Racism in sports is still very prevalent as we see through the number of top positions held by Black, Indigenous or persons of colour (BIPOC) in 56 Canadian university sport teams. Only ten percent of 400 top positions are held by BIPOC. 

St. Francis Xavier University’s own Lee Anna Osei who is the women’s basketball coach has started up the Black Canadian Coaches Association (BCCA) to combat the low number of BIPOC in these positions and “increase opportunities for BIPOC coaches” in Canada. This is incredibly important because BIPOC still are not being treated fairly in sports, in their workplaces and in society as we have seen this past year with the killings of multiple people of minority in the US and in Canada. The murder of George Floyd in 2020 was a big turning point for the Black Lives Matter movement and was the inspiration for Coach Osei in creating the BCCA.

Fortunately, the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) has announced the creation of a task force in response to the BCCA to increase diversity in their conference. This is a huge step and good starting point considering none of the current coaches in the OUA are of colour. Hopefully, we can see a large change very soon in the amount of BIPOC coaches and other executives in all types of sport throughout Canada. 

EwanG

Featured image: Lee Anna Osei coaching the STFX women’s basketball team (Source: Bryan L. Kennedy, StFX Athletics)