Advancing Athlete Support: A Collaborative Path for the Future of Sport in Canada
Throughout the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, we saw both inspiring performances and important conversations emerge from athletes across Canada. Many have spoken candidly about the realities of training and competing at the highest level, including the ongoing challenges related to financial support and system navigation.
At this important moment, the Future of Sport in Canada Commission’s release of its final report represents a significant and timely opportunity for reflection and progress. We commend the Future of Sport in Canada Commission for its extensive work and engagement with stakeholders across the country. The report provides a comprehensive overview that can help guide meaningful, system-wide improvements in support of Canadian athletes.
As athlete organizations, we are united in our strong and continued desire to collaborate with key actors across the Canadian sport system – including government partners, national and provincial sport organizations, and system leaders – to ensure that the report’s findings translate into real, measurable change for athletes.
We also acknowledge recent comments from Prime Minister Mark Carney indicating that athlete funding and support will be reviewed over the next six months. We see this as an important and complementary step, and an opportunity to align efforts with the broader recommendations outlined in the Commission’s report. Prime Minister Carney specifically said that “we may come to organizers and others to see how to get it right”, and we hope that the voice of the athletes will be central in these discussions.
Throughout our engagement with the Commission, we consistently emphasized several key priorities such as mandated athlete representation, strengthened safe sport reporting mechanisms, and improved resource efficiency across sport organizations. These priorities, among others, remain central to strengthening athlete support in Canada and the broader goal of building a more athlete-centred sport system. (See public submissions here: AthletesCAN, Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission)
Given the depth and importance of the Commission’s report, we will be taking the necessary time to review its findings in detail. In the coming weeks, we look forward to engaging collaboratively with partners across the system to move beyond the report and take an intentional action-oriented approach to re-define a sport system that serves both today’s athletes and future generations.
We remain committed to working together to strengthen athlete support in Canada and to ensuring that this moment leads to meaningful, lasting progress.
WHO WE ARE:
About AthletesCAN
AthletesCAN, the association of Canada’s national team athletes, is the only fully independent and most inclusive athlete organization in the country and the first organization of its kind in the world. As the voice of Canadian national team athletes, AthletesCAN ensures an athlete-centered sport system by developing athlete leaders who influence sport policy and, as role models, inspire a strong sport culture. Our priority is to ensure our members are protected and we work to address health and safety, athlete funding, athlete agreements, athlete voice, anti-doping, athlete rights, athlete recognition, and athlete social responsibility. Follow us on social @AthletesCAN.
About the COC Athletes’ Commission
The COC Athletes’ Commission is an elected group of 10 Olympic athletes who represent the voice of Canadian Olympic athletes to the Canadian Olympic Committee Board of Directors, to Sport Canada, to the International Olympic Committee, international sport federations and all other domestic sport organizations. It is instrumental in presenting Canadian athletes’ perspectives in areas ranging from athlete rights, safe sport policies, marketing & COC partnership agreements, Olympic team selection policies and much more.
About the CPC Athletes’ Council
The CPC Athletes’ Council is an elected group of current and retired Paralympic athletes (within the past eight years) that serve as the collective voice, advocating the best interests of Canada’s Paralympic athletes and the Paralympic movement within Canada. The Athletes’ Council works to provide input and recommendations from an athlete perspective to the Canadian Paralympic Committee staff, committees and Board of a Directors with respect to decision making at all levels of the organization.
For more information, please contact:
AthletesCAN
[email protected]
613-526-4025
@AthletesCAN
COC Athletes’ Commission
[email protected]
CPC Athletes’ Council
[email protected]
@CDNParalympics
