The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport believes that it is time to talk to Canadians, in particular parents, children and youth, about what their perception is of violence and how they define it.

In August of 2001, the Canadian Ministers of Sport agreed to place new emphasis on reinforcing the ethical foundation of sport by addressing emerging and fundamental issues within sport by all signing the “Expectations for Fairness in Sport” – now known as the London Declaration. Within this declaration, governments pledged to create a sport environment untainted by cheating, violence and other unethical practices.

Now, 10 years later, we have to ask ourselves, have we been successful in creating a better sport environment or, is sport still vulnerable? While sport is a powerful force for good, it is always just one scandal away from losing its positive value. Sport is always vulnerable. We need to always be aware to what is going on in sport and we all share the responsibility of its protection.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport has identified the top six threats to sport in this country today, one of the leading threats identified is violence in sport.

While many people outside of sport have a clear definition of what violence is, they also feel that the laws, policies and practices that are in place to protect children outside of sport are not always applied within sport. Within sport, there appear to exist a variety of definitions and situational circumstances that change the definition based upon the sport.

For example: Violence in sport can be defined as behaviour that causes harm, occurs outside of the rules of the sport and is unrelated to the competitive objectives of the sport.

Recently there has been an outcry by the public stating concern that sport is becoming more violent. We are seeing parents removing their children from sport or refusing to allow them to participate in certain sports.

The collision of professional sport as entertainment versus the sport we play appears to continue to blur the lines of what constitutes violence in sport.

If we are to eliminate violence in sport, we need to establish appropriate limits on what is acceptable behaviour in sport – limits that reflect Canadian values. To help us set the limits, we need your input. We need parents, volunteers, sport organizers, officials and children and youth to help us define violence, establish limits and work out solutions. Every child should have the right to play in a safe, welcoming and rewarding environment.