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Rowan's Law Mandatory Implementation

By Staff, 12/04/19, 9:15AM EST

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Ontario is a national leader in concussion management and prevention

Play. Inspire. Unite. 

The Province of Ontario, at the present time, is the only Province in Canada to enact Concussion Safety legislation throughout its sport system.

“Rowan’s Law” (Concussion Safety) received Royal Assent on March 7, 2018, and Section 5 of the Act, proclaiming a “Rowan’s Law Day” was the only section that came into effect at that time.

However, in 2019, the remaining parts of the Act and the regulation have now come into effect in the following phases;

Requirements for Sport Organizations

Ontario is a national leader in concussion management and prevention. Rowan’s Law (Concussion Safety), 2018 makes it mandatory for sports organizations to:

  1. Effective July 1, 2019, ensure that athletes under 26 years of age, parents of athletes under 18, Coaches, Team Trainers and Team Officials confirm every year that they have reviewed Ontario’s Concussion Awareness Resources. The Concussion Awareness Resources can be accessed free of charge at the following web location. A Confirmation Receipt for review of Concussion Awareness Resources must be completed by each registered participant and managed by the community sport organization for athletes under 26 years of age, parents of athletes under 18, Coaches, Team Trainers and Team Officials before participating in their sport. The Confirmation Receipt Form can be found here.

2. Effective July 1, 2019, establish a Concussion Code of Conduct that sets out rules of behaviour to support concussion prevention. Each year, Athletes, Coaches and Team Trainers must review and sign off on their applicable Codes of Conduct.

You will find Code of Conduct Templates at the bottom of this page that can be used or adopted within existing community sport organization codes of conduct.

3. Effective July 1, 2020, establish a Removal-from-Sport and Return-to-Sport protocol.  

Further information and sample templates will be made available online here when finalized by the Province of Ontario.

The purpose of Rowan’s Law legislation is to promote culture change and make participation in amateur competitive sport safer. There are no enforcement or monitoring provisions in Rowan’s Law.

It is up to entities and individuals to ensure that they comply with the laws of Ontario.

If an organization does not comply with the laws of Ontario, then the organization assumes any liability risk associated with non-compliance.

For a full review of the Rowan’s Law provincial legislation, please click here.

If you have any further questions, please contact Johnny Misley.