Thank you.
Good morning. I'd like to begin by thanking you all for inviting me here today to speak to you about our little sport, which I think is more often associated with The Princess Bride or Star Wars than with a modern Olympic event.
My name is Emily. You may also know me as the unnamed athlete in a recent Reuters article detailing some of my experiences while training under Igor and Victor Gantsevich at Dynamo Fencing Club in Vancouver.
I'm here today to speak not exclusively to my own history of abuse but on behalf of the dozens of other Canadian fencers who have been brave enough to share their stories and desire for change.
As you have already heard with respect to so many other sports, for decades a culture of toxicity, bullying and abuse has been pervasive in Canadian fencing.
I'd like to tell you a story about a coach named Kyle Foster. In 2018 Kyle Foster hosted several female national team athletes at his home for a training camp prior to an international event. Some of those girls were underage, and while they were under his care, Mr. Foster brought out sex toys. He demonstrated how to use those sex toys on himself and on some of the athletes. He encouraged them to go to a sex club. A complaint was filed; wrongdoing was found, and as a sanction Kyle Foster received a year-long no-contact order with respect to some of the athletes who were involved.
In 2020 another complaint was filed, again alleging sexual harassment involving a minor. The independent third party investigation again found wrongdoing. What were the sanctions? There was an apology letter as well as a one-year order of no contact with the survivor, and a four-month ban from competition during the time of the pandemic, when there were no events being held regardless. After some push-back from the survivor, the CFF posted these sanctions on its website, though they were taken down after four months.
Kyle Foster is the owner of the Canadian Fencing Academy in Oakville, Ontario, team leader at Toronto Metropolitan University fencing, and an accredited member of the Canadian Fencing Federation, the CFF. If his recent social media is any indication, he has been advertising his children's programs as recently as February 8.
I wish I could tell you that these were the only incidents of misconduct that we've heard about over the past months, but the heartbreaking reality is that we've heard story after story of maltreatment at the hands of coaches and other individuals associated with the CFF from across the country. Again and again we have also heard that survivors are afraid. They are afraid that if they come forward they will face not only personal retribution from their abusers but also the risk of losing their national team spots. This is because under the current CFF selection policy, national members may be chosen by majority vote of CFF officials and staff rather than by results or official rankings. For many athletes, coming forward with their stories of abuse could mean losing not only their profession but also their lifelong dream of competing for Canada.
Stories like Kyle Foster's show athletes that their voices will not be heard even if they decide to navigate the complicated process of reporting their maltreatment. What is left for athletes to do? If they choose to come forward, they risk everything that they have worked for in exchange for what? An apology letter.
This is why we created Fencing for Change. We love this sport. This is where we've grown up, met our closest friends and learned our most valuable lessons. Our athletes are hurting. My friends are hurting, and it's time for change.
Our hope is to keep the positivity that sport can bring while making the culture one that supports athletes' success on and off piste. To achieve that change we must first understand the full breadth of the issue. This is why having a public inquiry into Canadian sport culture is so imperative. That is not to say that an inquiry will solve the issues that it will uncover, but it will provide an informed framework on which we can build a supportive future.
We are at a pivotal time in the history of Canadian sports. The momentum of athletes' coming forward is a force that is too strong to silence or to redirect. We now have the responsibility to decide what kind of legacy we will leave behind for all future athletes. Will it be one scarred with our stained history of abuse, of sacrificing children's well-being and of prioritizing medals over the lives of athletes, or will we be part of the change?
We as athletes have done our part. We're here to ask for your help in the next steps towards a safe and inclusive community of sport in Canada, in which all are welcome to experience the absolute joy that sports can bring. That step can be achieved only through a national public inquiry.
Thank you.