Formal protection for whistle-blowers is needed so athletes don’t face reprisals for speaking out, athletes tell Heritage Committee
Elite female athletes from soccer, boxing and fencing have called on the Sport Minister to urgently set up a public inquiry into abuse in Canadian sports, warning further delays would lead to more athletes being harmed.
, a former professional soccer player, said she now lives abroad since she did not feel safe to stay in Canada “because of the truth that I have shared” about Bob Birarda, a former Team Canada and Vancouver Whitecaps coach.Ms. McCormack said she and others spent a decadeFighting back tears, she told MPs that playing sports in Canada “means doing so with a deliberate lack of protection from abuse, as well as the threat of retaliation” for speaking out.
Emily Mason, a former Canadian team fencer and founder of Fencing for Change, said she had been exposed to abuse while being coached in Vancouver, including as a child. Former Olympic boxer Myriam Da Silva Rondeau said she faced isolation and exclusion after making a complaint, leading to her mental health suffering and being placed on sick leave.
The minister told reporters she would make an announcement on the next steps soon, saying it was not “a matter of if we were going to do something – an investigation. It was a matter of what and how.”
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