Kate Bertram. Emilie Cousineau. Allison Forsyth. Amelie Frederique Gagnon. Gail Kelly. Gillian McFetridge. Anna Prchal. Genevieve Simard. Earlier this month, eight women, all retired members of the Canadian Alpine ski team, bravely stood in front of their families, friends, the sport community and the world to share their stories of shocking betrayal and abuse by their former coach.

We salute these courageous women.

I know first-hand the absolute trust an athlete puts in her coach. In the case of these eight women, that absolute trust was violated. Instead of being able to follow their dreams in sport and in life in a safe and supportive environment, this predator selfishly abused his position of trust, robbing these women of their youth, their self-esteem and their faith in the people and very system supposed to support and protect them. Thankfully, he is now incarcerated for his crimes.

Since I became president of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) in the fall of 2015, we have made changes to help ensure a safe environment for the athletes, coaches, staff, volunteers, and everyone in the Olympic family.

These include the development of a conduct policy, for use by all sports, now also used as a template provided to other national Olympic committees to help promote safe sport. We have also instituted a whistleblower policy that strengthens the ability to report anonymously within the COC.

We created a multi-party working group to investigate the creation of an ombuds position for all Canadian sport. The working group recommendations, currently before the federal government, are awaiting approval and funding and the COC repeats its call for immediate implementation. More needs to be done across the broader sport system and we will continue to do our part to help.

For decades, the federal and provincial governments have required certain standards be met within organizations they fund. The stories of these brave women are proof that there have been gaps.

What was previously in place, is not enough. We need clear practical processes to close the gaps within Canada’s sport landscape. These include preventative measures, such as education and training on rights and responsibilities, as well as clear and accessible processes for reporting and dealing with incidents should they arise.

This must not only be training for athletes, but also for coaches, parents, professional service providers, senior management, and board members.

The COC supports the initiative of the Canadian Coaching Association of Canada, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, B2ten, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, and the Sheldon Kennedy Respect Group to establish standards and practices guidelines for an abuse free environment in sport for adoption by the federal and provincial governments and, critically, by all sports federations.

Only with concrete steps combined with meaningful action can our sport system do right by the courage of these athletes. Everyone in sport should feel safe and be safe and we will do everything we can to help make that a reality.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...