Athletes say culture review of Gymnastics Canada insufficient, call for Ottawa to step in
Global News
The group has repeated their call for Sport Canada to intervene, saying the McLaren review isn't independent since it's been "bought and paid for" by Gymnastics Canada.
A group of Canadian gymnasts who called for an independent investigation into their sport are “dismayed, but not surprised” in Gymnastics Canada’s announcement of a culture review.
McLaren Global Sport Solutions (MGSS) has been hired to analyze Gymnastics Canada’s national safe sport policies and procedures after dozens of current and former gymnasts wrote to Sport Canada claiming maltreatment amid a toxic culture in their sport.
“GymCan has unilaterally imposed this process upon survivors without consultation or discussion,” the athletes, who call themselves Gymnasts for Change, said in a statement.
“The announcement offers no assurances that this process will be trauma-informed, safe, and meaningful for survivors to engage with. Indeed, the announcement makes no mention of survivors or the epidemic of abuse within gymnastics at all. This follows a consistent pattern of the institution placing its concerns for self-preservation above the needs of survivors and highlights GymCan’s ongoing failure to truly listen to survivors in this sport.”
The dozens of gymnasts who penned an open letter to Sport Canada in early April has since grown to over 550 signatories. As well, former gymnast Amelia Cline was the named plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit against Gymnastics Canada and six provincial gymnastics federations. The proposed class of plaintiffs claim physical, sexual and/or psychological abuse while participating in programs delivered by those organizations dating back to 1978.
The 32-page proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of B.C. last month.
“The MGSS team is pleased to work with GymCan on this important engagement,” McLaren CEO Richard McLaren said in a statement Thursday. “The sport of gymnastics globally has been facing intense scrutiny and the same is true here in Canada. We will be reviewing the findings from international reports and engaging the voices of athletes and other members of the GymCan community.”
Gymnastics was among several sports that have complained to Canada’s Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge about toxic cultures and maltreatment in their sport in what St-Onge has called a safe sport “crisis.”
