Sportsafe Investigations Group is a Canadian-based firm that specializes in independent investigations in sport. Through the firm’s founder, Jennifer White, Sportsafe has developed a network of trusted, third-party investigators with a passion for safety and ethical behaviour at all levels of sport.
Jennifer White is an experienced and well-respected third-party investigator and lawyer with an expertise in safe sport, sexual misconduct, harassment and maltreatment investigations.
As an external party, Jennifer is retained to investigate complaints and to determine what happened and if there have been any violations of policy or law.
Jennifer has over twenty years’ experience as a trusted resource for organizations who need to understand the facts and to make decisions based on these facts. After a successful career as a lawyer, Jennifer has been doing investigation work only since 2016.
Jennifer is resourceful, thorough and meticulous in her work. She understands the importance of providing procedural fairness to all participants as well as providing clear and detailed reports that withstand judicial scrutiny.
Jennifer understands sport from the athlete, coach and parent perspective. Her favourite sports are ringette, hockey, rugby and triathlon.
A Member of the Law Society of Ontario, the Canadian Bar Association and the Association of Workplace Investigators. She on the independent investigator roster with the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (previously SDRCC.)
Jennifer is often asked to speak publicly about the role and importance of third party investigators.
Sportsafe will conduct a thorough and detailed investigation and prepare a thoughtful report so that the organization can move forward with clarity. An investigation will usually include the gathering and analysis of relevant evidence, a credibility assessment of the participants and findings of fact about what happened.
Sportsafe will review a current situation to determine if an investigation is warranted or if there are other ways to mitigate the situation.
Sportsafe will provide mediation to parties that are ready to resolve a broken relationship and move forward.
One of the unique facets of conducting independent investigations is that we really are the creators and drivers of each process. We are constantly making decisions about who to interview, in what order, and deciding which questions to ask.
For those of working in sport investigations, the long-awaited Report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage came out last week and this is a must read for anyone working in our field.
Over the past few weeks I have started some new investigations and the clients have insisted on in-person interviews.
I have recently fulfilled a personal goal of moving from conducting mostly workplace investigations to conducting mostly sport investigations. As an athlete, coach and sport parent myself, I feel very fortunate to be working in a field that I am passionate about.
For Canadian sport harassment investigators, today's the day we've been waiting for. Richard McLaren's report and recommendations for the implementation of the “Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport”
For Canadian sport harassment investigators, today's the day we've been waiting for. Richard McLaren's report and recommendations for the implementation of the “Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport”
My latest blog on why I am recommending that every investigator (and parent and athlete) should listen to the Believed Podcast from NPR Radio:
A few months ago, my colleague Janice Rubin took a look at all of the industries that had been prompted to survey their own members on their own experiences with sexual harassment. Indeed, the variety in these industries was remarkable and ranged from theatre to funds management to media to Members of Parliament.
