Does Canada spend enough to support Olympians?

When Evan Dunfee was dropped by his shoe sponsor shortly before Christmas in 2016, the race walker, who captured the attention of Canadians when he opted not to protest his fourth-place finish in the 50K at the Rio Olympics, set out to find himself a new shoe deal. After a month with no luck, the 26-year-old from Richmond, B.C., tweeted out a photo of his worn-out running shoes. “When you’re no longer getting shoes for free you come to realize that you’d like them to last longer than two weeks,” he wrote. “What are some good shoes?” The Canadian Press picked up the story, and within 12 hours, Dunfee had offers from five different sponsors. The experience highlights what Dunfee says is a necessary aspect of the typical amateur athlete’s life in Canada. “You have to be social-media savvy to really bring in sponsors, and I think that’s just the way it goes,” says Dunfee. “You just have to accept that and learn to keep up.” In Canada, amateur athletes can’t rely on government funding alone to make a living, making corporate sponsorship a vital means of support. But this leads to the question: Are we doing enough to support our athletes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcZoHdXIiNs In a recent survey for The Canada Project, a randomly selected group was asked whether the federal government spends too much, too little, or about the right amount of money supporting Canadian athletes training for the Olympic Games. Thirty-one per cent of those polled said we don’t spend enough, while 38 per cent said we spend the right amount; 11 per cent felt we spend too much, and 20 per cent were unsure. Canada’s top amateur athletes receive funding from Sport Canada through the Athletes Assistance Program. Senior athletes receive $1,500 per month in “carding” money, while development athletes, and athletes in their first senior year receive $900. In March, the federal government committed an additional $5 million per year to AAP for the next five years, and it’s expected that the carding payouts will increase by 18 per cent — the first increase since 2004 — though the precise amount isn’t clear, since AAP money is also used to provide funding for things like athletes’ tuition at Canadian universities. While the carding stipend is relatively low, Dunfee sees the program as an athlete’s first step en route to a full-time career. “Carding is not the be-all, end-all,” he says. “It sort of gets you in the door. It allows you to be an athlete. But to really make a living off of it, you have to leverage your success in different avenues.” But while carding money is meant to cover things like housing and groceries, many athletes end up using their monthly cheque to pay for training costs. Sporting federations in Canada are funded through Own the Podium, which uses a medal-targeting approach. Dunfee, for example, has access to funds from Athletics Canada that can be drawn on for expenses such as training camps, physiotherapy and travel. Other sports may receive little to no funding.

THE CANADA PROJECT How Canadians see our country at 150