OTTAWA – Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) is pleased to share the final report of the Safety First National Task Force. The report covers a period of almost 18 months since March 2019 when the Task Force was first convened to advise WCL on how best to approach the recommendations of the “Report Concerning Independent Review of Coaching Culture for WCL”. In that time the approach to Safe Sport has been evolving rapidly in Canada and globally with the recent announcement of the IOC to provide Safeguarding Officer training for IFs, NOCs and NSOs. 

DOWNLOAD REPORT

The mandate of the Task Force was to provide suggestions and strategies about how to implement the recommendations and key considerations of the various constituent groups.

Significant progress has been made in the areas of Education and Training with a range of online training modules that have been added as requirements for participants in WCL sanctioned activities: 

• Respect in Sport
• Making Headway (CAC)
• Making Ethical Decisions (CAC)
• SafeSport (CAC) 

In the key area of policy, there is still work to be completed. The Task Force looked closely at the Canadian sports landscape as well as meeting with USA Wrestling to examine their current policies in this regard. Working with Steve Indig of Sport Law & Strategy Group, WCL is now seeking broader consultation on a revised policy suite by engaging our community via a series of upcoming town hall meetings that the Task Force will be centrally involved in. We believe the completion of this process will move many of the report traffic lights from yellow to green.

Support for work in this area has been provided through Sport Canada’s Gender Equity and Safe Sport funding, as well as specific gender equity related projects via an Olympic Solidarity grant. This support will enable us to implement many of the recommendations of the Task Force and to build further on these foundations. 

Central oversight of the various training, education and screening requirements will be managed more efficiently and effectively with the implementation of a new database and registration system, being developed in partnership with Interpodia.

WCL understands the importance of the next steps and are excited to be taking these together with our entire community. Cultural change takes time and it is important that we get it right from the beginning to ensure the long-term prosperity of our sports and all those involved. 

We are grateful for the hard work that the Task Force committed to ensuring that we have a road map that is suited to our sport.