Another national sport organization in Canada is in the spotlight – four former members of the national water polo team program have filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against Water Polo Canada, alleging that senior executives, the federation’s coaches and support staff have fostered a toxic culture for more than a year. decade.
The lawsuit says the former players were sexually harassed, threatened, encouraged to make racist and homophobic jokes and repeatedly warned to honor Water Polo Canada’s “circle of trust.”
Water Polo Canada (WPC) is an Ottawa-based not-for-profit organization that receives funding from the federal government. He did not respond to a request for comment.
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said the athletes felt like they were “under a microscope”.
“We constantly have to improve our performance, we always get criticized, we always get criticized,” Katrina Monton told CTV News.
“And I think it’s time for other stakeholders in space…to look in the mirror and recognize their role in the system.”
Monton was a member of Canada’s national junior and senior water polo teams for 14 years, starting at the age of 15. She says some WPC staff have made a conscious choice to ignore abusive behavior.
“It’s a privilege not to have had to consider the damage or the things that were inflicted or done,” she said. “I think it’s a privilege not to have to go back on your own behavior and adjust and change it in any way.”
The lawsuit contains allegations referring to a series of national team coaches, including one who allegedly met athletes in his hotel room wearing only his underwear and, on another occasion, pressured them to remove back and chest hair.
Another coach reportedly threatened the athletes, saying he would bring a shotgun or baseball bat to the pool to shoot or beat them if they performed poorly.
Pat Oaten, who is now the coach of the senior men’s national team, is accused in the lawsuit of openly discussing his sex life with members of the women’s national team.
“We lived in a culture where everything was swept under the rug and ignored,” said Steph Valin, another former team member and plaintiff in the lawsuit. “We were chess pieces in a game and we were all disposable.
“It was a culture that was willfully blind.”
A 38-page statement was filed in Ontario Superior Court on April 29 and served on WPC on Thursday. The allegations have yet to be tested in court.
In recent years, numerous Canadian sports federations have been subject to lawsuits and allegations of widespread abuse and misconduct, including Hockey Canada, Gymnastics Canada, Rowing Canada and Canada Soccer.
This calculation now seems to have come to the sport of water polo.
The four former members of the Canadian water polo team say the abuse they say they suffered caused them emotional, physical and psychological harm, including anxiety and depression, suicidal thoughts and deep trust issues.
“I’ve struggled with depression, a lot of anxiety – post-traumatic stress disorder, that’s the word I have to say out loud – and low self-esteem all my life,” said Sophie Baron. La Salle to CTV News. “Because I started water polo when I was nine, then 14, so I grew up in that environment.”
La Salle alleges in the lawsuit that Oaten once forced her to sit through practice in a bright and noisy pool environment despite a recent concussion.
The fourth plaintiff is only identified as AA in court documents. All four were members of the junior and senior women’s national teams at some point between 2004 and 2016.
The coaches identified in the lawsuit are not listed as defendants, but are identified as having “fostered a toxic culture at WPC,” the lawsuit states.
Besides Oaten, who coached the senior women’s national team from 2002 to 2012, coaches Baher El Sakkary, Daniel Berthelette and Guy Baker were mentioned by name.
“Each adult male coach has taken advantage of the power imbalance between himself and the young female athletes under his care in an attempt to achieve high performance results at the expense of the physical, psychological and emotional well-being of the athletes” , says the lawsuit.
El Sakkary, who coached the junior women’s national team from 2004 to 2005, allegedly bullied athletes by calling them insulting names and criticizing their appearance, and acted “sexually inappropriately around athletes”, according to the lawsuit.
Berthelette had already been fired by the organization in 2001 after athletes and their parents complained about her behavior, according to the lawsuit, but was rehired two years later to coach the women’s junior team. In 2007, he was hired as a technical advisor and assistant coach for the senior women’s national team, where the plaintiffs met him.
He allegedly told the athletes he wanted to have sex with them to “say whether they were lesbians or not” and used threats of violence to motivate the athletes to perform, according to the lawsuit.
“To cement his authority and reinforce the athletes’ belief that he would carry out these threats, Dan told the team graphic stories about his past abuse and affiliations with the Mafia, the Hell’s Angels and dangerous gangster friends” , the lawsuit said, adding that he was asked to leave WPC in 2011.
The lawsuit also outlines criticism from some national team support staff. Valin reportedly met with WPC support staff Daniele Sauvageau in 2013 about the bullying and outbursts of Guy Baker, expressing her fear of working with him.
“Daniele did not intervene to protect Steph, nor did she connect Steph to psychological support to address Steph’s desire to be hurt,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiffs seek $1 million in general and aggravated damages for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and vicarious liability for physical, psychological and emotional abuse and sexual harassment. They also sought $4 million in connection with past and future economic losses suffered as a result of Water Polo Canada’s alleged failure to protect them, and $500,000 in punitive damages.
In the 2021-22 season, Water Polo Canada received $2.2 million from Sport Canada, according to government records, while its carded athletes received about $634,000.
Water Polo Canada did not respond to CTV News’ request for comment. The lawsuit says that although the parents complained about the coaches’ behavior and filed complaints with the organization, nothing changed.
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