Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. Many of my comments that I was initially going to give have been echoed in what my colleagues have said. However, what I would like to impress upon this committee is that while it's vital that survivors are heard, and we so appreciate t

Status of Women committee  I think it's vitally important to be having conversations with children very early on about bodily autonomy in particular. This is something that I've discussed with many survivors. As gymnasts, we never understood that we had bodily autonomy. This played into not just sexual abu

Status of Women committee  I would agree with that. I would also add that we are hoping for accountability. What the survivors have not seen to date is any sort of accountability for the current leadership at Gymnastics Canada, which has been implicated recently in essentially covering up abuse. We're ho

Status of Women committee  I think there are a number of different mechanisms that can be put in place to fix some of these problems. First, I think a key element in what we're seeing is that there has been very little accountability for these coaches who have acted abusively. As my colleague was saying,

Status of Women committee  I believe that there are several countries that are trying. This is somewhat like trying to move a mountain. It requires a lot of legislative and policy change, but the U.K. is trying, and Australia is also trying. Switzerland came out with a very robust report about their gymnas

Status of Women committee  I certainly do think that would be a very important change. I think what we have seen is, again, sport being able to operate outside of many of the other norms that other professions already adhere to. It's never made a lot of sense to me that it has been an exception, given how

Status of Women committee  I don't believe athletes trust this system that has been set up. There are a number of reasons for that. It is still very deeply embedded within the sports system, which, as you've been hearing this morning, athletes do not trust. A good example is that the Office of the Sport I

Status of Women committee  Thank you. Madam Chair, if you'll indulge me a few extra seconds, you referenced that Gymnastics Canada has had effectively the same harassment officer for approximately 30 years. We understand that Dr. Gretchen Kerr has been the go-to harassment officer for primarily most of t

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I think it is critically important that any third party judicial inquiry be led by athletes and particularly by survivors. Survivors have a unique experience in sport that they can bring to bear, especially, for example, when it comes to drafting the te

Status of Women committee  That's correct. I can really only speak to gymnastics because that's my experience. Gymnastics Canada has a list of those suspended and banned that is publicly available; however, there's no discipline history that is provided publicly. If someone is suspended for a year, for ex

Status of Women committee  In a number of different countries, they've tried various different things. Currently in the U.K., there are efforts under way to actually change the legislative framework around much of this: better safeguarding, with better and stronger child rights efforts. Essentially, as we

Status of Women committee  Absolutely, and I often use the example of other trust-based professions: teachers, doctors and lawyers. We all have public disciplinary records. That's because we're in such a position of power and such a position of trust with the public. It's recognized that we give up some of