New Brunswick’s Path to Safer Sport
New Brunswick’s Path to Safer Sport
Safety in Sport is recognized as one of the leading factors for lifelong enjoyment in sport and recreation. The New Brunswick sport and recreation delivery system strives to provide participants with positive and safe environments that are accessible, inclusive, respectful of personal goals, and free from all forms of maltreatment.
Sport New Brunswick is committed to promoting and helping create safe and inclusive sport and recreation environments for all New Brunswickers. Safety in sport incorporates promotion, awareness, training, resources, programs, and initiatives across a broad spectrum. This includes areas such as concussion management, injury prevention, addressing maltreatment, anti-bulling, anti-racism, mental health, and wellbeing.
Participants, athletes, coaches, officials, parents, and volunteers should always experience the positive benefits of sport without worrying about safety, including inappropriate behaviour. Practicing safe sport means ethical and appropriate engagements between all participants. This means supporting the physical, social and emotional welfare of everyone.
The path to safer sport in New Brunswick will focus on 4 key areas:
Whether you are a parent, coach, administrator, community leader, and or athlete, these resources are for EVERYONE.
AWARENESS
Increasing awareness is the first step to creating safer spaces from grassroots to high performance. This means ensuring everyone involved in the delivery of sport, across all communities in New Brunswick, have a strong foundation and knowledge of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours in sport.
Setting the stage for Quality Sport experiences
True Sport is dedicated to the notion that good sport can make a great difference.
To achieve these goals, we promote seven True Sport Principles. The principles need to be in play at all times, working in perfect balance with one another, for sport to be truly good.
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has created tailored resources for sports organizations, coaches, officials, sport leaders, volunteers, and parents to help keep kids safe in sport
Learn MoreThe Responsible Coaching Movement (RCM) is a call to action for sports organizations, parents, and coaches to enact responsible coaching across Canada – on and off the field.
The Three Steps to Responsible Coaching help participants and coaches benefit fully from sport participation in a safe, healthy, and fun environment.
This methodology is a call to action for coaches and sports organizations to learn and apply consistent best practices in coaching. Rule of Two, Background Screening, and Ethics Training.
The UCCMS provides the foundation for the development of a coordinated implementation strategy to prevent and address maltreatment across all levels of the Canadian sport system, and for all participants (athletes, coaches, officials, administrators, practitioners, etc.)
Learn MoreThe CCES is an independent, national, not-for-profit, multi-sport organization with a vision of fair, safe, accessible, and inclusive sport for everyone. We believe the fundamental purpose of sport can and should be to make a positive contribution to Canadian society and that ethical sport is the best way to achieve that.
Learn MoreThe SDRCC provides resources on dispute prevention and offers a vast array of information and best practices from all over the world.
It was also recently announced that the SDRCC has been selected to establish and deliver a new Independent Safe Sport Mechanism.
SIRC focuses on the elimination of abuse, harassment, and discrimination, as well as concussion and other injury prevention and management.
Learn MoreLeading the Way: Working with LGBTQ Athletes and Coaches
Learn MoreSport’Aide is an independent non-profit organization which offers guidance, support and orientation services for young athletes, but also to the various players in the sporting world (parents, coaches, sport organizations, officials and volunteers) who have witnessed violence against young people.
Learn MoreTake action! Counter bullying in sports offers a multitude of original content to meet your needs. Awareness clips, posters, tools, conferences and even comic strips for young people are made available to you in the tabs meant for the various stakeholders in the sports community.
Learn MorePrevention
Who Has a Role to Play?
Disputes, misconduct and maltreatment can be a reality to anyone involved in sport whether you are an athlete, coach, volunteer, official or administrator. It is important to provide support in the prevention of inappropriate behaviour and addressing it, if and when it occurs. Addressing disputes and inappropriate behaviour can be done though the sport governing bodies, an independent dispute resolution professional, or legal experts. Depending on the circumstances, one or all these entities can provide support to take appropriate action.
Sport governing bodies are responsible for communicating expectations and what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behaviors through the publication and enforcement of policies such as code of conduct and ethics, discipline and complaints, abuse and harassment, dispute resolution and other related policies. These expectations must be communicated throughout the membership if the expectation is for members to follow them. PSOs play a very important role to enforce these policies, resolve inappropriate behaviour, disputes, and take action according to these policies. Policies are often drafted, tucked away, or hidden on a website. It is important that all the individuals that are expected to follow the rules, know they exist, and they understand the consequences of not respecting them.
Training
Providing training to our leaders is an essential step in prevention to ensure everyone who is involved in the delivery of sport has the proper knowledge and tools. We all have a role to play, we have a responsibility to ensure we are providing safe sport environments for all New Brunswickers.
The following are different opportunities for leaders at all levels to increase their knowledge and skills.
Safe Sport Training was developed to help anyone involved in sport — whether you have direct contact with athletes or work in the background — to promote physical, psychological, social and spiritual health, in line with the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport.
Learn MoreThe NCCP Make Ethical Decisions (MED) module is a cornerstone of the NCCP and leaves coaches with no doubt as to what to do in challenging situations.
It helps coaches identify the legal, ethical, and moral implications of difficult situations that present themselves in team and individual sports.
The Respect in Sport Activity Leader/Coach Program educates youth leaders, coaches, officials, and participants (14-years and up) to recognize, understand, and respond to issues of bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination (BAHD).
The Activity Leader and Parent Programs are the Safe Sport Canada solution!
The Commit to Kids (C2K) for Coaches online training empowers coaches and other sport leaders with practical information to help them enhance child and youth safety in sport.
It highlights the importance of understanding boundaries, sexual misconduct and reporting inappropriate behaviour.
Participant-centered coaching strategies are an effective way to establish a safe and inclusive sport culture. By placing participants at the centre of the coaching process, coaches can promote growth and athletic development, foster creativity and learning, and protect participants from harm.
Learn MoreThis interactive resource of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS) introduces some of the UCCMS’ concepts to help Participants in sport familiarize themselves with their rights and responsibilities under this document.
Learn MoreDispute Resolution
Sport organizations at both the community and provincial level may have to make decisions and take action against members for unacceptable behaviors, whether they be athletes, coaches, officials, team managers, volunteers, administrators, etc.
Policies are often drafted, tucked away, or hidden on a website. It is important that all the individuals that are expected to follow the rules, know they exist, and they understand the consequences of not respecting them.
DISPUTE, MISCONDUCT, AND MALTREATMENT ARE THREE DIFFERENT THINGS
The NB Safe Sport Complaint Mechanism (NBSSCM) strives to provide support to complainants within the New Brunswick amateur sport system for certain disputes by accessing an independent and unbiased Case Manager mechanism. The NBSSCM is designed to respond to the needs of the PSO/MSO members of Sport NB when navigating the complaints management process.
The following may be eligible to enter the program:
- Complaints of Maltreatment as defined in the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS)
- Two types of appeals (subject to grounds for appeal):
- Final decisions of a PSO/MSO alleging that it failed to follow their constitution/by-laws or policies
- Final arbitral decisions made by a Mediator/Arbitrator appointed under the NBSSCM
Sport NB has proudly partnered with ITP sport for the administration of the NBSSCM. All complaints will now be received through IntegrityCounts, a secure and independent reporting intake and case management system. This secure online platform is available to members 24/7/365, and ensures that all complaints are managed through independent expert consultation services.
For individuals who would like to report a complaint via phone, please email nlaird@itpsport.ca with the subject heading: Sport NB – Complaint Phone Submission. In your email, please indicate preferred days, times and language for a case manager to do a phone intake.
To file a complaint, visit the website at:
Other avenues include the following:
Learn more by contacting the PSO for your sport.
In New Brunswick, you are legally required to report suspected child abuse.
Learn MoreFor support regarding matters pertaining to maltreatment of youth, there is help.
1-800-668-6868
Learn More1-800-667-5005
Learn More1-888-83SPORT(8377678)
Learn More1-833-235-4048
Learn More613-702-4446
Learn More1-877-232-2610
Learn More1-800-532-9135
Learn More1-855-242-3310
Learn More1-877-232-2610
Learn MoreContact US
Sport New Brunswick Head Office900 Hanwell Road, Suite 31
Fredericton, NB, E3B 6A2
- PHONE 506.451.1320
- EMAIL info@sportnb.com
- FAX 506.451.1325