Disputes
Disputes are a substantial drain on the sport sector in Manitoba, absorbing time, money and energy that sport organizations could otherwise invest to increase quality and participation in sport and physical activity across the province.
Sport Manitoba has engaged Sport Law to provide support to provincial sport organizations, with the aim to minimize the impact and the severity of disputes within our sport community. Sport Law can provide a range of legal services for our sport organizations, services which may include facilitating discussions to allow the parties of a dispute to communicate more effectively and work toward an accepted agreement. Sport can also assist organizations navigate the disciplinary, appeal, or other legal process.
Sport Manitoba may cover a set amount/up to three hours (or dollar amount) of legal support for sport organizations.
Sport Manitoba also triages dispute submissions to determine the required level of assistance. Assistance may be provided directly by Sport Manitoba or be forwarded to the appropriate party designated in the applicable disciplinary policy.
Is my sport organization eligible?
You must fulfill all the requirements below to submit a dispute.
- Your organization is a Provincial Sport Organization (PSO) in Manitoba. At this time, only PSOs can access the services. However, PSOs may access the services on behalf of their local sport organization.
- The dispute at hand is eligible. If your PSO has a dispute resolution or an appeal policy in place, any matter that is deemed admissible under such policy could be referred to the third party. Submitted disputes generally fall under one of the following categories:
- Discipline: An individual is accused of breaching the organization’s Code of Conduct and the organization wishes to determine whether a violation did occur and, if so, what would be the applicable sanction
- Team Selection: An individual who is not selected for a provincial team wishes to dispute the decision
- Governance: A disagreement regarding the way in which the by-laws or other governance policies have been adopted or applied to reach a certain decision, such as challenges to the Board election process, changes enacted by the Board that affect the members, etc.
Other types of disputes may also be considered at Sport Manitoba’s sole discretion. Ineligible disputes include those in which a specialized adjudication or dispute resolution process already exists under governing policies or laws such as, but not limited to, doping, criminal behaviour, child protection, employment standards or workers’ compensation, consumer protection or human rights.