Enough is enough. It is time to put a stop, once and for all, to the toxic culture that poisons sport in Canada. We can no longer just listen helplessly to the horror stories that emerge almost every week.
On Sunday, the new revelations of the Globe and Mail about the gang rape that allegedly took place in London in 2018, on the sidelines of a gala of the national junior hockey team, were as sordid as they were revolting.
An older man who attended the event as part of his duties allegedly poured alcohol into the young woman’s mouth and advised her to “take care” of one of the players. It was this player who brought her to his hotel room and who texted his friends to join him, without the knowledge of the alleged victim.
It’s to cry.
Last week, two Drummondville Voltigeurs players were the target of allegations of sexual assault against a 15-year-old girl in 2016. They were accompanied by Noah Corson, son of the former Canadiens player Shayne Corson, who refutes the charges against him too.
Far from being anecdotes, these revelations echo several allegations of rape that have smeared major junior hockey teams over the years, in Quebec and elsewhere in the country.
However, the scandals in the world of hockey are only the tip of the iceberg. They must serve as an engine to clean up the toxic climate that undermines so many other sports: water polo, speed skating, boxing, bobsleigh, artistic swimming, gymnastics, basketball, alpine skiing…
Progress has already been made, such as the establishment in June of an Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner with a mandate to deal with complaints from athletes who have been victims of abuse. But for the moment, only half a dozen federations adhere to it, although the federal Minister of Sports, Pascale St-Onge, threatens to cut the financing of the recalcitrant in 2023. Very good.
But much more needs to be done. We cannot put the responsibility for denouncing the abuses of a system whose values must be transformed in depth on the backs of vulnerable athletes.
To empty the abscess, Ottawa must set up an independent commission of inquiry, as a growing number of athletes are calling for. This commission must be chaired by a judge or an individual who is not from a federation or a sports organization, to be able to take a fresh and totally impartial look at the situation.
We are ripe for this great collective reflection to which not only athletes who are victims of abuse will have to be invited, but also coaches, sports federations, parents and even the general public… because we are all somewhat responsible for the unhealthy culture in which our young people live.
When you look in the mirror, you can see that elite sport is powered by the extraordinary value we place on medals. It is clear that the search for performance at all costs plunges athletes into a harmful context stifled by the law of silence of the federations.
Their sexist and misogynistic culture puts some athletes on the side of the abusers, while their culture of control and abuse puts others on the side of the abusers.
If we want to clean up sport, we have to stop putting on a pedestal young people who end up imagining that everything is allowed to them, even criminal acts. We must also stop putting undue pressure on the shoulders of athletes who come to believe that they have to endure everything to get on the podium.
No, no and no. It is not with torturer coaches who shout at the top of their voices and who create a climate of fear that we push young people to give the best of themselves. Physical and psychological abuse, which is still too frequent, does not pave the way to success. On the contrary, they destroy lives and cause young people to drop out of sport.
If Canada wants to stand out on the international scene, it must do a major housecleaning that all the countries of the world, grappling with the same problems, can only welcome.
Let’s act. Let’s be a role model. If the Ben Johnson scandal in 1998 propelled Canada to become a champion in anti-doping, the Hockey Canada scandal must force us to become a leader in the fight against toxic sport.