Dozens of Canadian and global sports scientists have joined the chorus to call for an independent investigation into sport in Canada and say its athletes deserve better.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Monday, Scholars Against Abuse in Canadian Sport called for an urgent investigation into “widespread reports of sexual, physical and psychological abuse of athletes across the country’s sporting system.”
The letter was signed by 91 people from 30 Canadian and 17 international institutions.
“[We] Stand in solidarity with the 1,000+ Canadian athletes who are seeking immediate accountability and meaningful change from Sport Canada and the broader system it governs,” it said.
The letter comes amid growing calls for an inquiry after bobsleigh, skeleton and gymnastics athletes and several MPs asked Canada’s Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge for an inquiry similar to the Dubin Inquiry into doping in 1989.
The educators’ letter was spearheaded by MacIntosh Ross, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario, who has written several articles on Hockey Canada’s recent scandals, as well as the national safe-sport crisis in general.
“The vast majority of professors felt that there should be an independent inquiry, similar to the Dubin Inquiry,” Ross said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “Certainly there is much more at stake on this issue. This is not doping and not a question of unfair competition. It truly is about the safety and well-being of athletes of all ages. Which you would obviously want to investigate and have all the information possible to try and fix the system so that nobody else or as few people as possible get hurt in the future.
CLOCK | St-Onge responds to call from Canadian gymnasts:
Sports Minister responds to Canadian gymnasts’ call for action against sport’s toxic culture
Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge addresses the calls from Canadian gymnasts who wrote an open letter to her office about how to deal with toxic culture in sports.
St-Onge named former artistic swimmer Sarah-Eve Pelletier as the country’s first sports integrity officer amid a wave of current and retired athletes calling attention to their toxic cultures in their sports and calling for change.
But the bureau admitted only eight out of 24 complaints and reports between September 20 and December 31, and considered the rest not under its jurisdiction or authority.
“We need to make sure complaints aren’t just brushed aside,” said Conservative MP Karen Vecchio, chair of a women’s status committee that looks at the safety of women and girls in sport.
“I’ve seen several complaints where you filed a complaint and didn’t get a response or the response was, ‘That’s not our problem.’ They just keep knocking on doors and doors keep closing on them.”
Experts have said abuse complaints in Canada skyrocketed in 2022, with athletes in more than half a dozen sports waging wars against leaders, raising allegations of toxicity and abuse and calling for sweeping change.
Testimony also began last month before MPs for the Standing Committee on the Status of Women hearings on the safety of women and girls in sport.
“The government’s response to athlete abuse remains woefully inadequate and fails to address the underlying factors responsible for widespread athlete abuse across the sports system,” read Monday’s letter.
“No solution”
While St-Onge established Canada’s first Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) in June as a one-stop independent investigator for complaints, the letter argued that it was “not a solution”.
“Without full independence from Canadian sports authorities, OSIC will always lack the powers needed to resolve this crisis. The OSIC is an inadequate response to the toxic culture of abuse. It lacks the necessary independence, capacity, authority, expertise and mandate to conduct an investigation of the breadth and depth required.”
“In short, the government is allowing Sport Canada to inspect itself.”
Ross, who has a PhD in kinesiology and teaches courses on Olympic issues and sports history, among other things, said he was dismayed after a small number of Canadian sports scientists recently said there was no need for an independent investigation. This motivated him to reach out to others, and the movement snowballed from there.
“Canadian athletes deserve better. They earn more,” her letter reads. “Their safety and welfare should be an absolute priority. In order to reform the sports system and prevent future abuses, we need to know the scale of the problem. Without this information, the toxic status quo will remain.
“We urge the Canadian government to begin an independent judicial investigation into athlete abuse in Canada, similar to the Dubin Inquiry of 1989. The safety of the nation’s children, youth and elite athletes depends on it.”
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