When environments are more inclusive and accessible, everybody wins. Recent studies found that over 90 percent of girls decreased or stopped playing sports during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 1 in 4 are not committed to returning to sport.
To help reverse this trend, Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, today announced renewed funding of $25.3 million over three years for gender equity in sport. The investment will help recruit and retain women and girls and support ongoing efforts to move towards the target of gender equity at all levels of sport by 2035.
Since the federal investment in gender equity initiatives in 2018, more than 17,500 athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, leaders and staff were engaged as part of funded programming. This renewed funding will ensure that Canadian sport better reflects Canadian society by supporting more women in coaching, officiating and leadership positions; by providing more opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport; and by enhancing the data collection and research necessary for decision making. Funding will also be used to support activities that expand efforts to include other demographic groups that are underrepresented in sport.
Minister St-Onge made the announcement following a roundtable with stakeholders on inclusion in sport. The roundtable was one of a series of three that Minister St-Onge is undertaking this fall. The subjects of the other two were greening and safe sport. These roundtables are part of a pan-Canadian consultation process to collect information that will be used to renew the Canadian Sport Policy.
