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The Future of Sport in Canada Commission, led by former Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve, released its final report on Mar 25, 2026 after work that began in 2026. The document paints a stark picture: a system described as broken by the commissioners, where athletes face both financial barriers and the persistent risk of maltreatment. The commission’s findings include nearly 100 recommendations intended to rewire how sport is governed, funded and monitored across Canada. Those recommendations span immediate funding increases to a longer-term structural redesign, including the proposal for a centralized sport entity organized as a Crown corporation to provide unified oversight and clearer accountability.
The report highlights chronic shortages in baseline support for sport organizations: many national sport organizations have not seen an increase in core funding for more than two decades while operating costs climb. Commissioners linked that funding gap directly to the prevalence of unsafe environments in which athletes train and compete. Voices from the field — including leaders and athletes — told the commission that when organizations lack stable resources, crucial oversight and protective programming suffer. The review does not stop at diagnosis; it stresses that solutions must address both high-performance outcomes and grassroots accessibility simultaneously, rather than favoring one at the expense of the other.
What the commission uncovered
The inquiry catalogued a pattern of systemic weaknesses: fragmented governance, inconsistent policies across provinces and sports, and entrenched discrimination and abuse. The report criticizes the concentration on medal tallies in certain funding models and questions mechanisms that prioritize narrow performance metrics over athlete welfare. It singled out historic initiatives and funding intermediaries for praise and critique, suggesting some practices skew priorities toward international podium results rather than equitable support. Among the recommendations is the creation of a single, national oversight body — a centralized sport entity — intended to harmonize standards, simplify funding flows and ensure that safe sport principles are embedded across every level of activity.
Funding, accessibility and accountability
One recurrent theme in submissions to the commission was the transfer of cost burdens to athletes when organizations cannot absorb basic expenses. The federal budget in 2026 set aside a $35 million increase for athletes via the Athlete Assistance Program over five years, but many athletes and national organizations say that incremental support is insufficient given rising travel, equipment and program costs. Olympian Maxwell Lattimer described how shrinking organizational budgets make high-performance pathways less accessible and less reflective of Canada’s diversity. The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee have long warned that underinvestment undermines both competitive success and the ability to maintain safe, well-governed environments for athletes.
Responses from leadership and athletes
Leaders from national bodies have welcomed the report as a clear playbook. David Shoemaker, CEO and secretary general of the Canadian Olympic Committee, framed the commission’s recommendations as immediate priorities: boost funding and center safe sport in decision-making. The report also urged a review of legacy programs that concentrate resources narrowly on medal outcomes; critics of some past approaches argued these models siphoned attention away from Paralympic athletes and community-level benefits. Government responses were swift in tone, with Prime Minister Mark Carney indicating a deliberate plan to reassess athlete funding within the coming six months, suggesting political will to act on multiple fronts.
Hope tempered by calls for structural change
Athletes who engaged with the commission largely reported feeling heard and validated, and several have joined working groups to imagine what a new national sport entity might look like. Yet there is a persistent warning: simply increasing budgets without fixing the architecture that distributes and monitors funds risks repeating past failures. One athlete surrogate warned against “pouring resources into a broken bucket” — money must be paired with reforms that improve efficiency, transparency and direct benefit to athletes. For many stakeholders, that means combining short-term funding boosts with a sustained program of governance reform and strengthened safe sport mechanisms.
Path forward
The commission’s package of nearly 100 calls to action aims to set a multi-year agenda: immediate injections of support, a redesign of oversight to a centralized model, and long-term cultural and procedural changes to eliminate maltreatment. Implementing those steps will involve federal leadership, national organizations like the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee, and continued athlete representation. Importantly, stakeholders argue that excellence and safety are complementary goals — pursuing international success should not come at the cost of athlete welfare. The coming months, as governments and sport leaders respond, will determine whether this moment becomes the start of durable reform or another report left unfulfilled.