Targets for Athlete Performance and the Sport System

First and foremost, the system requires a commitment to a set of common Canadian Targets
as proposed earlier. Then, to achieve these targets, it is recommended a High Performance Sport
Commission (HPSC) be created to coordinate the planning, investment, evaluation and appropriate
intervention in high performance sport at the national level and provide an example for Provincial /
Territorial investors to consider. The desired result is a pooling of resources, harmonized funding
programs and coordinated investment in athletes, coaches, programs, facilities.
The HPSC should include 7-10 high performance sport experts appointed by the national
funding partners and should serve as a leadership body to review a single application by NSOs. It
should undertake a process modelled on the collaborative Sport Review Process to assess high
performance plans, progress and potential and would have the authority to allocate the pooled
funding, evaluate and intervene in high performance programming. The HPSC should be
accountable to the funding partners and the sport system for the achievement of the Canadian
Targets for Athlete Performance and the Targets for the Sport System. It is proposed that the
governance structure for the HPSC include representation from national, Provincial/Territorial and
other funding partners and stakeholders. Provincial/Territorial funding agencies also need to be
accountable for their complimentary high performance targets.
The HPSC could also act as a F-P/T coordination mechanism to facilitate bilateral or
multilateral agreements for high performance sport initiatives. Provinces/territories and PSOs
would be encouraged to use the Canadian Targets for sport and the Canadian list of priority sports
as a factor to guide their investment decisions. The PSO plans should be integrated and dovetail
with NSO plans and be based on mutually agreeable objectives and priorities. Similarly, Federal
and Provincial/Territorial investment should be congruent. Accordingly, NSO and PSO as well as
F-P/T scorecard tools should be developed to guide investment and ensure accountability.
Official Languages
The minimal expectations for Official Languages in the Canadian Sport System defined in
Sport Canada’s previous SFAF framework have now been replaced by national standards applying
to all NSOs. Work Group # 4 fully supports the new national standards proposed by Sport Canada.
In the fall of 2002, the Commissioner of Official Languages conducted a follow-up to the study
published in June 2000, titled Official Languages in the Canadian Sports System. Work Group #4
supports the ongoing work in this area and suggests that the current approach to establishing
standards and monitoring performance is appropriate. In particular, ensuring that national team
coaches can meet the needs of each athlete in his or her official language is viewed as being a
priority.
Summary
To summarize, the key recommendation of Workgroup #4 is:
1. To adopt the proposed Canadian Targets for sport
Assuming the targets are adopted, there are a number of additional initiatives, which should
be adopted to assist in achieving them. Therefore, it is proposed that the following be approved:
2. Develop congruent Provincial / Territorial athlete performance targets
Athlete Performance and Sport System Targets, Evaluation, and Investment
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