Thank you.
My name is Kelly Favro and I'm a survivor of sexual violence. I can only tell you this because I represented myself in BC Supreme Court in June 2021 where I won the right to say my name and identify myself as a victim in my own story.
I am here today because I have lived experience of how legally silencing complainants of sexual violence through publication bans or NDAs can have unintended consequences and how this can affect safe sport. Despite our being told that publication bans and NDAs are in our best interests, both carry thousands of dollars in fines or penalties, or possibly jail time should a victim breach a gag order.
It's important to note here that my perpetrator is not a member of any organized sports league, safe sport or Hockey Canada, but publication bans and their effects are not limited to those outside of professional athletics. David Shoemaker, the CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, testified here on June 1 that they do criminal record checks and have a selection committee that validates that.
Safe sport relies on criminal record checks to tell them if someone's been convicted of a sexual offence or crime, but those are only performed every three years, and they should be performed annually. It doesn't say anything about charges or arrests for sexual offences unless they work with vulnerable persons, and even then the victim would have to be a minor for it to show up. For those who don't have convictions, publication bans and NDAs prevent victims from filing complaints to members of safe sport.
Safe sport is operating in a similar manner to court systems in silencing victims with confidentiality agreements that prevent complainants from speaking to anyone about the complaint other than to seek legal advice or NDAs that are enforced upon parties once resolution is provided, thus preventing them from talking about it or even finding out if there are other victims of the same perpetrator. When someone reports someone for abuse, it is not the first time that person has abused someone, it's just the first time they've been reported. Trauma-informed approaches in working with victims and survivors of sexual violence needs to be higher on the safe sport to-do list.
There is a culture of silence, secrecy, privilege and protection surrounding the sexual abuses that take place in sports within Canada.