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August 29, 2009
IN THE NEWS...
CAAWS applauds “Actively Engaged” the Federal Government’s Policy on Sport for Women and Girls
Ottawa, ON. . . As the highly successful Canada Summer Games 2009 drew to a close in Charlottetown, PEI, Actively Engaged: A Policy on Sport for Women and Girls was announced by the Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of State (Sport). This policy replaces the 1986 Sport Canada Policy on Women in Sport.
CAAWS Chair, Nicole Smith was pleased to see the thoroughness of the new policy and the accompanying 2009-2012 Action Plan. “This policy reflects the current reality of what is happening across Canada in sport. We appreciate the time and effort it took to create such a thorough and thoughtful policy that encompasses all of the aspects of sport at all levels in Canada. It looks at where great improvements have been made since 1986 for participation of girls and women in sport, for the advances that women have made in leadership roles, but also identifies where gaps still exist in areas such as coaching, officiating and governance of sport organizations.”
Smith also appreciated CAAWS being involved in the process of deve
loping the policy. “We appreciate that the Federal Government, through Canadian Heritage, has made the ‘commitment to a sport system that provides quality sport experiences where women and girls are actively engaged and equitably supported in a full range of roles.’ CAAWS staff and board members were involved in the consultation that was critical to the development of this policy. While Canada has long been recognized internationally as a leader in this field, we want to applaud the Minister of State (Sport) for ensuring that girls will continue to have meaningful opportunities to be involved in sport throughout their lifetime, as both participants and leaders.”
CAAWS looks forward to assisting with the implementation of the policy through its Action Plan 2009-2012. “As the policy identifies, all of sport benefits when women are involved as leaders. CAAWS has an internationally recognized Women and Leadership Program that helps women to be successful as leaders. To assist both organizations and women who are interested in serving on boards, Women on Boards: A Guide to Getting Involved produced by CAAWS in partnership with 2010 Legacies Now, provides practical resources to ensure strong representation and leadership from women at the board level. CAAWS has also supported the Coaching Association of Canada with its successful Women in Coaching program, and is currently doing extensive work increasing physical activity opportunities for Low Socioeconomic Status Mothers as well as research into the ways to increase sport and physical activity participation for women aged 55-70.” Smith continued.
“And lastly, we appreciate that the policy recognizes that engaging women and girls as participants begins at the grassroots level, so that they can continue that involvement through the provincial, national and international levels. Unless girls begin playing sport at a young age, Canada will not see the successful elite women athletes who have become role models as Canada’s World, Olympic and Paralympic Champions. Without programs that encourage women to continue their involvement in sport as coaches, technical and governance leaders and officials, we won’t see the strong leaders in our National Sport and Multi-Sport Organizations, or see Canadian women officiating and coaching at World Championships and Olympic Games. We are glad to see measurement and evaluation built into the Action Plan and we look forward to seeing the demonstrated results of Canadian Heritage’s leadership to implement this policy,” Smith concluded.
Follow these links for the full text of the new policy and the action plan .
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