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Calls to investigate “the toxic culture and endemic child abuse entrenched in Canadian gymnastics” went unanswered for seven months, a group of more than 500 Canadian gymnasts said in an open letter released Wednesday.
Now the group known as Gymnasts for Change Canada is “urging and imploring” federal sports minister Pascale St-Onge to open an independent judicial inquiry “for the well-being of every gymnast in the country.”
The letter states that “the lack of response sends the message that these voices do not matter and that their experiences are not worth heeding.”
According to the group, these experiences include children publicly humiliated, sexually groomed, forced to train over significant injuries, deprived of food, and verbally and physically abused.
The list, which includes other troubling details, was reportedly sent in a June 22 email to St-Onge, his chief of staff and a Sport Canada representative.
Gymnasts For Change Canada says the email “was followed by no action” from St-Onge’s office, along with another open letter from March 2022 calling for an independent investigation into the issues.
“Surely now their voices are too loud to ignore and yet their courage has not been met by any action from your office.”
St-Onge responded to the letter during a media scrum Wednesday in Ottawa.
“The stories we’ve heard of abuse or mistreatment in their sport at all levels, sometimes it’s local club, provincial clubs or the national level, I have to say it’s totally heartbreaking and extremely disturbing “, she said.
The Sports Minister added that there must be a “collective response” and that the establishment of the Office of the Sports Integrity Commissioner is the independent body that athletes from all sports have been asking for.
“Yes, it’s federally funded, like any court that is financially supported by the federal government, but it’s still an independent entity,” St-Onge said. “And that’s part of the solution for athletes to have a place to address their cases of abuse and mistreatment, whether it’s individual complaints or cultural sporting assessments.”
The group says abusive behavior continues to exist in the gymnastics community.
“These examples are not historic and the abuse continues today in gyms across the country.
“Today we call for your action…Every day without this action by the Canadian government is another day that children experience the most despicable forms of emotional, physical and sexual abuse.”
WATCH | The Minister of Sport responds to the call to action of Canadian gymnasts:
Last summer, gymnastics coach Jamie Ellacott was charged with sexually assaulting four girls between the ages of seven and 14 in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Abby Spadafora – who detailed in a public letter in May her own allegations of years of sexual, emotional and physical abuse in the 1990s – wonders if a federal inquiry could have stopped the Lethbridge assaults before they happened. produce.
“It was really hard to swallow. I didn’t sleep for days afterwards. [the allegations] came out, because we had already told the sports minister that gymnastics needs a real independent investigation that meets judicial standards,” Spadafora said. “And I still wonder to this day that this could have been prevented if an investigation had been opened?
Public survey
Liberal MP and former Sports Minister Kirsty Duncan is pushing for a full public inquiry that would examine the problem of abuse in all sports, much like the Dubin Inquiry which investigated doping in Canadian sport in 1989.
Kim Shore, a former GymCan board member, said there was precedent. Several countries, including Australia and Britain, have conducted independent investigations. Australia’s was completed by the Australian Human Rights Commission, while Britain’s Whyte Rview was co-commissioned by UK Sport and Sport England.
“It’s so amazing that in a wonderful country like Canada, there are so many capable entities stuck in apathy when it comes to child abuse,” Shore said. “Nine other countries have conducted independent investigations, many at the request of their governments, so what’s wrong? What more do we need to do as survivors to take action and protect children?
The group also notes that Gymnastics Canada has joined the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC), but argues that this interferes with “the gymnasts’ need for a judicial investigation”, citing reasons such as the limited resources of OSIC, lack of independence, lack of subpoena powers and inability to apply sanctions.
“The commissioner and her team have graciously accepted our decision not to proceed with a sports environment assessment, recognizing that gymnastics requires a mechanism equipped in substance and scope, to address the serious and systemic nature abuses that afflict gymnastics.”
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