Latest news with #SportManitoba
CBC
04-04-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Interlake tribal council withdraws from 2 Manitoba sports groups, cites lack of supports for young athletes
Social Sharing The chair of a tribal council representing seven First Nations communities in Manitoba's Interlake region says his group has received more financial support from a charity associated with the Toronto Blue Jays than it has from two major provincial sports organizations. The Interlake Reserves Tribal Council withdrew from Sport Manitoba and Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council, citing frustration with both organizations and saying both have paid poor attention to the needs of their athletes and communities, a news release said Thursday. The tribal council represents seven First Nations communities about 190 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba: Kinonjeoshtegon, Peguis, Lake Manitoba, Pinaymootang, Little Saskatchewan, Lake St. Martin and Dauphin River. Lake Manitoba First Nation Chief Cornell McLean, who chairs the tribal council, says the two sports organizations have shown a lack of accountability when it comes to supporting athletes from their communities. "There's no relationship," he told CBC News on Thursday. The tribal council has received more financial support from the Toronto-based Jays Care Foundation — which helped create a recreational softball league for IRTC's seven communities — than it has from the two sporting organizations, McLean said. "The main priority here for us is that we want to be included, not excluded, from Sport Manitoba," he said. A spokesperson for Sport Manitoba declined to comment on this story. The Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council has not yet responded to CBC's requests for comment. The organization, also known as MASRC, aims to connect Manitoba's sports sector with Indigenous communities in the province in order to develop sustainable programs that enhance sporting and recreational opportunities for Indigenous people in Manitoba, its website states. Rural Interlake 'forgotten about' Many of the communities represented by the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council were impacted by severe flooding in 2011, which forced thousands of people from their homes and often left few play options for children and youth, said Karl Zadnik, CEO of the tribal council. The tribal council has run free basketball training camps for children and youth of its member communities over the last six years, but neither Sport Manitoba nor MASRC have financially supported them, despite the council's efforts to secure funding, Zadnik said. "Our requests have fallen on deaf ears," he told CBC News. The tribal council will re-evaluate how sports and recreation are handled within its communities and explore alternative ways of supporting athletes, the news release said. "We're better off taking care of our own sporting dollars [and] initiatives housed within our own communities, as it seems that the rural area of the Interlake region is forgotten about," said Zadnik. Zadnik says the tribal council plans to speak with Sport Canada representatives and the federal sport minister about the issue following the federal election later this month. Both Zadnik and McLean said they want to see the two Manitoba sporting organizations try to identify service gaps alongside the tribal council. Zadnik said the tribal council would ultimately like to work on a solution with both organizations. "If they wanted to change their tune and how they approach us, we'd be willing to sit down with Sport Manitoba and MASRC and figure out a path forward, so that our people are not neglected any further."
CBC
07-03-2025
- Sport
- CBC
New Manitoba legislation would require independent investigation of abuse allegations in youth sports
WARNING: This story contains references to sexual assault and suicide. The province has introduced new legislation aimed at protecting Manitoba children involved in sports from mistreatment, including abuse and discrimination, by their coaches and other officials. If approved, the Protecting Youth in Sports Act would require Sport Manitoba, the main oversight agency for amateur sports in the province, to establish a "safe sport" policy that provincial sports organizations would be mandated to adopt. The policy would set out "behavioural expectations and prohibited conduct for sport participants," including coaches and officials, as well as "procedures for review, disciplinary measures and appeals," the province said in a Thursday news release. That would include implementing a system requiring Sport Manitoba to hire an outside independent adjudicator to investigate abuse allegations and provide written notice of founded abuse to provincial sports organizations. "There has to be a balance there protecting the privacy of the individuals. But people that are in violation of the regulations and mistreat people must understand there are consequences to that," said Peter Woods, executive director of Hockey Manitoba. The act was introduced at the Manitoba Legislature on Thursday by Sport Minister Nellie Kennedy. Move in the right direction: Hockey Manitoba ED The act says Sport Manitoba must give written notice to each provincial sports organization when an independent adjudicator finds that a coach or official has mistreated a young athlete, including physical, sexual or psychological abuse, grooming for sexual abuse, or any discrimination under the human rights code. The legislation follows recent high-profile cases involving abuse in amateur sports. In October last year, a former Winnipeg hockey coach pleaded guilty to sexual assault and luring after what prosecutors described as a sexually exploitative relationship with a teenage girl she coached. Prior to being charged, Madison Biluk coached hockey from 2019 through 2023, during which time several members of coaching staff said her behaviour crossed professional boundaries. And in 2023, Kelsey McKay, a former Winnipeg high school football coach and teacher, pleaded guilty to 11 charges related to sexual abuse of former players who were minors at the time. Woods says people should support regulations that create a safer environment for everyone to participate in sport, and the new legislation moves in the right direction. He says the act not only protects Manitoba players, but also puts management in a better position to eliminate coaches and officials who shouldn't be involved in sports.
