Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport Announces the Chair of the Task Force on the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Football and the Outcomes of the First Meeting

(Ottawa, Ontario - December 9, 2010) - The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) is pleased to announce that Dr. Jack Taunton, former Chief Medical Officer for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic WinterGames and International Olympic Committee Medical Commissioner, will chair the Task Force on the Use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Football.

"Jack Taunton is the perfect person to chair this kind of a task force," said Mr. Paul Melia, President and CEO of the CCES. "A strong proponent of True Sport, sport that is values based and value creating, Jack has the energy and the conviction to get to the bottom of the issue and work with a talented group to not only find solutions, but implement them."

Dr. Taunton is joined by a powerful and high profile list of football experts, stakeholders and community leaders. Joining Dr. Taunton as members of the Task Force are:

• Paul Melia - Task Force Vice-Chair, President & CEO, CCES.

Representing key stakeholders:

• Bob Copeland - University of Waterloo Athletic Director - former Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) player;
• Gord Grace - University of Windsor Athletic Director; Member of CIS Board; Ontario University Athletics (OUA) President and former CIS coach and player;
• Tom Huisman -Director, Operations & Development, CIS;
• Vince Amato - Coordinator of Student Services, Champlain College Saint-Lambert, Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) Board Member (CEGEP football);
• Shannon Donovan - Manager, Competitions and Operations, Football Canada;
• Trevor Hardy - Director, Salary Expenditure Reporting, Canadian Football League (CFL);
• André Buist - Conseiller, Direction de la promotion de la sécurité, Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport Québec; and
• Ole Sorensen - Senior Policy Officer – Sport Canada.

Representing community and football leaders:

• Thomas Beynon, Q.C. - Corporate and Technology Lawyer - McCarter Grespan Beynon Weir former CIS/CFL player;
• Jock Climie - Labour & Employment Lawyer - Partner with Emond Harnden (Ottawa) - Former CIS/CFL player;
• Matt Torigian - Chief of Police, Waterloo Regional Police Services.

• Jean Phillipe Darche - Studying medicine at University of Kansas - one of the few Canadian-born players who has played CEGEP, CIS, CFL and National Football League (NFL) (nine years);
• Dr. Bob McCormack - Head physician for the BC Lions and Orthopaedic surgeon for the varsity programs at Simon Fraser University (NCAA) and Trinity Western University (CIS), past Canadian Chief Medical Officer for many Games;
• Dan Rambo - Former CFL, NFL, and World League of American Football (WLAF) Executive and Scout for 25 years, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) player in Montana, and currently under contract to Football Canada;
• Sébastien Tétreault -  True Sport Champion and 2010 CIS First Team All-Canadian with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, Selection Outaouais Football Board Chair;

"This is a very talented and professional group of concerned sport leaders who are determined to rid football of the use of performance enhancing substances," said Dr. Taunton. "In order to have an effective anti-doping program we need to better understand the culture of the sport and then work with stakeholders and the players to understand what will work to shift the culture.

"Football is an important part of our Canadian culture - it is played in communities across the country by children and young adults. We want to ensure it is a healthy and safe environment for our children, one where they can be the best they can be without feeling pressured to resort to performance enhancing drug use," Dr. Taunton emphasized. "Our first meeting was charged with energy, insights and a real commitment to finding and implementing solutions that will have a positive effect on the sport of football."

The Task Force held its first meeting on Friday, December 3 in Ottawa. The group reviewed the Task Force Framework and agreed on the following mission: To develop an action plan to rid the use of performance enhancing drugs in tackle football. The Task Force also agreed that a significant portion of the action items would be ready for implementation prior to the beginning of the 2011 Junior Football, CIS and CCAA seasons.

The CCES, the CIS and its member universities recognized the need for additional testing, which the CCES carried out in the spring and early summer of 2010. The CCES Task Force was created in response to the unprecedented number of doping violations that resulted from this out-of-season testing. The CCES has issued anti-doping rule violations against 11 CIS football players from various institutions: four for admitting to the use of a prohibited substance; six for the use of a prohibited substance including the world's second hGH positive finding; and one for refusing sample collection. Substances included: tamoxifen, testosterone, stanozolol , winstrol, methyl-1-testosterone, clomiphene and hGH.

The CCES is an independent, national, non-profit organization. Our mission, to foster ethical sport for all Canadians, is carried out through research, promotion, education, detection and deterrence, as well as through programs and partnerships with other organizations.