About the Editor

Julie Stevens

Julie Stevens, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sport Management and Director of the Centre for Sport Capacity at Brock University. She currently serves as the Special Advisor to the President – Canada Games, where she leads the academic partnership between Brock University and the 2022 Niagara Canada Summer Games. For the past 30 years, Julie has conducted diverse and transdisciplinary research, and employs various models of organizational development to analyze dynamics of change and organizational design within sport. Her scholarly work emphasizes various topics such as institutional development, large-scale change, innovation, governance, managerial logics and practices, player development models, and ethics. Julie is also a North American Society for Sport Management Research Fellow (2013) and a Brock University 2020 Outstanding Co-op Supervisor Recognition Award recipient.

About the Authors

Isabelle Cayer

Isabelle Cayer is the current Director of Sport Safety at the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC). Her mission is to create a safer and more inclusive sport system for everyone. A former competitive athlete and NCCP certified coach, she is a current Coach Developer, facilitator, presenter and volunteer on a community sport board, and when the opportunity presents, at domestic national and international events. She has worked at the national level of sport for over 20 years at various organizations including the CAC and Skate Canada, and her work has focused on coach education and training, policy development, mentorship, women in coaching & leadership programming, diversity and inclusion initiatives for coach training and partner engagement, and the professionalization of coaching in Canada.

Karri Dawson

Karri Dawson is the Senior Director of Quality Sport at the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and the Executive Director of the True Sport Foundation. Karri holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Sports Administration from Laurentian University and has more than 25 years of professional experience managing corporate sponsorship, philanthropic donations and community engagement programs in amateur sport at the national level. Karri leads a team that engages sport leaders and organizations that share a common belief about what good sport can do, and works with partners and funders to develop initiatives that advance values-based sport in Canada.

Michele Donnelly

Michele K. Donnelly, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Brock University, specializing in areas of gender equality and sport. Michele also researches topics of alternative sport, girls and women-only activities in the sport realm, and research ethics. She is the co-founder and serves on the advisory board of the Girls on Track Foundation, whose mission is to help young girls build important life skills through participation in roller derby.

Peter Donnelly

Peter Donnelly, PhD, has recently retired as a Professor and Director of the Centre for Sport Policy Studies at the University of Toronto. He has edited two major sociology of sport journals (Sociology of Sport Journal; International Review for the Sociology of Sport), and served as President of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, and General Secretary of the International Sociology of Sport Association. He began researching the maltreatment of athletes when he taught at McMaster University in the 1980s, and has continued that strand of research (among many others) by focusing in particular on the maltreatment of child athletes.

Hilary Findlay

Hilary Findlay, LLB PhD, is a recently retired Associate Professor of Sport Management at Brock who specializes in risk management, regulatory issues, contracts and other legal issues affecting sport and recreation organization.

Susan Forbes

Susan L. Forbes, PhD, is the Manager of the Teaching and Learning Centre, as well as an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario. Her research focuses on sports officials’ recruitment, development, retention, and attrition. She and her research partners recently published the book entitled Sports Officiating: Recruitment, Development and Retention (Routledge, 2020).

Gretchen Kerr

Gretchen Kerr, PhD, is a full Professor and Dean, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. She has spent her academic career devoted to promoting safe and equitable sport opportunities for all through research and knowledge transfer and exchange. As a co-Director of E-Alliance, the Canadian Gender Equity in Sport Research Hub, Gretchen is engaged in establishing a broad network of researchers and partnerships across the country to advance gender equity in sport. Gretchen was the senior author of Canada’s first national prevalence study of maltreatment among current and former national team members, and the subject matter expert for the development of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment (UCCMS), and a contributor to Safe Sport education.

Bruce Kidd

Bruce Kidd, PhD, is the Ombudsperson at the University of Toronto. He is a Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, and the founding Dean of that faculty. He also served as Warden of Hart House, Principal of the University of Toronto Scarborough and Director of Canadian Studies, all at U of T. Bruce’s scholarship focuses upon the history and political economy of Canadian and Olympic sport. He has been involved in the Olympic Movement as an athlete (1964), journalist (1976), contributor to the arts and culture programs (1976 and 1988) and accredited social scientist (1988 and 2000). He was founding chair of the Olympic Academy of Canada (1983-1993), served on the board for Toronto’s 1996 and 2008 Olympic bids and is an honorary member of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Bruce has been a lifelong advocate of human rights and athletes’ rights.

Kasey Liboiron

Kasey Liboiron is the Manager of Sport Community Engagement at the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES). In this role, she manages the outreach and engagement of True Sport. The True Sport Principles define Canada’s commitment to values-based sport and are activated and supported by Canadian communities, sport organizations, schools, groups and individuals who believe in the difference good sport can make. Previously, Kasey worked as a secondary school Physical and Health Educator – particularly passionate about inspiring a commitment to physical activity and wellness. Kasey holds Bachelors of Education, Science, and Physical and Health Education from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Lori Livingston

Lori A. Livingston, PhD, is the Provost and Vice-President, Academic and Full Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ontario Tech University. She has participated as an athlete, coach, official, and administrator at the provincial, national, and international levels in the sport of women’s field lacrosse. She continues to contribute to sport through her research, including work in the area of sport officiating.

Ellen MacPherson

Ellen MacPherson completed her PhD in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on social behaviour in sport and online contexts, as well as athlete welfare and development. Ellen has been recognized internationally by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) with the Sport Psychologist’s Young Researcher Award and her work has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). As the former Director, Safe Sport at Gymnastics Canada, she led the development and implementation of an organizational Safe Sport Framework and the corresponding policy, education, and advocacy initiatives. In her current role at the University of Toronto, she conducts research and works with sport organizations to mobilize knowledge into practice with the ultimate goal of safe, developmentally appropriate, and equitable sport for all.

Leela MadhavaRau

Leela MadhavaRau has served as the inaugural leader of equity, diversity and human rights initiatives at three different universities in both Canada and the United States, mostly recently as the Executive Director of Human Rights and Equity at Brock University. Leela’s expertise in the areas of equity, diversity and inclusion has provided her with the opportunity to present at many national and international conferences, as well as becoming a mentor for individuals beginning their careers in this field.

Marcus Mazzucco

Marcus Mazzucco, JD, is Legal Counsel for the Ontario Ministry of Health and a Sessional Lecturer of Sports Law at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. Marcus has a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education from the University of Toronto and a Juris Doctor from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. The opinions and views expressed in this chapter are solely those of the author and do not represent the opinions or views of the Ontario Government.

Ian Moss

Ian Moss is the CEO of Gymnastics Canada, and has been involved with the organization since 2017. Ian’s involvement in national sport organizations reaches beyond gymnastics, and throughout his career he has worked with seven different NSOs and two MSOs, forming a well-rounded knowledge of Canadian and international sport at both the technical and management level. A seasoned sport association leader with over twenty years of national and international experience, Ian has built a strong vision and operating capacity to translate “big picture” needs into clear operating principles and partnerships.

Peter Niedre

Peter Niedre is the Director of Education Partnerships at the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), and oversees the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). This role involves working with over 65 National Sport Organizations, 13 Provincial and Territorial Coach representatives and other Canadian Sport System Partners in development and delivery of the NCCP. Prior to the CAC, he worked at Canoe Kayak Canada as the National Junior coach, and Director of Coach and Athlete Development. Prior to that, he was a physical education and outdoor education teacher at the secondary level for 10 years, and part-time lecturer at University of Ottawa in the School of Human Kinetics. Peter is also a Master Coach Developer in sprint Canoe Kayak and in multisport delivery with the Coaches Association of Ontario and actively volunteers at the community level coaching cross country skiing and biathlon.

Talia Ritondo

Talia Ritondo, MA, is a recent Master’s graduate of Brock’s Recreation and Leisure program, where she studied how postnatal women are affected by gendered expectations of motherhood while returning to team sport. She plans to pursue a PhD in the future, with a focus on bringing an intersectional social justice lens to the sport research field. She currently serves as Brock Human Rights and Equity’s Gender and Sexual Violence Education Coordinator, where she coordinates workshops, training and events that educate students, staff, and faculty about gender and sexual violence through an intersectional, anti-oppression lens. For leisure, they love to play volleyball, rock climb, watch Netflix, and play video games.

Kirsty Spence

Kirsty Spence, PhD, has a 20-year background of researching leadership topics and more specifically, leaders’ vertical development and its relationship to leadership effectiveness and program development. She is passionate about Safe Sport topics, having completed Master’s-level research on an inter-organizational network analysis of the implementation of the Speak Out! Program within Hockey Canada in 2001. Dr. Spence has received the Professional Coaching Certification (P.C.C.) designation with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) as a certified Integral Master Coach™.

Georgina Truman

Georgina Truman, MHK, is the Manager, Athlete Relations and Operations at AthletesCAN. In her role, she is responsible for administration, programs and services, communications, athlete relations, and events. Her experiences as a multi-sport athlete in her youth translated into a passion for the sport industry and strong connection to athlete-centred sport. Prior to joining AthletesCAN, she developed experience in the recreation, university, and non-profit sport sectors in communications, marketing, and client relations. She holds a Master’s degree of human kinetics with specialization in sports management and Bachelor degree of human kinetics from the University of Ottawa.

Michael Van Bussel

Michael Van Bussel, PhD, has over 18 years of academic, administrative, and service experience in Sport Management. His educational background includes a PhD focusing on Sport Law and Policy Studies from Western University.  He held faculty positions at Jacksonville University and Wilfrid Laurier University in the field of Sport Management.  He has won awards in teaching and coaching and was named OUA (USPORT) Provincial Coach of the Year on two separate occasions with the Western University Women’s Soccer Program.  His research interests include sport law, risk management, governance and policy, and coach/athlete communication.

Erin Willson

Erin Willson, MSc, is currently a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. Her areas of research interest include maltreatment in sport, athlete empowerment and advocacy. Erin also sits on the Board of Directors at AthletesCAN. As a former Olympian, Erin brings a unique perspective to her research endeavors.