Former gymnast Abby Spadafora and another of 11 athletes known as the “Bluewater Survivors” have publicly criticized Gymnastics Canada’s handling of their abuse complaint, saying they have been victimized a second time by their enforced silence.
Spadafora and the other gymnast, identified as “Athlete B,” were among 11 who filed an abuse complaint on January 15, 2019 against coaches Dave and Elizabeth Brubaker.
“We were constantly told, ‘Don’t say or post anything publicly about what you’re going through. Don’t say or post anything about the abuse you endured because if you do, it will be used against you in the hearing process,’” the two gymnasts claimed in their statement Tuesday morning.
“Thus, for fear of ruining the case, we kept silent,” the statement continued. “We went on with our daily lives while silently fighting a hellish procedure! One would think that the Gymnastics Canada process protects the victims. However, this process has done quite the opposite by continually re-victimizing all of us. »
The 11 gymnasts — Spadafora, Melanie (Rocca) Hunt, April Nicholls, Alheli Picazo, Alysia Topol and six others referred to as “athletes A, B, H, I, J and K” — form the core group of athletes who lobbied for obtain a third party investigation and who testified in the 2020 disciplinary proceedings with Gymnastics Canada.
According to the ‘Bluewater Survivors’, so named because Brubaker was a coach and manager of Bluewater Gymnastics in Sarnia, Ont., a March 2021 disciplinary judgment found 54 counts of misconduct — including emotional abuse. , psychological, physical and sexual — in the couple’s position as coaches over several years, until the arrest of Dave Brubaker in 2017.
Brubaker, who coached Canada at the Rio Olympics in 2016, was banned for life by Gymnastics Canada last year after the internal investigation into multiple complaints. He was suspended in 2017 after being arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault. He was found not guilty, but Gymnastics Canada launched its own investigation after numerous complaints. His wife Elizabeth was suspended in 2019 until 2024.
The Brubakers have denied all allegations. They withdrew an appeal to Gymnastics Canada last month.
Collective action
Last week, former gymnast Amelia Cline filed a class action proposal against Gymnastics Canada and six provincial gymnastics federations — British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario. The plaintiffs of the proposed class action claim to have been victims of physical, sexual and psychological violence during their participation in programs offered by these organizations, since 1978.
Mme Spadafora told The Canadian Press that she has not yet decided whether to join the class action.
She and ‘Athlete B’ were among 450 signatories to a letter sent to Sport Canada calling for an independent, third-party investigation into what they called Gymnastics Canada’s ‘toxic culture’ of aggression and silence. .