It will take how many scandals for the worlds of sport and education to protect young people as fully as possible?
Posted yesterday at 10:00 a.m.
Because laxity in the face of abuse and violence, there is.
“I don’t know if the government realizes this, but we are between 15 and 21 years old. We go to school, we work, we are supposed to enjoy our youth, but we are there to fight for adults to do their job! »
It was the cry from the heart of Kenza, member of the collective La voix des jeunes compte, whose words were reported in a column by Rose-Aimée Automne T. Morin published on January 30.1. This collective has been campaigning for nearly five years against violence in schools. Today, he demands that the government quickly legislate the prevention and fight against sexual violence at the preschool, primary and secondary levels.
On Instagram, The voice of young people account explicitly exposes, with supporting quotes, the nature of violence in schools. “It happened in the gym,” says one such account. This is an experience in a sporting context that is not isolated.
I discussed it last December with the youth worker Clorianne Augustin, who accompanies the steps of The voice of young people counts. She and I agreed: young athletes are too often victims of sexual abuse by coaches.
Last week’s news unfortunately proved us right.
Daniel Lacasse, Robert Luu and Charles-Xavier Boilard, women’s basketball coaches at Saint-Laurent High School, were collectively charged with sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, sexual assault and sexual exploitation.
This is sad news, which reminds us of the importance of legislating and the relevance of making known the mechanisms for denunciation and support in the event of sexual abuse. On this point, it is worth pointing out that in addition to criminal recourse, the Sport’Aide* organization offers a confidential helpline for anyone wishing to obtain support regarding a situation of violence in the sports environment. . In addition, the Government of Quebec created, in 2021, the Complaints Officer, which deals with formal denunciations of violence in sport. The voice of young people counts believes that it is also necessary to offer young people the means to confide in their immediate environment. I agree.
And allow me to say a little more in the light of my experience as an athlete, a coach and a trainer of coaches.
First of all, I have a thought for these women and teenagers directly affected by the news revealed last week. I also have a thought for all the people for whom the news has awakened painful memories. The education community, and the sports community in particular, has failed to protect them.
I am not saying that you should be suspicious of the whole system or of all the coaches. Moreover, at Saint-Laurent high school, I met several coaches whose commitment is exemplary. Isabelle Chiasson, manager of the school’s men’s basketball program, is one of them. Rima Elkouri highlighted last fall2 how much she devotes herself body and soul to young people, many of whom are immigrants.
But the benevolence of a trainer like Isabelle Chiasson should not overshadow faulty practices elsewhere in the school.
Robert Luu, Daniel Lacasse and Charles-Xavier Boilard were not coaches of a single team. Between them, they supervised the three main competitive teams at the women’s level, from the youngest to the graduates. This is particularly revolting. In principle, the coach should maintain a bond of trust with the young people, precisely allowing confidences in the event of abuse. Who could Saint-Laurent basketball players confide in?
In addition, I believe that the staff and management of Saint-Laurent secondary school turned a blind eye to serious behavior. I do not accuse them of being blind to the sexual abuse alleged here. Moreover, such crimes often occur in a sneaky way after school hours or during tournaments, at special times between coaches and young people.
Knowing the reputation of the main Quebec basketball programs, I insist on the fact that no one could ignore the toxic sports culture reigning within the women’s basketball program. Daniel Lacasse in particular, the program manager, was known for his coaching posture that put the psychological safety of young people at risk.
Sometimes schools and school service centers deal casually with abuse by their staff. This is what the movement Les Béliers solidaires denounced last year with regard to racism and other violence raging in Montreal North.
And this scourge does not only belong to schools. Moreover, Daniel Lacasse and his team of coaches were valued in the middle of Quebec basketball, beyond their school.
Harmful coaching practices are often trivialized because victory is at the rendezvous, because athletes who have undergone these practices have nevertheless reached the highest peaks, because abusers help athletes get out of poverty, or even , in a school, because an overly punitive approach establishes discipline that eliminates short-term problems.
Still, the stick breaks the long-term youth.
How can we surprise ourselves with damage if we accept as coaches people who, in the first place, do not have the level of integrity necessary to exercise the role? Our society treats coaches like the poor relations of education, as if educational excellence in sport could be left to chance. In the service of protecting young people, the professionalization of the coach’s function, which involves selection, training, remuneration and the resulting ethical requirements, is an avenue that deserves to be explored.
It should be added that this exploration will lack ethics as long as sporting performance is the first indicator of success in the world of sport, leaving questions of security and global development in its blind spot.
Finally, as a lover of Quebec basketball, I cannot ignore… the law of silence. The one that ensures that even today, several coaches suspected of having committed sexual abuse continue to exercise their role with complete impunity. We have our soul-searching to do. We need to talk. We need to talk.
* I am a director of this organization on a voluntary basis.