Posted at 7:00 a.m.
Gain someone’s trust
Toxic climate, nepotism, attacks, harassment, abuse: not a week seems to pass without a sporting environment being shaken by serious allegations.
Gymnastics Canada, Boxing Canada, Canada Artistic Swimming, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, Rugby Canada and Hockey Canada have all recently gone through the wringer, accused by their members of lack of sensitivity, willful blindness or downright covering up of intolerable situations.
Before that, there was the case of Marcel Aubut, at the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), and that of Bertrand Charest, at Alpine Canada.
Athletes’ associations and federal sports minister Pascale St-Onge say sport is “in crisis” in Canada.
“I think it’s an awakening,” nuance Marie-Claude Asselin, CEO of the Sport Dispute Resolution Center of Canada (SDRCC).
There are practices that were traditional in the sport. People were closing their eyes because they were like, “Ah, that builds character.” We had a perception of what sport should be. To prepare champions, there must be adversity.
Marie-Claude Asselin, CEO of the Sport Dispute Resolution Center of Canada
She continues: “We are questioning these ways of proceeding, these coaching methods of the 1940s or 1960s. It is an awakening that is very positive in my opinion. »
On June 20, the SDRCC will launch the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (BCIS). The first commissioner is Sarah-Ève Pelletier, a lawyer and mediator who worked for the COC for seven years and for the International Olympic Committee for five. She was also a member of the Canadian synchronized swimming team.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPORT INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER
Sarah-Ève Pelletier, First Commissioner of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner
The SDRCC has been working on this for six years. The Aubut affair was a trigger. That of Charest, coach convicted of multiple sexual crimes against female skiers, an accelerator. Mme Asselin supported the victims in the rest of this sordid story.
“The message from these women at the press conference was not necessarily directed at Alpine Canada. It was more to say: we want changes. It was: it takes the application of an independent complaints program. It takes a universal policy. Basically, what these women asked for in 2018, we have it. »
Mme Asselin compares the current context in Canadian sport to the #metoo wave: “There was far too much tolerance and it went beyond the limits. The fact of tolerating certain things allowed predators to see that there were flaws. »
Reprimand and suspension for life
The Office of the Integrity Commissioner is mandated to receive complaints from Federation members, investigate and impose sanctions under the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Child Abuse in Sport (CCUMS).
For now, each federation is required to have an independent complaints process. “There was system inefficiency because we had 90 parallel systems,” said the CEO. Each federation had its policy, its third party [indépendante], his ways of proceeding. »
Mme Asselin assures that the BCIS will be completely free of its actions, which is doubted by the more than 400 gymnasts who have signed an open letter to request an independent investigation from the government. She herself will have “no authority” over the files or knowledge of the complaints that will be submitted. “We are putting in place a system that will allow these complaints to be processed, but without interference. But we will have to gain trust. This confidence is undermined by leaving. »
Penalties can range from a reprimand to a lifetime ban.
Between the two, there may be an obligation to take certain training courses before becoming eligible again. It could also be practice conditions such as never being around athletes without a supervisor or chaperone. The range of sanctions that can be imposed is very wide.
Marie-Claude Asselin, CEO of the Sport Dispute Resolution Center of Canada
Mme Asselin admits the existence of “grey areas”. “There may be a kind of gradation of sanctions. Cases could also be settled through mediation, an expertise developed by the SDRCC.
The Bureau will have authority over the national federations. However, some provinces have shown interest in using its services. “In Quebec, there is the “I wear a complaint” platform, which is the first official provincial program to have emerged to deal with this type of situation. »
For the time being, the membership of the federations is not compulsory, but, trusting the declarations of the minister, the chief executive officer expects it to become so.
“Right now, you have to follow the money! […] If the money comes from Sport Canada and Sport Canada tells the federations that it is mandatory if they want to continue to receive funding, they will have to comply. »
Anyway, M.me Asselin expects a generally positive reception from the leaders.
“There are federations who are very, very eager to be able to entrust this to experts and start doing sports administration again. »
A wave or a tidal wave of complaints?
It is not known how many complaints will end up with the Office of the Commissioner for Integrity in Sport (BCIS), which will open on June 20.
“Will it be a big wave or will it be a tidal wave? asks Marie-Claude Asselin, CEO of the Sport Dispute Resolution Center of Canada (SDRCC), which oversees the BCIS. ” We do not know. We are in the unknown and in anticipation. »
The United States Center for Safe Sport (USCSS), the US counterpart of BCIS for sexual assault complaints, was inundated with reports when it opened in 2017. By February 2020, USCSS had received nearly 5,000 event reports and sanctioned 627 people.
PHOTO YAN DOUBLET, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
“I know there’s going to be a lot of phone calls just because of the stories we’ve heard over the past few weeks and months,” said Federal Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge.
We also foresee a retroactive effect. I know there are going to be a lot of phone calls just because of the stories we’ve heard over the past few weeks and months.
Pascale St-Onge, Federal Sports Minister
According to The Canadian Press, the federal government will spend $16 million to fund BCIS over the next three years. Thorny issue: the participating national sports federations will also have to contribute. “The federations will pay a sum to participate in the program and this sum will be put in a fund,” said Ms.me Asselin.
The CEO of the SDRCC compares this contribution to an “insurance premium” “which will vary according to the size of the federation, the number of members and the type of activities”. The number of complaints that will require an investigation will also be a factor considered.
“What was expected [à l’origine], is that the federations that do less prevention and less good education work with their members will end up paying more because they will have more cases. »
Unlike the United States
According to a law passed by former President Donald Trump in October 2020, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) must fund the USCSS to the tune of US$20 million each year. A portion of this amount is billed to federations based on the number of cases reported to the USCSS.
In addition, the American organization has a public online register of sanctioned persons and their status.
This will not be the case in Canada. “Privacy laws are less restrictive in the United States,” said Ms.me Asselin. What we hope to do is to at least maintain a sanctions register and make it available [de façon sécurisée], a bit like the database of doping cases. »