NDP sport bill risks marginalized communities

At a time when, culturally, one of the most popular TV shows is made in Canada, about gay professional hockey players who hide their sexual orientation out of fear of being harmed, the Manitoba NDP government has introduced Bill 41 for underrepresented communities in sport.

It’s admirable that the Manitoba government wants to tackle white heteronormative masculine sport, to make sport safer for under-represented communities at a time when the level of intolerance and hate towards some under-represented groups, notably the LGBTTQ+ community, has increased.

Under the auspices of promoting inclusivity of under-represented groups in sport, the Manitoba government’s Bill 41 — The Promoting Inclusion in Amateur Sport Act — is anti-gay, anti-trans, and anti-hidden marginalization.

Should Bill 41 come into force, it will require all children, youth and adults from under- represented groups, most of whom are recognized as equity-deserving marginalized communities, such as gay and trans, to self-identify; they will be required to come out to provincial sport organizations (PSOs) if they want to participate in organized sport in Manitoba.

Over five years ago, the federal government constructed the term under-represented in the Canadian sport-delivery system to include Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, low-income, newcomer, senior and LGBTTQ+ communities.

Collecting personal data on marginalized individuals to generate quantitative data on how many individuals there are in each specific under-represented community is an ineffective measurement tool to evaluate inclusion — the data doesn’t differentiate between inclusion, tolerance and conformity. An increase in the number of under-represented groups registered with a sport organization does not reveal the experiences of those individuals.

Consequently, it isn’t known whether under- represented and marginalized individuals are conforming to or tolerating the melting pot of white heteronormative masculine sport, or whether sport in Manitoba is becoming a mosaic.

The Manitoba government mandating sport organizations to collect personal information pertaining to under-representation from participants with hidden marginalizations, such as gay and trans people, is anti-Safe Sport. It increases the risk of harm to participants in sport and runs counter to the spirit of Manitoba’s Protecting Youth in Sports Act.

It’s questionable for the Manitoba government to offload the work of creating and assessing an inclusion sport policy onto sport organization employees and volunteers who lack the expertise, knowledge of equity and inclusion, and financial and human resource capacity.

Sexual orientation, gender identity, race, newcomer status and many hidden disabilities are personal information that is non-essential to participate in sport in Manitoba. It’s personal information collected by volunteer-board- operated PSOs without any assurances/safeguards on how this information will be utilized, who in the PSO will have access to it, or to whom the PSOs will provide it. For instance, PSOs could provide the gay and trans information of their registered participants to their national sport organizations, community organizations or to other governments.

The Conservative Saskatchewan government passed anti-queer legislation in 2023 requiring parental consent for a child to change their pronouns or access sexual health education, and the Conservative Alberta government passed anti-trans legislation in 2024 banning trans girls and women from participating in sport.

Multiple organizations and governments, within and outside of Manitoba, may be able to keep records and track marginalized individuals throughout their registration with every Manitoba PSO. There is also no requirement for that personal information to be destroyed.

Bill 41 fails to identify risks to and/or protective safeguards for youths who self-identify. It is likely that many will not fully understand the potential long-term consequences. Additionally, parents/guardians may identify them without their consent or knowledge. One risk is that this information will be known to PSO members responsible for selecting candidates for volunteer and employment opportunities in officiating, coaching and administration.

A proactive Safe Sport stance raises concerns about the possibility of a volunteer board member who is a bigot having access to the collected personal information. There are also concerns about the non-bigots. It is plausible that a volunteer who doesn’t express hate towards any group could weaponize the collected information to harm or remove someone they generally dislike, disagree with or perceive as standing in their way to accomplish their goals in sport.

It needs to be acknowledged that LGBTTQ+ youth are disproportionately affected by sexual abuse compared to heterosexual and cisgender peers. Given that Manitoba has adopted a primarily reactive Safe Sport stance, it is plausible that collecting this information will only assist predators who have been able to secure volunteer or employment positions in PSOs and community organizations to identify victims — screening isn’t 100 per cent effective in identifying and keeping predators out of positions of authority in sport.

For Bill 41 to pass two readings in the legislative assembly suggests the NDP Manitoba government isn’t concerned about the security of the personal information of under-represented and marginalized communities; that the Manitoba government lacks concern for how proposed legislation and policies can and will negatively impact the LGBTTQ+ community and other hidden marginalization communities or individuals from those communities; and/or that the Department of Sport, Culture, Heritage and Tourism is ignorant, incompetent and/or misinformed. With Bill 41, they are demonstrating a significant lack of knowledge of sport, culture and marginalized communities, notably the LGBTTQ+ community.

The youth of Manitoba deserve better.

Glen Wintrup has over 25 years of experience in the field of Safe Sport. His pioneering policy research as a student of Dame Celia Brackenridge informed the IOC Consensus Statement on Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport.