that part of our role will entail.”

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OSIC investigations will be conducted by a roster of experts retained by the office, but acting independently of it. That’s an important distinction for Pelletier.

“This is one of the key elements of the system, that we built it with independence at its core and for that to be true, the investigations will be performed through experts in their field, and they’re going to perform their role independently, they’re not going to be staff per se.”

Pelletier’s staff currently consists of a director of investigations and a program manager who will help triage complaints. The staff will grow as necessary, to ensure its efficacy. It has been funded by the federation government, which designated $16 million for it in the most recent budget.

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“My team and our office, yes, will make sure that we are prepared to address what’s going to come our way and to again, offer our best support, whether it be through mental health referrals or legal aid, we’re going to do our best to accompany the complainants every step of our process with resources,” said Pelletier.

She comes to this job with impressive credentials, including two law degrees, a recent position with the Canadian Olympic Committee and a sporting career as a national team artistic swimmer. She has a clear vision of what success will look like in this new role.

“One case of maltreatment in sport is too many. Sport shouldn’t be about that. Speaking from my personal experience, sport should be about experiencing joy and growth and self-confidence and lifelong friendships. And quite frankly, when I hear that not everyone experiences the benefits that sport is meant to offer, it truly breaks my heart.

“Success is abuse is eradicated from sport in Canada, also globally. That would be success, and we go back to what sport should be about; experiencing those values and benefits that sport has to offer.

“I would say there is a journey to get there. What we will do to get to this is our utmost, very best to create a safe environment for complainants and people in sport to turn to and to help address the concerns that they have.”

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Twitter.com/sportsdanbarnes