In February of 2021, Canadian Women & Sport held a panel discussion with sport leaders who have taken part in our Gender Equity Playbook program as they share key factors that helped them create change.

Here are a few key insights from Consuelo Zayas, Chief Financial Officer, Alpine Canada; June Sterling, Project Coordinator, Baseball Canada; Julie Gosselin, Vice President, Baseball Québec; and Richard Way, Chief Executive Officer, Sport for Life Society. In our conversation, these panelists shared what they learned in their assessment experience, including how they built the right team to tackle gender equity challenges, worked to change the culture of their sport, and collaborated with other organizations to increase their success.

*This transcript has been edited for flow and clarity.

Greer Gemin (GG): What we have heard repeatedly is that implementing gender equity needs to be a collaborative process. Who needs to be involved in this process to make sure these initiatives are successful? 

Julie Gosselin (JG): Collaboration is key. I am not saying that because we are a team sport, but that is why we have had success. We changed the narrative at Baseball Quebec when we started discussing gender equity as a key priority directly at the board level first. So that was really the board that decided that this would be a priority for us and then everything we do will be included to think about.

Then we went to what we call the president commission – so the president of each of our regions – and then bring in all our employees, both in regional and local associations. So, it was really a step-by-step approach but, I will never forget the moment we were in one room and all the presidents raised their hands to say they will commit to the plan, and they will act on it.

The step-by-step approach was really to make sure we had everyone on board, asking questions, making sure it was clear for them on how we can succeed to change the culture in a structured way. We set clear ambitions and goals that everyone had, and we encouraged each other to share our challenges but mostly to challenge the status quo.

GG: What assumptions were challenged through the assessment process with Baseball Canada? 

June Sterling (JS): This is the most important thing we have done so far in this area. Other organizations that I have worked with have just jumped right in, where doing this tool brought to light where you really are in your work. We thought, we have a national women’s team, 50% women in the office and mechanisms for dealing with harassment but at the end of the day, we are not equitable because when we dug deep with this assessment tool*, we found we were just skimming the top of it. It is helped us know that we can go a lot deeper with our work and the interesting thing for me was when I worked on it with our executive director, I always thought he saw things the same as I did, and I was wrong. We see things very differently and that shows me that we have work to do, but we are all willing to do the work.

GG: In our conversation you mentioned that it takes honesty and guts as an organization to say you are not good at something. Why do you think it is important to be honest in this process about where you can improve in building gender equity and diversity in your organization? How can you do this without being defensive or confrontational? 

JG: This is so true. We need to make sure that we are creating a safe environment to speak freely and to trust each other and I think where we were successful in our work with Baseball Canada and the other provinces, was when we completed the assessment. It is easy to answer the questions within the Gender Equity Self-Assessment Tool with things that we would like to do. Or something that we are starting to do. But that is not the point. We are really trying to know what we are doing right now.

So, it takes guts. At the end when you are looking at all the questions, it might not be overly positive, but it is a good thing because we know exactly where we are starting, and it is going to be easier to explain our story.

So, we really need to ask ourselves this hard question. It is not a competition, it is not a task, it is really a reality check. And if you genuinely want to solve the problems and get innovative ideas, you need to be honest and learn from it.

GG: The idea that there should be accessible, inclusive pathways to sport is key to the Sport for Life culture – how did this process of going through the gender equity assessment help you build on that existing work? 

Richard Way (RW): What we have tried to do is support staff in terms of taking training. We are grateful around the Gender Equity Playbook because again it allowed us to have those conversations that Julie talked about. Those conversations helped us to look at the diversity of our organization and allowed us to see where we had gaps and what we needed to address.

We are also fortunate to have very engaged, eager, young staff and their expectations just in how they see the world is more evolved than people who were born in the 50s and 60s. Their expectations are so much more around learning and how they see the world in a much more balanced way. So, it is not a re-training but an opportunity to understand more and in doing that allows us as to empower at all levels of the organization. It must be engaged at all levels of the organization. In terms of the passion of our younger staff and then that feeding right up to where there is a commitment at the board level to ensure that these things are entrenched organizationally.

GG: You mentioned that Alpine Canada took up this work because you wanted to be more representative of the community you serve. Can you talk about why that is so important and the risks that exist when an organization does not represent their community? 

Consuelo Zayas (CZ): The Federal Government set a standard for the nation when a gender balanced cabinet was introduced for the first time in Canadian history in 2015 and the reason provided was “Because it’s 2015”.  It is now 2021 and the reasoning still stands as women represent 50% of the population and have earned the right to be represented at every level.

Additionally, exclusivity is a financial risk. Organizations that do not represent the communities that we are trying to inspire will become obsolete. Funding partners seek out organizations that are aligned with the community and that reflect their own values and that means having an inclusive culture and organizational structure that considers diversity in all aspects of the organization. Diversity is about diversity of thought which is what gives an organization the resilience to meet challenges and grow with the community.

*The assessment tool referenced is the Gender Equity Self-Assessment Tool.

Panelist Bios 

Julie Gosselin, ASC. C.Dir., Vice President, Baseball Québec 

Julie Gosselin is Assistant Vice President, Advisor Sales Support, at Sun Life. She is the first woman to be appointed president of Sports Québec, she is also vice-president of Baseball Québec and, a member of Baseball Canada Gender Equity committee. She completed the University Certification in Corporate Governance from the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés (CAS) to become an ASC and Chartered Director (C.Dir.) from The Directors College. Prior to joining Sun Life, Julie worked at RDS and participated in the broadcasting of the Olympic Games in Vancouver and London.

June Sterling, Project Coordinator, Baseball Canada 

June Sterling comes from a family of four girls, raised by a mom who never had the opportunities to realize her worth. She took on the persona of a “tom boy” in hopes of being taken seriously and embraced things like sports and fitness. After making a career switch to chase her dream of working in the sport world, she landed in her current role as Project Coordinator and Safe Sport Liaison for Baseball Canada. She works hard for equality in sport, but other professional areas as well, to pave the way for future generations, and works to bring gender, equity, and diversity to baseball. One of her proudest accomplishments is raising her daughter to be a strong woman. 

Richard Way, Chief Executive Officer, Sport for Life Society 

Richard is the CEO of the Sport for Life Society and an architect of the Long-Term Athlete Development Framework. Richard has facilitated the use of Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity for over 60 sports in more than 100 countries, and co-authored the book, Long-Term Athlete Development, with Istvan Balyi and Dr. Colin Higgs. Throughout his career, Richard has been an innovative leader, a catalyst for advancing quality sport and developing physical literacy; throughout the course of his career, he has contributed to more than 100 resources on sport and physical literacy development.  

Consuelo Zayas, Chief Financial Officer, Alpine Canada 

Consuelo Zayas is an accountant with 20 years’ experience managing accounting and human resource teams.  She is proud to be the first African Canadian to hold the lead finance management role in every organization in which she has worked and thrives when building and leading a dynamic team environment focused on achieving key organizational goals. As CFO at Alpine Canada Alpin, Consuelo applies her technical expertise and experience in making Canada’s national ski team a best-in-class National Sports Organization. 

The post Forward Together: Sport Leaders Share Their Gender Equity Journeys appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

In 2019/2020, Canadian Women & Sport partnered with graduate student Amina Haggar to explore the experiences of second-generation African Canadian teen girls in a community sport program in Ottawa, Ontario. Haggar, an MA Candidate under the supervision of Dr. Audrey Giles at the University of Ottawa, conducted interviews with eleven sport coordinators and coaches involved in the City of Ottawa’s Community Centre Basketball League (CCBL). The project was supported by a Match Grant from the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC). 

In studying the experiences of second-generation African Canadian girls in sport through the insights of community program leaders, Haggar was challenged with the task of “dwelling in the tensions,” to quote her supervisor. She dealt with highly complex ideas and experiences that related closely to her own experience as someone who immigrated to Canada at a young age, and who has been involved in community-based sport programs all her life as a participant, volunteer, and staff member.

Haggar sat down with Greer Gemin, Marketing and Communications Coordinator with Canadian Women & Sport, to talk about the research project, the impacts of COVID-19, and the key outcomes for community sport organizations. *This transcript has been edited for flow and clarity.

Check out this infographic for recommendations for sport practitioners to better engage second-generation African Canadian girls in sport.

Greer Gemin (GG): The recommendations from this research respond to the specific needs and barriers faced by second-generation African Canadian girls involved in community sport. Why did you choose to focus on this group of girls in your research?

Amina Haggar (AH): Within the academic literature on the participation of teen girls in sport, I never saw discussions of second-generation Canadians. You would see papers focusing on the experiences of ethnic minorities, Muslim girls, LGTBQ+ youth…those identities are often compartmentalized, and I wanted to explore how different intersections of identity relate to each other.Second-generation Canadians are a significant user group of community sport programs. It is important to understand how their cultural experiences and background influence their access to and participation in programs to ensure their needs are being met.

GG: The COVID-19 pandemic required you to change your research design from focusing on program participants, to interviewing program leaders. What was valuable or different about interviewing the activity leaders rather than the participants?

AH: Because this is a feminist project based in participatory principles, ideally the voices of the youth would be guiding the research and reflected in any knowledge mobilization products (e.g., academic publications). This wasn’t possible because of COVID-19 restrictions but should be a priority for any future study. With that said, there was a huge benefit to interviewing program staff. They form important relationships with program participants and have essentially watched these kids grow up. Many of the staff live in the community and were themselves program users and volunteers before becoming staff members. This brought invaluable depth to the research process and findings.

The CCBL’s key priority was understanding why girls were not joining their programming. The research question and study design were based on discussions I had with their staff, and we had a Community Advisory Board involved in all our decision making to ensure the project stayed true to the needs of the community.

GG: Why is it important to be so specific to community needs when addressing the challenge of keeping teen girls in sport?

AH: We need to move away from a one-size-fits-all philosophy. We make assumptions about the needs of groups of people, and we are always looking for the path of least resistance to offer community sport programming that is suitable for the greatest number of participants. It ultimately does a disservice to people who are overlooked in the first place. African Canadians deal with a lot of challenges that arise because of their racial identity, religious identity, gender, and socio-economic status. The only way you can deliver a quality program is by making sure it meets the needs of the community participating, and you can’t do that if you’re copying-and-pasting.

GG: What is one of your biggest takeaways or surprises from this research project?

AH: It wassurprising to me to learn the extent that babysitting duties disrupt program attendance. Limited access to affordable childcare services is a major barrier for low-income and working-class parents. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this challenge. With many parents depending on their teen daughters to babysit, the eldest girls within the family will often miss out on sport and physical activity. This speaks to the impact of systemic and structural challenges on the participation of African Canadian teen girls, particularly in low-income families. Addressing childcare needs in the short-term can open doors for more teen girls to participate in sport by breaking the cycle of dependence. Longer-term goals should also focus on shifting gender norms that contribute to unequal expectations that girls should take on babysitting responsibilities.

GG: Based on your research findings, what are some key recommendations for sport and physical activity leaders?

AH: Go all in, give the girls the prime-time slots and show them their program is important. I’m hoping this study will bring attention to the fact that ethnocultural minority second-generation Canadians require more attention in sport program and policy development as a growing segment of the Canadian population. Sport leaders can learn from the inclusive hiring practices used by CCBL coordinators to recruit coaches – at the CCBL, their program users become the future leaders and coaches of the programs. With this hiring model, lived experience is recognized as a key part of understanding the needs and challenges of community members.

I also think senior decision-makers across all community sport organizations need to create space for program leaders to share their experiences and knowledge. Staff know the barriers and challenges experienced by participants, but those barriers and challenges can persist if insights aren’t filtered up the organizational hierarchy. Better communication processes can help ensure the knowledge of those leaders who show up on Tuesdays from 3-8pm isn’t going to waste.

GG: We’ve spoken before about the idea that just having a girls’ program available isn’t enough. Can you elaborate?

AH:  We have to shift our thinking from asking “why aren’t girls coming to our programming?” to “why should they come?” What are we doing to ensure the program is meeting their needs and hitting any number of important considerations for quality sport?

We have to remember that youth are discerning customers. The girls can sense the level of effort and care put into a program and may react with ambivalence if they feel like an afterthought. Sure, they are focused on things like Instagram and Tik Tok, but they also think really deeply about their lives and have lots of different challenges and struggles that program leaders and decision-makers must consider for success.

This blog has been co-published by SIRC and Canadian Women & Sport as part of ongoing collaboration. While experiences of second-generation girls and newcomer girls are different, many of the recommendations for sport leaders are similar. You can find recommendations for sport organizations looking to better engage and integrate newcomer girls and women into sport and physical activity programming in Canadian Women & Sport’s new handbook.

About Amina

Amina Haggar is a University of Ottawa Master of Arts in Human Kinetics candidate under the supervision of Dr. Audrey Giles. She received her Bachelor of Science with specialization in Human Kinetics from the University of Ottawa in 2017. Using an intersectionality theoretical framework, Amina’s thesis-based research examines the recruitment and participation of second-generation African Canadian adolescent girls involved in the City of Ottawa’s Community Centre Basketball League (CCBL). In her youth, Amina spent numerous years working as a Sport Coordinator in the City of Ottawa’s Girls n’ Women and Sport Department and with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa as a Youth Worker in the organization’s afterschool and summer-based recreational programs. Presently, Amina works at Somerset West Community Health Centre in the Children and Youth Services Department having previously served as a Community Development Support Worker, Youth Leadership Camp Coordinator, and board member on the Anti-racism Community Project. Amina is passionate about advancing opportunities for socially disadvantaged communities and empowering youth.

About SIRC:

Incorporated in 1973, SIRC, the Sport Information Resource Centre, is Canada’s leader and most trusted partner in advancing sport through knowledge and evidence. SIRC is committed to engaging with organizations and individuals involved in the development of sport, recreation and physical education in Canada and around the world, to enhance the capacity of our shared community to foster growth and the pursuit of excellence. Visit sirc.ca to learn more. SIRC is funded in part by the Government of Canada.

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Squash BC was one of the first Canadian organizations to host a Women’s Squash Week trying to encourage more girls and women to try out the sport. They developed a tool kit for the club professionals, who are predominantly men, to help them increase their numbers.  But after two years, the week wasn’t having the desired impact and the number of new women participants had plateaued.   Sue Griffin, the chair of Squash BC’s women and squash committee at the time had a novel idea.  She asked every club pro to identify a woman champion in their location.   That champion would work with the pro to develop specific events during Women’s Squash Week that the participants would find engaging.  Often, they were social evenings with food and prizes and a little squash thrown in for good fun. They encouraged everyone, especially those who had never tried the sport, to take the court and provided all the gear and racquets.  That was phase one of the initiative.  In phase two, which they called “The Emerging Female Leaders in Squash Program”, they looked to retain the 18 new ambassadors as well as the new women the ambassadors were able to bring into the sport during Women’s Squash Week.

The WISE Fund Solution

The 18 ambassadors were tasked with bringing new women into the sport and into their clubs with fun activities during Women’s Squash Week.  But for these and other women to stay in the sport, Squash BC felt it was also important they see women in leadership positions as role models.  That’s why recognizing the women ambassadors for their commitment to the sport and helping them develop as leaders was another key part of the project. “The WISE Fund was critical in providing a means to recognize and retain these female ambassadors,” Griffin says.  Many of the clubs nominated their ambassadors for two $500 grants that Squash BC offered, with the help of the WISE Fund, to honour two Emerging Leaders in squash.   Squash BC also brought the ambassadors together for a forum in October to enhance their leadership skills and to be part of a panel discussion sharing “lessons from the locker room”. 

The Results

Squash BC had great success pairing up the female ambassadors with a male pro in each club, who could serve as a mentor and help them develop as leaders.  “The initiative was all about making sure these female champions could stay in sport.  It was also about ensuring new participants could have further opportunities.  It’s been tremendous on both fronts,” Griffin says.  The ambassadors were able to ensure 66 per cent more participation in Women’s Squash Week in 2018, with more than 300 new participants. Many of these new players are still in the game today and many of the ambassadors are continuing to lead programs in their clubs.  Griffin, who has been a CEO of Tennis and the Sports Hall of Fame in BC says the model for what Squash BC was able to do might be interesting for other organizations to replicate.  It went well beyond a one off static event like a women’s squash week to consider a long-term strategy to keep women in the game.  “We had never done anything like this before and it’s never been done in any Provincial Sport Organization here in the province.”

The Lessons

When Squash BC originally considered the initiative, there were people who said it would never work.  Some said they had never done it before, there were costs involved and the clubs wouldn’t get behind it.   “In sport, we need to be able to think like entrepreneurs.  Be creative, take chances, embrace entrepreneurial risk that’s mitigated,” Griffin says.  She adds, “Sometimes we just need to break down the barriers that are self-imposed.  If there is a good idea, explore it, run with it and learn from it.”

The Stories

Rebecca Vassilakakis

• Received $500 grant as Female Ambassador and Emerging Leader
• Nelson Squash Club
• Junior Provincial and National Squash Champion
• Squash Coach and Board Member

Having been raised in a passionate squash family, Rebecca Vassilakakis started playing competitive squash when she was just 10 years old.  As a Junior based in Prince George, she grew her skills and became the provincial junior champion and national junior champion.  Squash has been a lifetime endeavour for her.  Now with three young children, Vassilakakis continues to play and is currently ranked in the top 10 among women in the province.  In addition to playing, she has coached at the Canada Winter Games and is a Board Member at the Nelson Squash Club.

When Squash BC was looking for women to become ambassadors, Vassilakakis made a perfect choice.  She helped host three different events during Women’s Squash Week to promote participation of girls in the sport in Castlegar, Trail and Nelson.  The events were very successful especially at the Nelson Squash Club, where over 20 women who had never played squash before attended.

“The goal was to make it a really fun social night.  We told them to come and have a glass of wine and try out squash.  Even without ever having swung a squash racquet people were encouraged to participate.  We provided gear, racquets, eye guards, balls.  We told them to come and try it for free and see if you like the sport,” Vassilakakis says.  

“The $500 really did help us.  We decided to set aside a few hundred dollars to buy some snacks, drinks and prizes and to make it a good time.  These events have really helped build our base for our women’s squash program.  Over time it has helped grow our membership.  Now they’re part of that whole community.”

Being chosen as one of two winners of Squash BC’s Emerging Female Award and receiving $500 was extra special for Vassilakakis.  It instilled pride for the effort she has been making as a volunteer.  “I’m putting in a lot of time behind the scenes to help grow the club.  So, it was just really nice to be acknowledged by Squash BC and kind of said to me, ‘hey keep doing what you are doing’.” 

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Coach New Brunswick is a not for profit organization dedicated to providing professional development and learning opportunities for coaches at all levels across the province.  This runs the gamut of helping develop coaches at the grass roots and community level to competition coaches who are going to the Canada Games and beyond.  One of the organization’s priorities is to empower more women to become strong role models and leaders within sport.  Coach NB applied for the WISE Fund grant to bring together for the first time ever past recipients of the Women in Coaching Canada Games Apprenticeship program.  This allowed for the most significant evaluation of the program to date. 

The WISE Fund Solution  

The Women in Coaching Canada Games Apprenticeship program was established to help build capacity in underrepresented populations in coaching such as women and Indigenous people.  The purpose of the program is to give newer coaches a practical and integrated national multi-sport games experience by teaming them with a mentor coach. 

Ashleigh Milani, manager of coach education at Coach NB says, “We felt it was time to re-evaluate how we were doing things to see if the program was achieving what it was meant to and if we, as Coach New Brunswick, were selecting the right candidates and making sure they were being followed through with afterwards.” 

In September 2019, Coach New Brunswick held its annual conference in Beresford, in northern New Brunswick.  The event kicked off with a sharing evening where the apprentice coaches, who attended from all over the province thanks to the WISE Fund, took centre stage.  They spoke about their experiences and the key lessons that could be drawn from them. Coach New Brunswick officials weren’t the only ones taking notes.  There were mentors and mentees from some of their other coaching programs on hand. 

The Results  

The majority of the apprentices are still coaching after having terrific experiences with great mentor coaches at the Games and advancing far on their coaching pathway as a result of the program.  This offered proof that the program is working.   

However, a couple of the apprentices were frustrated with the way their mentors worked with them and how they became a part of the team.  Milani says they learned sometimes the head coaches who became mentors were selected too late in the process and were unclear about the program guidelines.  Sometimes, the provincial sport organization simply wanted another coach on the team and did not understand how they needed to integrate the apprentice on the team and give them a meaningful role. 

Milani says this has had a profound impact on how Coach NB now chooses apprentice coaches.  “A part of our selection criteria now is having the provincial sport organization describe to us who their head coach is, how they see the apprentice coach fitting in, what a meaningful role looks like to them– that being on deck, on field or on ice experience, directly hands on with the athletes – not just sitting on the side of the track and taking splits or keeping stats -having active engaged coaching roles with the athletes.” 

The Lessons   

Coach NB benefited long-term from this initiative because the mentors and mentees who are part of Coach NB’s other mentorship and advancement programs for women were also in attendance at the annual conference.  

Many commented how they couldn’t believe there were other women in the community like them.  Some are in male-dominated sports where they are the only woman coaching at the provincial level or within their community.  They didn’t realize others face similar challenges.    

As a result, Coach New Brunswick decided they are not going to wait another 10 years to host a similar conference.  Instead, they are going to bring participants together more frequently so they can have a support network as part of the mentorship program. 

Milani says the biggest lesson for other organizations is you do not have to have all the solutions.  You just need to give people a platform  and opportunities to come together. 

The Stories  

Melanie Melanson  

• Head Coach of the Codiac Vikings Swim Club 
• Moncton, New Brunswick 
• Women in Coaching Apprentice Coach at the Canada Games in Sherbrooke in 2013 

Melanie Melanson swam for 15 years and just missed going to the Canada Games as an athlete.  After her swim career ended, she became an assistant coach at that same club in Moncton where she swam. 

Just before the 2013 Canada Games, she was about to quit coaching, but she was encouraged to apply for the Women in Coaching Canada Games Apprenticeship Program.  She was surprised when she was selected.  

Coach New Brunswick helped cover the costs for Melanson to travel to British Columbia to get her level 3 coaching certification, which was a requirement to coach at the Games. 

“They paid for everything leading up to it and it’s a significant cost – it’s not something that as an assistant coach making $11 an hour, you’re going to be able to afford to do.” 

The Games were an eye opening experience.  She found it both “overwhelming and awesome”. Melanson was given a group of athletes to work with just like the other more experienced coaches.   

“It was kind of like being thrown into the deep end a little bit and that’s the best way to learn how to swim.” 

That didn’t stop Melanson from being overcome with emotion after an intense couple of weeks and just before the open water swimming event. 

“I had no idea what was going on.  It was my first experience with open water,” she says.  Melanson adds, “I just found a tree and had a bit of a cry under it.” 

But she says she was lucky she had great support from the other coaches who served as mentors.  After her experience in Sherbrooke, she was chosen to coach at the next Canada Games in Winnipeg. 

Now the head coach of the Codiac Vikings Swim Club in Moncton, she leads athletes at all levels and even has one athlete in contention for the Tokyo Olympics. 

“The apprenticeship allowed me to take coaching from being a hobby or just something I did part time to something that I’m now doing full-time.  And I have had international opportunities as well.  I was able to coach with Team Canada last summer at the World Junior Championships in Budapest.  So, I have travelled the world and the country and now I get to run my own program. So as far as I’m concerned, it changed my whole life.” 

Coach New Brunswick recorded a podcast with Melanson and some of the other apprentice coaches.  You can listen here:   http://coachnb.ca/wic-roundtable/ 

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In a male dominated sport like basketball, the senior director of basketball development for Ontario Basketball, Lindsay Walsh, says there are many reasons women drop out of the game.  In the most extreme cases, the environment is sometimes actively exclusionary.  Walsh says as a former athlete and more recently coach and official, she has seen that first-hand.  As a referee, she says she has endured inappropriate comments from parents and coaches.  There is only about one woman for every ten men involved in basketball as referees, and since 2003, the number of women coaches in Ontario has not improved a great deal. It’s about one for every three males, the same as participants.  While the number of boys playing basketball continues to increase, the number of girls has plateaued.  That’s why Walsh says it is crucial they keep as many girls and women as possible from leaving the sport, and that all begins with girls and women better understanding the many pathways available to them when they stop playing. 

The WISE Fund Solution  

In 2015, the Ontario Basketball Association hosted an all-girls high school education symposium where 50 high school girls were offered an opportunity to learn from top women in various leadership positions in the sport.   The symposium speakers  included Carly Clarke, the head coach of the Ryerson Women’s Basketball Team who was also an assistant coach with Canada’s National Women’s Team, Michelle Bell, the head athletic therapist at Ryerson, Michelle O’keefe, who at the time was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Basketball, as well as Leisa Washington, who was the first woman WNBA player agent in Canada.   

Ontario Basketball hosted the event in partnership with the Ryerson University Women’s Basketball Team and Lady Ballers, an organization which provides summer camps and other opportunities for inner city youth from marginalized communities in the Greater Toronto Area.  The WISE fund grant paid the costs for the 50 high school students to attend the symposium including 25 students who were involved with Lady Ballers. 

The Results 

The young high school participants met industry leaders who shared their stories, challenges as well as the many opportunities available. Lindsay Walsh from Ontario Basketball says, “the feedback we heard from the girls was how important it was to be in the room with their peers as well as to hear from women who are at the forefront of the industry.”  Walsh adds, “It’s important for these young athletes to continue in the game or we’re never going to have representation as coaches, officials and administrators.  They’re going to continue to drop off.”  After the symposium, one of the high school students who participated was offered assistance to upgrade her coaching certification, another was offered assistance with certification as an official. 

The Lessons 

Walsh says a key lesson for other organizations is to ensure these are not one-off events.  She says the symposium demonstrated how important it is for girls and women to be part of a network of women who understand what it is like to be in this environment and who support one other. They know they are not alone and have others they can turn to for assistance.  “If you don’t feel the organizational support and have the mentorship then eventually the experiences in the environment will contribute to the drop out again.” 

In the future, Walsh wants to study the overall environment in her sport and whether they can make it less competitive, something she believes may be driving many girls from the sport.  “Maybe the competitive environment is serving the 20 per cent of girls who are driven and want to be in a competitive environment but perhaps the other 80 per cent we’re losing because it is too stressful and not fun.” 

Walsh says the symposium helped create more of an organizational awareness within Ontario Basketball of the kinds of ongoing things they need to do to move the needle when it comes to the involvement of women and girls in the sport.   The organization has been working closely with Canadian Women & Sport on other initiatives ever since.  

The Stories 

Rachel Ajibolade  

One of the participants who came from the Lady Ballers group was Rachel Ajibolade.  In Grade 10 at the time, she had been playing basketball since she was in Grade 4 but never imagined there were so many career opportunities available in sport. 

“It was awesome to see the different types of amazing women doing great in their respective career fields,” she says.  Ajibolade adds, “It just opened doors that I didn’t necessarily know were there.” 

Even though it was five years ago, she remembers the symposium like it was yesterday. 

“From seeing how this symposium affected the girls that I went with, myself and how we were empowered in both sports and leadership, I think it’s very important to encourage these kinds of things for young girls from an early age and continuing in their young adulthood.” 

Sparked by her conversations with the head athletic therapist at Ryerson, Ajibolade became fascinated with sport injuries and saw herself working in the field one day. 

She says the symposium had a huge impact on her because she learned about Ryerson as an institution and ultimately it led to her decision to pursue health care.  Now in her second year of nursing at Ryerson, she hopes to get her sport injuries certification after she graduates.  She also remains involved with Lady Ballers as a coach. 

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The Northwest Territories Soccer Association struggles to get women into coaching and specifically moving up through the ranks from community level coaching into the performance stream.  Lyric Sandhals, who is the executive director, says it is difficult to find coaches in general in the north, but it is particularly a problem for women in NWT. 

One of the issues they face comes from the fact that the Northwest Territories is a transient community and people come and go.  Many leave to attend university or college and when they come back, it is hard to get them back into coaching.  They sometimes feel the game has changed and their skills haven’t kept up. 

The WISE Fund Solution 

Sandhals applied for a grant to help put on a 40-hour intense C license coaching training in May 2019, bringing instructors into Yellowknife from BC and Saskatchewan.  The grant reduced course fees and covered some travel expenses for seven women to participate including six from Yellowknife and one from Fort Smith, a more remote and isolated community. In total, there were 23 participants receiving the coaching training including the seven women. 

The Results 

In 2018, Sandhals could only attract one woman to take C license coaching training.  With seven women taking the course in 2019 and all seven still actively involved in soccer as either coaches or managers, Sandhals calls the initiative a huge success.  A handful of the women have quickly moved up the ranks to coach or manage teams at major games.  The course gave them a boost of confidence, showed them they belonged and helped them connect with one another to share experiences. 

The Lessons 

Sandhals is hoping to put together an all-women C license coaching course for the first time in the history of the Northwest Territories.  She heard feedback from some of the participants about being intimidated at times in the course especially when they are being evaluated as they run actual practices and drills in front of their peers.   

“They are definitely more confident running sessions and participating in an all-women environment especially if they haven’t been coaching for a while,” Sandhals says. 

The Stories 

Keirra Alty 

• Head Coach, 2020 Arctic Winter Games Juvenile Women’s Team 
• Yellowknife, Northwest Territories 

Keirra Alty has coached for many years at the community level but she didn’t feel qualified to apply for a coaching position at the Arctic Winter Games.  She needed to take the C license course to even be considered and with Sandhals’ encouragement, she put her name forward. 

“Before the course, I was terrified because I was like I don’t know if I’m at this level.  I don’t know if I have the resume to do this.  So, this course was huge for me.  Getting there and talking to the instructors, talking to the other coaches, I was like I’m not that far behind.” 

Alty, who has participated as an athlete three times in the Arctic Winter Games, twice in soccer, once in basketball, now realizes that experience has given her a unique perspective. She says the course took her coaching to a whole new level. It also showcased how the game has changed in the past decade and how to incorporate that into her coaching. 

She walked away with new tools, resources and confidence.  As an elementary school teacher as well as a soccer coach in the Northwest Territories, she often encourages young girls to try sports and believes it is crucial that young girls there see themselves in these leadership roles.   

“Growing up in soccer, almost all of my coaches were men,” Alty says.  She adds, “It’s definitely a different experience having a woman as your coach because you can relate to them in different ways.  So, I think it’s really positive and it’s a good thing to showcase women in coaching roles for these girls – to show them one day this is where you could be.” 

Selected as head coach for the Arctic Winter Games Juvenile Women’s Team, the games ended up being cancelled in March because of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Still, Alty is hoping to continue coaching at the next two editions of the Arctic Winter Games. 

Lori Rutherford-Simon 

• Manager, 2019 Western Canada Summer Games, Women’s Team  
• Part of an all-women coaching staff  
• Fort Smith, Northwest Territories 

Lori Rutherford-Simon is a mother of six from Fort Smith, an isolated community that is an eight hour drive from Yellowknife.    

While she has remained involved in the sport as a Board member for Northwest Territories Soccer, she says she has not played the game in years.  Being from a remote part of NWT, she was grateful for the opportunity to attend the course because it is expensive to travel for coaching training.   

Rutherford-Simon was recently part of the all-women coaching staff for the women’s soccer team that represented NWT at the Western Canada Summer Games. She was the manager and the head coach and assistant coach were also women, the first time Sandhals can remember that happening in her history with the Northwest Territories Soccer Association. 

 “I do think it was a fairly monumental moment or event,” Rutherford-Simon, who has five daughters and one son, says.  She adds, “  It’s really important to be able to see yourself in your role models.” 

She has a message for other women potentially interested in coaching or in other leadership roles. 

“I would say grab any and every opportunity that comes your way.  It can be very difficult to juggle a career like I’m a teacher – I work full time with children and coaching.  And I think sometimes, those are barriers for women.  It was a great and valuable learning experience for me.” 

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Judo Canada says one of its biggest challenges “is the insufficient involvement of women in the sport, and a low retention of women as staff in the organization.”   Judo is a male dominated sport at every level from participants, to coaches, to Board Directors, to referees.  Since 2002, only 24 per cent of people involved in the sport have been women.   

The WISE Fund Solution  

With the help of a WISE Fund grant, in June 2018 Judo Canada invited women from all over the country involved in the sport to attend the first ever Judo Women’s Summit in Montreal.  There were keynote speakers and workshops held to discuss everything from nutrition, to psychological and social factors, and other issues that affect gender equity in the sport.  The chief executive officer of Judo Canada, Nicholas Gill, set the scene by speaking about the current situation and why having more women participating is so important to the organization’s long-term strategy.   

The Results 

A report released after the Summit noted there are many reasons why girls and women drop out of judo when they reach puberty, including the fact that until age 12, judo is a mixed sport for boys and girls in Canada in clubs and in competition. Some young athletes worry about the risk of injury or speak about the difficulty of maintaining weight.  The culture of the sport was also identified as a part of the problem.  Women coaches and referees, who are in the minority, say it can be subtle but sometimes it is difficult garnering respect from some men in the sport. 

There were five recommendations that came after the Summit including the need for more intentional targeting of qualified women for promotion, whether as coaches, Board members or in other leadership positions in judo.   Other recommendations include the need for more appropriate training to better equip women to help them break through the glass ceiling and into decision making roles.  The report highlighted as well that men should receive training to support women in those positions.  Enhanced education was also a key recommendation including the need for women athletes to know about the different pathways available when their careers end and a call for a recognition program for inspirational women role models in the sport.  Émilie-Claude Leroux, who is a member of Judo Canada’s women’s committee, says that has been a priority for Judo Canada.  “Our goal is to expose what the women are doing within the judo community – whether it’s our athletes, leaders, or referees.”  She adds, “We have had women’s only camps and had former great athletes coming to camps and going to schools to expose our great role models to the younger generation.” 

The Lessons 

Participants talked about the importance of having an all-women Summit where they could open up more freely about some of the issues the sport faces. 

One of the big takeaways was the goal to have a qualified woman’s coach for the women’s team at the national training centre.  There is a job posting for a position now available for the next Olympic cycle. 

After the Summit, one provincial judo association created a women’s committee, and others had fun judo camps for girls.  “A lot of them (provincial sport organizations) were already involved but I think it was maybe more empowering to be a little bit more proactive,” Leroux says.  She adds, sometimes people get overwhelmed because there are so many issues.  But her advice to other organizations is to just start somewhere.  “People were really happy that this dialogue was open, and they had a voice.” 

The Stories 

Aartje Sheffield 

• Participant in Judo Canada’s Women’s Summit 
• President of Judo Ontario  
• Judo Referee and Coach 
• Three-time Canadian Judo Champion 
• Member of the National Team 1984-1994 

One of the participants at the Summit has been a trailblazer in judo all her life. 

Aartje Sheffield has a long history as an athlete and more recently as a coach, referee and President of Judo Ontario.   

Sheffield says having an all-women Summit is important to address gender equity in the sport.  

“When it’s a female only environment especially in a sport like judo where it’s predominantly male and oftentimes male leaders have strong personalities, this gives women a chance to meet each other and communicate in an open way.”  

When Sheffield became president of Judo Ontario six years ago, she was the only provincial president who was a woman.  Now there are a handful of others.  But she says that doesn’t happen by chance.  It has to be intentional. 

“You need to lead by example to bring other women in and then if women are doing a good job with their roles then it helps with their acceptance from the men in the sport as well.” 

She adds, “Not all men need to be convinced but clearly there are still many who do.” 

She says she’s found women are willing to help out and step forward to become leaders.  But her experience has shown they need to be approached differently. 

“If you want to increase female participation in leadership positions, you need to find those people and invite them. There’s lots of people who have the skills but think ‘oh no, I couldn’t do it.’  You need to speak to them one on one about what they can bring. Why you want them.” 

Sheffield says she received that kind of encouragement herself in the beginning and the sport’s focus on gender equity is helping. 

“When I started refereeing, the first tournament I was the only woman referee that day.  Now the last tournament we were in – in Ontario we had almost 50 per cent women.” 

And it’s the same for her Board membership at Judo Ontario, where almost half her board is now women. 

When trying to change the culture of the sport, she says it is going to take time but Sheffied says she is already noticing big improvements on and off the mat. 

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The Challenge

Storm Selects Lacrosse formed in 2017 with a goal to work with a team of Indigenous female athletes to grow the game of lacrosse in British Columbia and to develop future leaders and role models. After the completion of the North American Indigenous Games in Six Nations in July 2017,  managers, trainers, parents and families realized lacrosse is a great way for young people to connect to Indigenous culture, history and traditions. Lacrosse has deep significance for First Nations communities in North America, who have played a version of the game for more than 500 years. But today, many young girls have lost that connection.  It was felt more needed to be  done to increase the participation of Indigenous girls, who made up less than eight per cent of participants in box lacrosse in BC.   “Especially after the North American Indigenous Games, we realized, we didn’t have a lot of females to draw upon when it came to the sport,” says Cherlyn Billy who served as Team Manager for the BC Aboriginal Team under 19 at the 2017 North American Indigenous Games. 

The WISE Fund Solution 

The team members approached Billy after the North American Indigenous Games to see if there was a way to remain connected, to showcase what they are doing and to encourage other Indigenous girls to get involved in lacrosse.  Billy became the organizer of Storm Selects.

“When we applied to the WISE fund, it was to get the marketing tools to start showcasing and sharing and developing a website.  Basically, the WISE fund helped us implement and get started on that communication piece that didn’t exist before,” Billy says.

https://www.stormselects.com/

The Results 

“We actually sat them down with the athletes and asked them what they wanted to see and what they wanted to have included,” Billy says.  She adds, “They wanted pictures especially showcasing who is playing and highlighting different camps because if you don’t see it, you don’t know it exists.  That’s what they felt was really missing was we didn’t have anything identifying female Indigenous athletes in this sport.”

They found there are many girls who want to play throughout BC.   At one recent camp they held, 15 of the 20 participants were Indigenous girls.

“The last camp we held we had so much support from the local lacrosse associations who do want to see more girls and Indigenous girls playing so we’re kind of opening those doors to not just Indigenous athletes now.  It’s just trying to open it up to girls in general.”  

In the Interior of BC, Billy says there aren’t enough players to have all-girls lacrosse teams so many of them play on mixed teams.  Some of them are the only girls on their teams.

“We’ve seen how when you bring like-minded people together especially in this case, we’re talking Indigenous girls or even girls, it helps them build that confidence that they need when they are around their peers,” Billy says.  She adds, “We had one girl who came who could barely look at people.  She was so shy.   And then after participating with us, she’s now actively involved in everything – has confidence and I think that’s what a large part of what we’ve seen as success.”

Billy says the initiative has had another positive result she wasn’t expecting.  “The one thing that stands out to me is how many girls are actually saying they are Indigenous now.  These are some of the same athletes that you see playing but now they’re proudly saying they’re Indigenous.  So, we found more athletes who’ve actually been playing but now they’re identifying because they’re seeing yeah, it’s not something to be ashamed of. It’s something they can share and showcase.  And that’s the big part for me, the cultural aspect and the pride.”

The Lessons 

Billy says organizations don’t need to try to do everything on their own. In her case, she found there were passionate people looking to bring about change.  She simply helped empower them.

“They (the athletes) are the ones that started it – I was just in the background trying to help them move it forward,” Billy says.  

She adds, “The athletes were so excited to finally see the sport highlighted for them because when you don’t have the (large) numbers it’s really hard to get people interested.  I think that’s the great thing about the WISE fund is that it provides a real opportunity for those sports (under the radar).”

The Stories 

Callison Foreman

• Captain of the BC Aboriginal Team at the 2017 North American Indigenous Games
• Member of the Storm Selects
• Rediscovering her roots through lacrosse

When Cherlyn Billy was looking for athletes from the Storm Selects to help promote the sport to young Indigenous girls and to start the website, she had to look no further than Callison Foreman.

Foreman, the team captain for the BC Aboriginal Team at the North American Indigenous Games, helped rally the players to stay involved.

“NAIG (the North American Indigenous Games) is the only opportunity for all of the female Indigenous players to get together.  There’s not really another experience like that anywhere in BC or in Canada,” Foreman says.

Foreman says the team was so close that everyone was looking for ways to remain connected and to showcase how much fun they had together.

“It’s kind of a family.   It helped me see more of what’s possible within the Indigenous community which I wasn’t super involved with before.   So, I think for me it was just important that everyone could see there’s people that are there for you and there’s opportunities that you could have.”

Foreman grew up knowing little about her own Indigenous roots.  Her involvement in lacrosse and with Cherlyn Billy has changed that.

“I just think what Cherlyn has done is she’s built a community around lacrosse and she really brought me into that community,” Foreman says.  She adds, “She’s really built a safe and secure space for me and so many other girls.  I think that’s why it’s so important that everyone knows about it.”

After NAIG, Foreman was selected to play for the Haudenosaunee Nationals at the World U19 Women’s Lacrosse Championships in 2019.  She says that wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t gone to the North American Indigenous Games and learned about the importance of lacrosse and its place in First Nations culture.

“It makes me feel like I’m doing something more than just playing lacrosse especially when I play with my community team.  I feel like I’m bringing light to the Indigenous culture in a way,” Foreman says.

Foreman has travelled the country as a result of the sport and was recently offered a lacrosse scholarship at Embry Riddle University in Florida.  She’s planning to go in August to begin her studies in aerospace physiology.

Foreman is a member of BC’s senior women’s lacrosse team and in 2019 was a provincial recipient of the Premier’s Award for Excellence in Sport for field and box lacrosse and rugby.  In the future she is hoping to represent Team Canada in lacrosse.

“It (lacrosse) has pretty much taken me everywhere that I wanted to go, and I think it can still take me to farther places,” Foreman says.

She adds her life has changed thanks to her involvement with the Storm Selects.

“I learned a lot about the Indigenous community which to me has been the biggest thing.  Like now, I’m very proud to be able to say that I’m Indigenous.”

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In February, as part of the Red Deer Declaration, the federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for sport committed in principle to developing a “strategy tailored to their own jurisdiction so that boards of directors of funded sport organizations reach [gender] parity by December 2024.” (Conference of Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation, 2019).

Within the Canadian sport sector, Triathlon New Brunswick, Ontario Soccer, and Curling Canada are three organizations that have implemented board gender equity into their governance documents. As national and provincial/territorial sport organizations move forward in creating gender equity action plans, these organizations provide examples of practices that can be adapted and implemented to suit individual contexts.

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