RUGBY CANADA ATHLETES ATTEND THE 2018 ATHLETESCAN FORUM

The AthletesCAN Forum is the largest gathering of Canada’s athlete representatives outside of competition.  It brought together Canada’s high-performance athletes and sport leaders to learn about the sport system, develop leadership skills, share ideas and network through interactive workshops and presentations.

Rugby Canada had five representatives attend the Forum: Andrea Burk, Lori Josephson, Phil Mackenzie, Karen Paquin and Maria Samson. Karen Paquin was also nominated for the AthletesCAN Social Responsibility Award, recognizing her work with L’Esprit Sportif – a program promoting healthy and safe sport environments.

The 2018 AthletesCAN Forum examined the current sport culture and featured some of the world’s top sport leaders discussing crucial topics currently impacting #AthleteRights in the Canadian and international sport landscape.  Sessions in this year’s program included: athlete agreements, athlete representation within governance, inclusion, human rights, anti-doping, safe sport, a national strategy for holistic athlete development and support.

Thoughts on the experience from Lori Josephson:

“AthletesCAN opened my eyes to the impact of sport outside of training and game day. Too often we find ourselves encompassed in our mini world of sport on the field that we forget the impact we can have nationally and internationally by using our #AthleteVoice to speak for our peers in sport. AthletesCAN united a collection of incredibly inspiring people that have used their voice to make change in their sport as well as in their life.

I left that weekend with twice as much passion for rugby than I had going in simply because I now have more knowledge and a hunger to make something happen when I step outside those white lines. I am very grateful to have had this experience and truly humbled to have met such inspiring people.”