Evidence of meeting #48 for Status of Women in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was athletes.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:35 p.m.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Thank you very much for that.
When you say other kinds of audits, what would they include?
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Chief Executive Officer, Swimming Canada
Cultural audits are an example. Safe sport audits are another example, so all those.... Very similar to what we're required to do with financial audits, those other types of audits would be able to shed light on strengths and weaknesses and areas for improvement across the board.
5:35 p.m.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
The former sports minister called for a judicial inquiry, and I think, from the testimony we've heard so far, those calls are growing both from victims and sports organizations or federations. As the executive director, would you be open to participating in a judicial inquiry, should that occur?
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Well, I was going to wrap you up.
You're all done, okay?
I wasn't going to let you get me this time, Leah.
5:35 p.m.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Okay, I saw a hand, but I didn't know if it was a hand or the hand.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Leah knows me; she knows how to work me.
We're going to pass it over for the....
This is where you guys can all say, “Karen, we have nine minutes” so we're going to go three, three, one and a half and one and a half, okay? I like to use every minute of the time.
Dominique, you have three minutes.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Good evening, everyone. I'll be brief because my time is limited.
My question is for Andrea Proske.
Good evening, Ms. Proske. You explained that as an athlete, it was very exciting but your journey was difficult given the abuse you and your fellow athletes experienced.
To use my colleague Ms. Ferreri’s words, what processes could have been put in place to protect you?
5:35 p.m.
Vice-President, AthletesCAN
Thank you very much.
I know we have no time, so I'll fly through this.
I didn't want to go nuclear and go straight to an appeals process. When I realized it, I tried to go through all the processes I could, which was talking to my support staff and talking to my mental health professional. None of those were able to get me to where I needed to be. When I saw other teammates going through the appeals process, or when I—
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
As I understand it, you had talked to them; people knew about it.
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Vice-President, AthletesCAN
Sorry, one more time, repeat the question. I know we have....
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Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Did you talk to these people? Did you inform them of the situation?
5:35 p.m.
Vice-President, AthletesCAN
Yes, I talked to them. I talked to my mental health professional, and I was told at the time that any complaint I had would go straight to my abuser. I'm embarrassed to say that's why I feel this moral compass versus Olympic dream was so difficult for me. I had to choose which I wanted more. In a way, it there was almost an ownership to that, because I wasn't going to let him decide how far I got in sport. Unfortunately, not every one of my teammates had the same experience.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
It's terrible to hear you say that you would have had to go nuclear. What does that mean to you? As I understand it, you probably would have had to give up your sport.
5:35 p.m.
Vice-President, AthletesCAN
I strongly believe that, if Dave Thompson hadn't been let go, I never would have made it to the Olympics, period, end of sentence.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Ms. Proske, you talked about restorative justice. You've given us some possible solutions. What do you mean by “restorative justice”? How do you see that? How do you think we should move forward?
5:40 p.m.
Vice-President, AthletesCAN
What it means is not making athletes take the stand unless absolutely necessary—not retraumatizing them. I also think we need to allow for an infrastructure that is whole to thrive, as well. It's not just about bad actors; it's about the NSO that supported them.
In the same breath, it's also about the good actors, like my coach. While I flew home with a gold medal, she flew home with no job. NSOs were given an opportunity to build on a culture that was creating positive change and happy, healthy athletes. Ninety-five per cent of C-suite women come from a background in sport. We're not just building medals, here. We're building something bigger.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you so much.
I want everybody to know that my timer has run out. My battery is dead.
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Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
I know—that's good for you guys, right? You can use whatever time you like.
Yasir, I'm going to now pass the floor over to you for three minutes.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Yasir Naqvi Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Let me start by thanking Andrea for being here.
Your valiant effort in the work you're doing is making lives better for other athletes, especially female athletes. Thank you. This is really important work and we're all listening to you.
You set out some recommendations in your presentation. The one that caught my attention is around bystander training. Can you expand on what education you think is necessary, and how OSIC can play a role in that important education?
5:40 p.m.
Vice-President, AthletesCAN
That's a great question.
I think there are a couple of different levels to go to, with this.
One is that OSIC, right now, is limited in its scope of high-performance, elite training. I would love to see a world where we start from the grassroots up. It is so important that these younger athletes who are indoctrinated.... I got into this as a 27-year-old—a full, adult person—and I still had issues with it. I worry about those athletes who are younger.
I also worry about the support staff around me. There's the heartbreaking story of a health staff member who was able to get up, leave and go. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn't put the words to it and didn't have a pathway to say what was wrong. Bystander training on what grooming is would be incredibly important. It's important to recognize it and have that verbiage.
I can see it now. I wish I hadn't had to go through what I did, in order to see this.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Yasir Naqvi Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
Are there models out there, in North America or beyond, that you can point to and say, “That's a good model, when it comes to bystander training, and that's something Canada should look at and replicate”?
5:40 p.m.
Vice-President, AthletesCAN
I'd have to think about the bystander training ones.
I will say there are some really interesting adjacent things. Norway has a system where it's the pleasure of participation. Higher attendance in sport means higher talent, in the long run. When it comes to the registry, for example.... We have issues with privacy laws. I know that's an interesting topic. I believe the Netherlands has a call-in system. It's not public, but you can still access that information.
That's the surface-level information I know about, but there are a lot of other organizations similar to Athletes Canada in the world that we could lean on and tap into.