Funding alone won’t cure Canada’s ailing sport system

Canada’s sport ecosystem is sick.  

Many of us who have spent our lives playing or working in sport already knew this. The Future of Sport in Canada Commission confirmed it in its recent report. Last week’s announcement that the federal government will invest $755 million in Canada’s sport system is a good indication that it agrees. 

Too many people don’t have access to the joy, health and belonging that come from participating in sport. It’s too expensive. It’s hard to find places to play. It excludes certain kinds of people. It can be harsh, and too often, abusive. When things go wrong, people have nowhere to turn. 

The Commission’s mandate was to figure out how to improve the sport system in Canada, including how to make it safer for the people who play. The sport system is a mix: governments, national and provincial sport organizations, and private and community sports clubs. It also includes municipal parks and recreation and school boards, which are the entryways to sport for most people. Over the top of this system is an unambitious federal sport policy and outdated legislation. 

In more than 900 pages, the report paints a detailed, unflinching (and unflattering) picture of the many ways our sport ecosystem is ailing. In many senses, it fails to protect athletes’ basic human rights. The Commission has provided a long list of important recommendations intended to address these problems, and its work spurred this new federal funding. 

The Commission’s diagnosis is accurate. Unfortunately, the prescription misses the mark.  

Prime Minister Mark Carney has built his case for Canada on a clear vision: a country that defends its sovereignty, diversifies its economy, and stands for something distinct in the world. What is the vision for Canada’s sport system? 

Of the $755 million announced last week, $660 million will flow directly to national sport organizations, which develop our elite athletes. Without a coordinated system to pass along these benefits more widely, not much will change. 

To truly transform sport, we need to look to the root causes of the problem: a sport culture that fails to put the well-being of participants and their communities at the centre, and a sport system that is not designed to do so. If safeguarding basic protections and improving peoples’ lives through sport aren’t the point of the system, then what value does it really have? 

Canada has long recognized that access to sport and play is a basic human right. 

At its best, participating in sport is an essential element of our humanity, whether we’re thinking of competitive sport, recreational activities, or unstructured play. That’s why we talk nowadays about sport, play and movement – and why it matters that the prime minister has talked about rebuilding our systems from “playground to podium.” Our future Olympians start out on the local playgrounds. They don’t appear out of thin air. And the rest of us continue to find joy, health, and community there throughout our lives.  

Every person, child and adult alike, has a right to sport, play and movement. We need to design our systems to deliver on this right. This should be the foundational vision of our sport system. 

We need legislation and policy that explicitly recognizes this right and enables our governments to set out standards and conditions that sport systems must meet.  

Canada should start by reviewing our federal Sport Policy and renewing the Physical Activity and Sport Act, in light of the Commission’s work. 

Following that, we need mechanisms that will ensure we are making progress towards this goal. The Commission’s report outlines a “centralized sport entity” that would provide leadership and accountability. By centralizing these functions, this entity could bring together our fragmented sport system under a clear, unified vision. 

And yes, none of this works without actually funding the system at the right scale to serve people and communities across Canada. This $755 million is needed – but we need to invest in a sport system that is designed to produce the right outcomes. Throwing more money into a dysfunctional system is like pouring more water into a sieve and expecting it to hold.  

We need playgrounds, not just podiums. We need to bring people together with sport, in addition to admiring those who can set themselves apart. 

Our first step should be to agree on our common vision: a society where people can experience the dignity of sport, play and movement in their everyday lives. The next is to roll up our sleeves and build a system that moves us towards that vision. 

We know what’s going wrong with sport in Canada. We can fix it. The Commission’s work, together with this federal investment, should be a catalyst that brings us together and pushes us forward toward a human rights future for Canadian sport. 

On May 25, leaders from across Canada will come together to re-imagine what this rights-based sport system could look like. We will debate, design and collaborate. If you are ready to build, join us at Powershift 2026 – together we will shift our sport system to dignity and well-being for everyone. 

Ige Egal is the Founder & CEO of Play for Dignity, a national non-profit that focuses on the right to sport, and the host of Powershift 2026, a summit that will bring together leaders to re-imagine Canada’s sport systems.