Canada's NDP

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September 5th, 2019

NDP Statement on Liberals’ Failure to Better Protect Children Against Abuse in Sports

NDP Sports Critic and candidate Cheryl Hardcastle (Windsor Tecumseh) issued the following release:

"Six months have passed since a CBC investigation revealed the widespread instances of sexual abuse and harassment by coaches in amateur sports in Canada. Although Trudeau’s Liberals pledged to address this serious problem, they failed to follow through on any of their commitments.

The Minister of Sport, Kirsty Duncan, claimed last month that her department had rolled out a series of initiatives, but to date her government has only allocated $69 000 for unspecified ‘’safe sport initiatives’’. The Liberals are not taking this problem seriously. This is about the safety of children. We still don’t have an independent investigative unit responsible for ensuring compliance with anti-harassment policy and for complaints of abuse and harassment in sport.

The Liberals have also failed to inform organizations representing Canada’s largest participatory sports about the existence of a tip line for athletes and witnesses to call if they experience abuse.

Our young athletes deserve better.

It is time for this Liberal government to stop pretending that it has taken action on this file, when it clearly has not."