Safe sport for whom?: are national sport organisations addressing the truth and reconciliation commission’s calls to action for sport through safe sport policies?

Abstract

ABSTRACT We investigated if National Sport Organisation’s (NSO) staff members and safe sport policymakers see safe sport policies as addressing anti-Indigenous racism and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action (CTA) for sport through safe sport policies. To do this, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 participants from eight NSOs and examined these NSOs’ safe sport policies, including equity, diversity, and inclusion policies. The participants and the documents produced three main discourses: 1) Anti-Indigenous racism policies are not required because safe sport policies are inclusive of everyone, including Indigenous peoples; 2) policies alone are insufficient: Safe sport education and resources are needed to address anti-Indigenous racism; 3) the TRC’s CTA are not being treated as a priority by Sport Canada but NSOs want to act on the CTA in consultation with Indigenous organisations. Taken together, these discourses reflect that NSOs are exercising power by leaving anti-Indigenous racism out of safe sport policies and by deciding if, when, and how the TRC’s CTAs such as Call 90 are taken up.