VANCOUVER — The federal government plans to work with a group of women ski jumpers to convince the International Olympic Committee to include women's ski jumping as a sport in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
"The Government supports the inclusion and equality of women in sport, and we are committed to ensuring our policy on women and sport continues to be effective in increasing the involvement of women in the Canadian sport system," Helena Guergis, secretary of state for sport, said in a release Tuesday.
Ottawa has agreed to take the action as part of a settlement involving a complaint filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission by Jan Willis, on behalf of her daughter and other women ski jumpers.
The complain argued excluding women ski jumpers from the Vancouver Games was discriminatory.
"We are proud that the federal government has taken a leadership role in the promotion of gender equity in sport, and we welcome it as a partner in working towards the inclusion of women's ski jumping in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver," Willis said in a release.
The IOC has voted against allowing women ski jumping in Vancouver, arguing the sport is not developed enough and that it doesn't meet the basic criteria for inclusion.
