a rights reading of the FOSCC final recomMendations

Written by Ige Egal, CEO Play for Dignity

Like many people working in sport in Canada, there was considerable anticipation surrounding the release of the Future of Sport Commission's final report.

As someone who participated in the consultation process and contributed throughout, one thing consistently struck me: the conspicuous absence of human rights language or framing. Perhaps it was assumed — that as citizens, our rights extend naturally into all areas of life. Or perhaps our proximity to the system, and its fragmented nature, made rights feel too distant or outside the scope of the conversation.

After the report was released, we undertook a reading of it through a human rights lens. What if we took established rights-based frameworks — PANEL and AAAQ — and mapped all 98 recommendations against them? The result was strikingly clear: every single recommendation from the FOSCC falls within a human rights framework.

Access is a rights issue. Safety is a rights issue. Abuse in sport is a rights issue. Better cooperation, governance changes and accountability standards – all in service of rights. Within this framing, we have rights holders and duty bearers — those responsible for ensuring the right conditions are in place (safe, enabling, barrier-free), and those who hold rights, which encompasses everyone who wants to participate or currently participates in sport at any level.

This tool also surfaces the legislative foundations underpinning these rights — the charters, acts, and conventions that define what rights holders are entitled to.

At least 50 jurisdictions have formally recognized sport as a right. Those with the strongest implementation share a common architecture: funded obligations, independent monitoring, equity conditionality, and disaggregated data. Conversely, here in Canada, it is not yet recognized as a right.

By creating and sharing this tool, we hope to make the case for a rights-based approach to sport. We invite you to join us in building a constructive dialogue around this vision, and in intentionally shaping a future for sport in Canada that includes, protects, and supports everyone.