About the SportMatters Group

What is the Sport Matters Group?

The SMG is a voluntary group of individuals who have come together to talk about the important contribution that sport makes to society, and to collaborate on various sport policy issues on an ad hoc basis. The Group has actively worked together on the Canadian Sport Policy, the new Sport and Physical Activity Act, and on increasing the resources available for sport in Canada.

To date, the SMG has been made up of thirty or so sport leaders who have met regularly for over two years, and have been actively involved in tracking, reviewing and responding to sport policy issues as they arise.

The Group is very informal in nature, and does not represent the sport community (nor does it say that it does). It has from time to time taken positions and expressed views on what it considers to be in the best interest of sport.

What is noteworthy about the SMG is the way that it operates. Participants come to the group to contribute their ideas and views, to share their concerns, and to discuss activities of common interest.

But even more remarkable is the way everyone parks their agendas (and personal issues) at the door, and how participants interact with each other in a non-competitive, non-hierarchical, open and trusting way. The SMG is really about what contribution you think you can make to make sport better. It�s a place where committed sport people come together � and a public place where participants share their interest in and commitment to sport.

As a result of its voluntary participation and broad perspective, the SMG has developed a definite culture, which respects and encourages:

-peer-level relationships
-openness
-meritocracy (the merit of an idea, not where it came from)
-the messenger
-regular attention to its norms and values of operation


What is the Sport Policy Project?