“Be sorry that the culture in sport is still what it is today,” cyclist Geneviève Jeanson told federal elected officials on Monday when she appeared before a committee examining the risks to which women and men are exposed. girls in sport.
During her testimony in Ottawa, the former high-level Quebec athlete detailed the allegations of abuse and sexual assault against her that she says she suffered from her ex-coach, André Aubut. These allegations have not been examined by a court of law.
Geneviève Jeanson also accuses Mr. Aubut of having administered EPO to her for sports doping purposes when she was only a teenager. Her former trainer was suspended for life in 2009 by the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport (CCES) for giving EPO to the cyclist.
The one who is now co-spokesperson for Sport’Aide, an organization that wishes to promote a healthy environment in the practice of sport, went there with her recommendations to the members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.
“Please don’t tell me you’re sorry for what happened. Being sorry won’t change the past,” she said upfront.
She invited the deputies to be indignant “that things are not moving fast enough to protect the athletes”, asking, in the same breath, for changes.
According to Geneviève Jeanson, athletes and coaches should be educated “as soon as possible on what is acceptable behavior and what is unacceptable”. “Education on integrity issues should be mandatory,” she added.
The cyclist also wants the establishment of a complaint handling system that is completely independent of sports federations and that is not only accessible to “elite athletes”.
“I think the basis is to have an independent committee that will be able to deal with complaints so that it’s also a ‘safe place’ for everyone, for athletes in particular. So [pour qu’on soit] certain that by going there, it will not be […] the ‘boys’ club’ which will always have a foot or a hand in another federation to protect its federation”, she said in response to a question from the Bloc’s spokesperson for the status of women, Andreanne Larouche.
Geneviève Jeanson pleaded for such a complaint handling system to lead to “consequences” and “sanctions” which “are the same for all sports”.
The Trudeau government “fully agrees”
Asked about this request from the cyclist, the Minister of Sports, Pascale St-Onge, indicated that the federal government was “entirely in agreement” and that it has, in this vein, created the Office of the Commissioner for integrity in sport (BCIS).
” [La commissaire] is independent of sports federations and can receive individual complaints concerning abuse and ill-treatment, make inquiries, impose sanctions [ainsi que] make assessments on the culture in a sport”, listed the Minister after taking part in the question period.
Mme St-Onge assures that she is acting quickly in this file, in particular by revising the funding framework for organizations that receive federal funds to add, in the agreements, “new criteria” “so that there is more accountability in the system “.
“It’s all going to be announced by April 2023, so we’re working very quickly because we’re concerned about the stories we’re hearing and that needs to change,” she said.
Geneviève Jeanson also recounted that, in her case, colleagues had confided to her, after she had publicly denounced, in several media, the actions of which André Aubut was accused, that the latter suspected that she was experiencing a difficult situation with her coach at the time.
These other cyclists told her, she said, that they had seen a Geneviève Jeanson who was “no longer the same person”, but that they had been afraid, while speaking, to “make sure that [l’athlète] no longer wins” in his discipline.
“What you are finally telling us is that the people around you […] all kept silent or didn’t ask questions so as not to hurt you more, but yet we [a senti que] […] you have been completely isolated and abandoned, ”said Conservative MP Dominique Vien in an exchange with Ms.me Jeanson.
“Give a chance” to BCIS
MPs from all parties thanked the cyclist for telling her story and all seemed open to her recommendations. “It’s appalling to hear that today,” said MP Vien.
New Democrat MP Leah Gazan added that, unfortunately, stories like Jeanson’s are nothing new. Members of the parliamentary committee also heard other stories about abuse in sport with testimony from Jennifer Fraser, author and educational consultant, and Wendy Glover, high school teacher and athlete development consultant.
“There have been documentaries for years on the subject and people have just looked the other way and allowed the abuse to happen,” Ms.me Gazan.
Marie-Claude Asselin, CEO of the Sport Dispute Resolution Center of Canada — one of whose divisions is the new BCIS — defended the organization. “It’s unfair not to give him a chance. It is built on solid foundations, ”she argued before the same committee.
However, she agreed that the initiative has its limits. “It would certainly be beneficial to have greater powers, such as subpoenas, the right to maintain a public register of sanctions and the immunity of its professionals. »
Mme Jeanson said he hopes he can be a force for change. “What I went through, it must not happen again. For sure. If I can be an example of what not to do, I think that’s as good as being an example of what to do,” she said.
She pointed out that her story happened before the #MeToo whistleblowing movement arose, mentioning that it wasn’t until 2021, after hearing many stories of abuse in sport, that she ” decided to share the full extent of his abuse experience”.
She said that she was not ready to speak before that because it was still too associated with a feeling of shame.
With Michel Saba and Lori Ewing