Thank you, Madam Chair and the entire committee, for inviting me to speak today.
I am struggling a bit with asthma right now, so please bear with me.
As a child, I ran track, played ringette and swam at the local pool. I bike-raced around Birds Hill park and, of course, skated on frozen ponds. I cherish the time I spent doing sports as a child. These positive beginnings set me up for a lifelong love of sport and drive my passion to see sport delivered safely, fairly and inclusively for all Canadian athletes.
However, within our Canadian sport system today, this is not possible. I know this first-hand. I'm a five-time Olympian, three-time Olympic medallist, the first speed skater to be named a Bobbie Rosenfeld female athlete of the year, and a member of the Olympic, Canada, Alberta and Manitoba halls of fame and the Order of Manitoba.
I am also a survivor, and I am a victim of retribution from the Canadian sport system.
Blinded by a learned and ingrained desire to make my country and community proud, I endured treatment that no young person should have to endure. I paid a high price for my Olympic success and an even higher price when I went back to sport to try to make positive change.
The verbal abuse, sexual harassment and isolation began when I moved to Montreal, and again when I moved to Calgary to pursue speed skating internationally. I remember my coach sticking his finger in my face and yelling, “Don't eff up!” before races. I remember the relentless sexual harassment by my coach on the ice, in my dorm, in the elevator and even in the Calgary Oval offices, to the point where I had to squeeze between the dividers and windows to get out. When I finally reached my breaking point and told him to eff off, I was suspended from the team.
I used to think I became focused and resilient because I was able to survive this abuse, but no young Canadian needs to go through that to win medals. It's impossible to know what I could have achieved had I not had to waste energy just surviving the system. Systemic problems in sport cause this enabling of abuses and result in retribution for anyone who speaks up or tries to make change.
In the early 2000s, Own the Podium was created and sport began receiving much-needed funds to help support athletes competing with the world. By 2006, we saw amazing results. Now, OTP is fully funded by taxpayer dollars and involved in much more than just directing funds to high performance, which has been problematic enough.
The OTP CEO and directors impose themselves on national sport organization staff interviews, and now even on CEO and ED interviews. OTP and the Canadian Olympic Committee put themselves between HP staff and the organization, generally undermining the employer. OTP pressures CEOs to keep the national sport organization staff they prefer, regardless of the problematic culture they create or the blatant overspending of taxpayer dollars. Generally, anyone OTP prefers is protected by OTP. We see that in the constant revolving door of fired then rehired people in sport.
The worst is that OTP puts pressure on sports to refrain from reporting allegations if it risks Olympic medals, even when the allegations are about harassment or sexual in nature. In 2016, after I reported sexual harassment by the president of SSC, the CEO did mediation instead of an investigation, which allowed the perpetrator to step down with accolades. The bystanders, including an SSC staff person, were not interviewed or investigated, and the victim, after signing an NDA, was left isolated and gagged. I was left exposed.
When I became the interim CEO, one of the bystanders to the incident became a director and, last summer—despite my objections to the president—the chair of the SSC HR committee. I was terminated shortly thereafter, even though SSC was in the best shape it has been in many years. CEOs are in an impossible situation. We either hold on to our convictions and prioritize our duty of care to the athletes, or we satisfy and please OTP and the COC—we become their puppets. Sport Canada generally stays out of the conflicts.
I have been subjected to baseless and nameless complaints that don't amount to anything, but they sure are scary to navigate. I still feel controlled, and I don't work for the organization or any of its affiliates. When I tried to make governance changes, the board refused to accept that diversity was just as important as skills, and the nomination committee preferred white men at a disproportionate rate. SSC now has a president who has exceeded his term and number of years on the board, according to the bylaws. He is the president beyond reproach.
I gave 20 years of my life to HP sport, and 20 more to volunteer and work in sport. It didn't make a difference. Ultimately, my experience taught me that even an Olympic medallist who is qualified and experienced at being a CEO can't go in and try to improve the system without facing retribution.
There are many, many people who still are unable to come forward for fear of breaking the code of silence or because of a non-disclosure agreement. No one is safe. Speaking up and change are not welcome in Canadian sport. For this reason, the sport system will continue to erode, and possibly implode, if we do not immediately enact a national inquiry and abolish NDAs that cover up wrongdoing.
Thank you very much.
