Speed Skating Canada embraces our responsibility to create, foster and maintain a culture within our training and competition environments that ensures positive, healthy and fulfilling experiences for all participants. Creating a safe and inclusive culture is our top priority and is a responsibility we share with all members of the speed skating community, including athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and administrators at all levels of our sport.

Our Safe Sport Framework is based on the combination of three approaches:

1. Our values, Code of Conduct and associated policies set the foundation for our commitment to safe sport.
2. Through education and prevention initiatives, we strengthen our system’s capacity to deliver programming and services in alignment with these goals.
3. Finally, our reporting process is clearly defined to ensure that we respond to and resolve any concerns quickly and appropriately.

The Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS) provides the foundation for a coordinated strategy to prevent and address maltreatment across all levels of the Canadian sport system, and for all participants (athletes, coaches, officials, administrators, practitioners, etc.). The UCCMS is the result of an extensive consultation process that sought insight and expertise from within the sport system and from external subject matter experts.

Speed Skating Canada has formally adopted the Universal Code as a key tool within our Safe Sport Framework for speed skating in Canada.

Access the Universal Code of Conduct for Sport

We have also adopted several internal policies that establish expected behaviour, guide decision-making and promote accountability for all individuals associated with speed skating in Canada.

Access Speed Skating Canada’s Policies

Several training programs outlined on this page, including the Respect in Sport and Safe Sport e-learning modules, are mandatory for staff, coaches and officials operating at the national level, and are encouraged for all participants at the local and provincial/territorial level. We commit to regularly reviewing these education requirements and to engaging in active discussion about safe sport with our community on an ongoing basis.

By developing an in-depth library of additional resources, we aim to provide our community with education that allows for the informed development of positive environments, the early identification of potential concerns, and the appropriate response to recognized risk.

Access Safe Sport training and resources

Our Complaints, Investigations and Discipline Policy clearly defines the process for reporting a national complaint to Speed Skating Canada. It also outlines how we work with our provincial and territorial partners to ensure issues at the local level are addressed effectively. Together, we continue to demonstrate zero tolerance for behaviour that goes against our commitment to a safe and positive environment for all participants of our sport.

On December 1, 2022, Speed Skating Canada (SSC) signed an agreement to join Abuse-Free Sport, the new independent program to prevent and address maltreatment in sport. SSC staff, Board members and National Program athletes and coaches will have access to the services of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC), which serves as the central hub of Abuse-Free Sport, following a transition period which will end no later than March 1, 2023.

Members of the broader Canadian speed skating community not covered by OSIC will also benefit from independent reporting through the new Safe Sport Speak Up Platform being launched by SSC in January 2023.

To report an incident prior to the launch of these services, please contact our independent case manager – Michelle Simpson at michelle@simpsonlaw.ca – or reach out to Speed Skating Canada’s Safe Sport Coordinator (safesport@speedskating.ca).