BEYOND A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT SPORT

BEYOND 2010: A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT SPORT MATTERS GROUP (SMG) MAY 1, 2008 BEYOND 2010: A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT A brief in support of nation-wide conversations amongst leaders and friends of sport & physical activity Making contributions For almost 10 years the Sport Matters Group (SMG) has been making contributions to sport and physical activity leadership, to public policy, and to social innovation. As a networked group of leaders who work collectively through voluntary contributions of time and resources, the SMG is interested in new strategies for cooperation, founded on principles of shared leadership, engagement not representation, informal systems that promote collaboration, and knowledge sharing through open source methods. Sport Matters is not an organization or an institution; rather, the SMG is made up of the efforts, ideas, relationships, resources, and values that are contributed by those who believe that sport matters. Over time, leaders, like you, who have been involved in “the SMG experiment” have been able to experience how much fun it is to work together in this new way, and what a powerful method it is to promote policy options and to innovate in how we exercise leadership in sport and physical activity. This process is another example where leaders within the SMG are interested in exercising shared leadership, and acting on it in a way that encourages an open platform for contributions to a new SMG policy framework for sport by those who wish to make those contributions. The next four months, from May through August in 2008, is an ideal time to make that specific contribution to the new framework. There are as many ways to do so as you can imagine. Engage your volunteers and Board members. Host a conversation with others in your network or organization. Write down your ideas and share them. Answer some or all of the questions below. Visit the online community at www.sportmatters.ca and look for opportunities to participate. Connect with the Friends of Canadian Sport network. Whatever way works best for you. At the end of the paper, you’ll find ways to connect with others in the SMG and to connect your leadership with others like you. Let’s go. Context In its 2004 policy brief, Sport and Physical Activity: A New Direction for Canada (known as the BHD) the Sport Matters Group (SMG) set out the community’s shared appreciation of physical activity and sport’s role in Canadian society, articulated our aspirations for sport and physical activity, and made concrete recommendations for the realization of these aspirations. Since that time, the advancement of sport and physical activity in Canada has benefited from significant, tangible, new investments, policies and programs. 1 BEYOND 2010: A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT DRAFT 6 As a backdrop to these efforts, the Canadian Sport Policy adopted in 2002 and the Physical Activity and Sport Act passed in 2003, provided a common vision and set of objectives for the development of sport in Canada as seen by federal, provincial and territorial governments, served as a basis for dialogue between governments and sport communities, and helped to focus attention – and resources – on national sport and physical activity priorities. However, in the absence of a pan-Canadian physical activity policy and with the Canadian Sport Policy heading towards its sunset in 2012, a process to establish the next generation of national priorities for Canada will be needed, beginning in 2009. Nationwide conversations In view of the progress achieved through these efforts, and the approach of a new cycle of policy renewal, the time has come once again to make a contribution to public policy – to collectively take stock, renew our vision, and identify the actions we think are necessary to build on the current contribution, and realize the full potential, of sport and physical activity for Canada. To this end, the SMG network is encouraging and supporting conversations internal to the sport and physical activity community, as well as with interested members of the voluntary and private sectors, and policy makers themselves. These conversations will lay the foundation for a highlevel policy brief that SMG will prepare, together, for fall 2008, articulating our ideas and setting out the next generation of policy priorities for the sport and physical activity community. This document will serve the dual purpose of informing sport and physical activity leaders about the nature of our shared policy work ahead, as well as describing emerging priorities for consideration by federal policy makers and joint federal-provincial-territorial sport bodies alike. Why encourage conversations like these among ourselves? What’s the problem at hand? SMG’s aim is to identify and promote new policies and investments that will help close the gap between sport’s current contribution and its enormous potential as a public asset, capable of generating a broad range of social and economic benefits for individual Canadians, their communities, and Canada. What we know right now Some aspects of this renewed agenda will build on and continue past efforts to enhance the quality, accessibility and benefits of sport and physical activity. Though there is an acknowledged need for more integrated approaches that capture the synergies between efforts to promote participation and excellence, we still need targeted strategies to: • Broaden participation and physical activity – Recently released Statscan data reveals a continuing and alarming decline in national sport participation and physical activity levels. At the same time, participation is unevenly distributed in the population, with rates lowest among vulnerable groups. A more focused and comprehensive effort is needed to identify and address the root causes of this decline, as well as barriers to accessibility. Promote excellence – While high performance sport has benefited in recent years from greater attention and investment by policy-makers, our high performance sport system is not yet operating at its full potential. Parallel attention to, and investments in, community sport are also necessary to ensure that this system is delivering on its potential and Canadians of all ages and backgrounds have access to quality sport experiences. 2 • BEYOND 2010: A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT MAY 1, 2008 • Promote a broader understanding of sport as a key public asset – Few policy makers and even communities fully grasp sport’s potential to help advance a broad range of social and economic goals -- in communities and the country as a whole. Building this understanding is critical to broadening sport’s base of support but, more importantly, to catalyzing the intentional use of sport to these ends so that its full potential can be realized. Broaden the resource base – Physical activity and sport organizations continue to rely heavily on fees, while government support is restricted to grants and contributions and few incentives exist for private sector or philanthropic engagement. A broader, more diversified resource base would strengthen the capacity of sport organizations to address capacity and infrastructure challenges. Creating more connected systems for Canadians – More integrated and effective efforts to address challenges across sport and recreation systems, and in relation to other systems, will require enhanced capacity to: engage a broad range of stakeholders in ongoing dialogue, mobilize diverse partners in coordinated action, and continually capture and apply feedback to improve strategies and initiatives. Sustain and leverage sport’s contribution and physical activity’s benefits – Because sport’s potential to generate public benefits is still largely untapped and physical inactivity is at a crisis point, concerted attention and action are needed to leverage their respective contributions and to realize the opportunities and benefits that they offer Canadians. • • • Looking beyond the sport and physical activity community proper, it’s also important that we keep our eye on broader trends and changes that will affect how we respond to the challenges and opportunities highlighted above. These include: • Increasing urbanization – Canada’s population is becoming increasingly urban, with 64% of Canadians living in a Census Metropolitan Area in 2001. Over the last 2 decades, about 1/3 of Canada’s communities have experienced continuous population decline. These communities are concentrated in the Prairies, northern Ontario and Quebec, and the most remote regions of Atlantic Canada. Growing diversity – Canada’s visible minority population is growing much faster than its total population – 25% growth from 1996 to 2001 versus 4% growth in the general population. By 2017, about 20% of Canada’s population could be visible minorities, or anywhere from 6.3 million to 8.5 million people. Ninety-five percent of these will live in an urban area, virtually unchanged from 2001. An aging population – The extent of aging will be greater in Canada than in most other developed countries, with the number of elderly over 65 years doubling from 3.9 million in 2000 to approximately 7.8 million in 2026, The proportion of elderly persons is currently 13% currently, but will increase to 25% o Canadians by 2031, A shrinking school age population – According to Statistics Canada, the number of students in Canada’s elementary and secondary schools will decline by as much as 500,000 in the next 10 years, leading to less school funding and, in many cases, closing schools or transforming them into centres for broader community-based activity and services. • • • 3 BEYOND 2010: A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT DRAFT 6 • Aging recreation infrastructure – Data from several provinces suggests that community recreation infrastructure is deteriorating and badly in need of repair or replacement. The current estimate of this’ infrastructure deficit’ for Canada as whole is $14 billion. Key questions for the future Building on the points above, a number of key questions need to be answered as the first step in developing a new policy agenda: 1. What will it take to increase sport participation in Canada from the 1 in 3 Canadians who currently actively play, coach or volunteer in sports, to 1 in 2? While sport coaching and volunteering are on the rise in Canada, direct sport participation (playing organized sports) among Canadians over age 15 has been dropping steadily – from 44% in 1992 to 28% in 2005. Youth participation rates are also dropping. Participation is also distributed unevenly along the socio-economic spectrum and among different groups within society. Most of the actions taken to date to reverse the decline in participation have been attempts to influence demand – i.e. the number of people who want to engage in sport. These efforts include initiatives like ParticipACTION and tax credits for families who register their children in sport or fitness programs. There has been little progress, however, on building supply capacity and ensuring equitable access to opportunities by: • • • • • • Enhancing the number and quality of sport and recreation facilities Ensuring an adequate supply of trained coaches and officials Providing quality daily physical education in grades K-12 across Canada Developing, supporting and retaining a healthy sport volunteer base Adapting the built environment and protecting the natural environment for sport, play, and daily physical activity Ensuring coordinated and balanced distribution of resources across these areas. Is this a valid goal in your view? If not, what would you recommend? What interventions are most likely to increase overall sport participation? Physical activity levels? What should we do to improve sport participation and physical activity among vulnerable populations e.g. low-income Canadians, newcomers, Aboriginal Canadians? 2. How do we both move to the next level in sporting excellence and sustain these gains over the long term? Sport’s own Podium Canada agency has set challenging Olympic and Paralympic goals that Canada is on the way to meeting: • • • • Place first (total medals) at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Place among top 12 (total medals) at the 2012 Winter Olympic Games Place among the top 3 nations (gold medals) at the 2010 Paralympic Games Remain among the top 5 nations (god medals) at the 2012 Paralympic Games. 4 BEYOND 2010: A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT MAY 1, 2008 Investments and changes to our high performance system are showing results, but we need to find ways to sustain these gains beyond 2012. At the same time, broader system investments aimed at the community level, that are necessary to support emerging talent and provide quality sport experiences to everyone, have not yet been made. Excellence can be supported in many ways. The challenge is to establish priorities among and within the following areas: • • • • • • • Knowledge (e.g. its application as intellectual property or in open source formats) Skills and human resource capacity Physical infrastructure (both quality and distribution) System integration (e.g. Long Term Athlete Development, inter-agency cooperation) Structures for effective national sport leadership and management (e.g. alternative service delivery and agency models) Research and innovation capabilities Resources (strategic partnerships, as well as funding sources, levels and distribution). Which of these areas present the greatest opportunities in terms of potential to move the ball forward significantly on excellence? Where are there short-term opportunities? Which areas will require sustained attention and increased investment over a longer period to yield results? What is the right mix of measures in your view to take us from 2012 to 2020? 3. How can we broaden Canadian’s understanding of the health benefits of physical activity and sport’s potential as a major (and largely untapped) generator of even broader social and economic benefits? How can we do a better job of realizing sport’s potential? In addition to sport’s inherent value and the obvious health benefits of physical activity, a growing body of evidence points to community sport’s potential to generate social capital and related benefits including education, child and youth development, social inclusion, crime prevention, neighbourhood renewal, economic development and environmental sustainability. There is also significant research that shows that, to obtain these benefits, we need to move from: • • • • Less participation to more participation, focusing on inclusion Bad sport to good sport that is value-driven and value-creating Less intentionality to greater intentionality in our use of sport to achieve social and economic aims. Low sustainability to high sustainability What can federal and provincial governments do with sport and physical activity organizations and leaders to move Canada further along each of these axes? How do we set a new baseline on each of these issues across Canada – not just temporarily but permanently? Do we know what needs to be done in each case or is further work needed? Are there actions that can be undertaken quite easily? If so, by whom? What are the most significant challenges in each of these 3 areas and what role can policy play in removing these barriers? 5 BEYOND 2010: A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT DRAFT 6 4. How can we create a larger and more diversified resource base for sport that will enable us to meet these challenges? Canada’s sport system is currently constrained by a narrow resource base that is largely dependent on fees and volunteerism and, to a far lesser extent, government grants and contributions and private philanthropy. Changes to enable sport organizations to benefit from charitable status, income tax incentives, new financing institutions (i.e. Canada Sport Bond) and/or social finance vehicles that enable them to borrow against their revenue streams, are all possible ways to broaden this base. Should we be pursuing all of these options? Do these work equally well for all kinds of sport organizations? Are there other ways to expand the resource base? What is the best mix of measures to ensure the whole sport community benefits, while maintaining a reasonable degree of organizational and community autonomy? 5. How can we do a better job of connecting different parts of the sport/physical activity community, supporting communication and collaboration, and taking a more coordinated and integrated approach to diverse but related development initiatives? New communication technologies, new ways of using old technologies, changes to CRTC regulations, and innovative institutional and collaborative arrangements can all help to promote a more connected, coordinated and integrated approach to developing the sport system and promoting physical activity opportunities. What should we be doing on this front? Where are there models we can learn from? Who in Canada is leading the way in this regard? What are the success stories we can adapt and apply elsewhere? 6. Based on Canadian and international research evidence, if Canada does this right, we can expect to reap the benefits set out below. Do you agree? Are there other benefits you would add? • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • More sport champions who are positive role models for young people A healthier, more active population, regardless of age or background Improved school enrollment, attendance and achievement More employable youth with transferable life skills Less adolescent crime and gang involvement Reduced rates of adolescent pregnancy and health risk behaviour More inclusive communities Higher levels of social capital and social trust Faster community integration of newcomers Improved inclusion, health and wellbeing of people with disabilities Strengthened Aboriginal communities and youth Improved workplace skills and productivity Enhanced sport tourism and neighbourhood renewal efforts Attraction of mobile ‘knowledge workers’ and companies that hire them to our cities Improved environmental awareness and social mobilization More sustainable sport infrastructure and events. 6 BEYOND 2010: A NEW SMG POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR SPORT Your ideas are the policy framework MAY 1, 2008 The Sport Matters Group exists because of engagement by early leaders in the policy matters that advance sport and physical activity in Canada. If you’re reading this, then that’s you and your ideas are the policy framework. This paper is geared toward your involvement in these conversations, and participation in the policy development process and advocacy efforts that follow. So please think about and share: • • How you’d like to be involved in developing the policy framework What you’d like to contribute – Expertise, host a conversation, write a paragraph or a chapter, input/feedback from your stakeholders, meet with your MP, communication channels, contacts, resources, etc. Whether you’d like to be part of a BHM – a big honking meeting – in 2009 when we look more closely at the issues over 2 or 3 days. How we can improve on conversations like this one in the future. • • For up to date information on Beyond 2010, a new SMG policy framework for sport, please visit your SMG website at: www.sportmatters.ca. As well, you can always reach out to others in the SMG network and/or share your ideas and feedback by emailing us at ian.bird@sportmatters.ca or calling Ian Bird, the senior leader at the SMG, at (613) 231-7472, x 222 or (613) 447-2488 (mobile). Please reach out to others. We’ll be reaching out again to you. 7