CCES and Ontario Racing Commission join forces to fight doping

(Ottawa, Ontario – September 12, 2012) – The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) is pleased to announce its new alliance with the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC). Through this collaboration, both organizations will share information and resources of common interest to help build intelligence in the fight against unethical and illegal practices in Canadian sport.

“Building on the success of the Vancouver Olympic Games, the CCES continues to advance our state-of-the-art Canadian Anti-Doping Program by further increasing our intelligence and investigations capacities,” said Paul Melia, President and CEO of the CCES. “Inter-organizational relationships and strategic alliances, such as this agreement with the Ontario Racing Commission, are crucial developments in identifying and addressing distributors and their highly sophisticated doping networks.

This natural partnership between the ORC and the CCES has arisen out of an identification of common interests, and a recognition of the connection between the sport of horse racing and the many sporting disciplines for the human athlete. Working together will leverage resources and build intelligence.

“Those individuals who would seek to profit through the promotion of drugs to enhance performance see no boundaries between humans and the horse – it’s all one market,” said ORC Deputy Director Rob McKinney. “In our experiences using intelligence-led investigations within horse racing, we see evidence of the crossover. This new relationship with the CCES will benefit both organizations in our fight to ensure a level playing field.”

Melia agrees. “The CCES is very happy to have developed an alliance with the ORC. By working together, we expect to exchange valuable insight and resources into cases that compromise the purity of sport in Canada. Partnerships such as this will only strengthen the collective efforts to achieve a sport system that is fair, safe and open to everyone.”

The ORC, the Ontario agency responsible for the regulation of horse racing in the province, has gained international recognition for its leadership role in developing new approaches in the field of investigation.  It has developed similar agreements with other government and regulatory agencies, both in Canada and the US. The CCES will be able to take advantage of these connections.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is an independent, national, not-for profit organization. We recognize that true sport can make a great difference for individuals, communities and our country. We are committed to working collaboratively to activate a values-based and principle-driven sport system; protecting the integrity of sport from the negative forces of doping and other unethical threats; and advocating for sport that is fair, safe and open to everyone.

 

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