- Team captain Christine Sinclair and players Janine Beckie, Sophie Schmidt and Quinn brought their case before MPs
- Tells MPs we are asked to do more with less
CanWNT players told a committee of MPs Thursday that their program is being held back by a lack of support from their governing body.
This is after a powerful delegation from the players took their labour dispute before members of the heritage committee on Thursday.
Team captain Christine Sinclair told Parliament : “There is no greater honour as an athlete than to step on the competitive stage and represent our country.”
“These have been some of the greatest moments of our lives. But they’ve not come without frustration.”
In giving their review, players told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that pay equity is only a part of their fight. “
“We as players sometimes have to make choices about which medical treatments to receive when staff physiotherapists are stretched,” Quinn said.
Players also said the coaches have had to cut the number of players at camp, making it difficult for them to run full field drills.
The team demands same amount of support and backing ahead of this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as the men’s team received before its soccer showcase last year in Qatar.
“We’ve … been successful with less and have been expected to do more with less,” Beckie said. “We’re so sick and tired of having to fight the same battle.”
Nick Bontis is, last year, accused ignoring the players’ plight.
“The president of Canada Soccer listened to what I had to say and then later in the meeting referred back to it as, ‘What was it Christine was bitching about?'” Sinclair said.
Schmidt told MPs that Canada Soccer has the responsibility of developing women’s soccer in Canada, but has cut youth programming.
“Canada Soccer treats the women’s game as an afterthought,” she said, adding that failure to develop the game would put the future of the national team at risk.”
“The system for developing players is broken and women are making the national team by chance, not by design,” she said.
MPs notes the situation. Calls it an ’embarrassment‘ What the MPs said
Conservative MP and committee member Kevin Waugh said, “I have a granddaughter playing soccer because of you,” he said. “It’s not because of the men’s team. It’s not because of [Canada Soccer].
Waugh continued, “It’s because of the Canadian women’s soccer team — what you’ve accomplished in the last ten plus years.”
