Parliamentary committee planning to hear testimony from survivors of abuse in sports
Published
Members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women will meet Monday afternoon to discuss the scope of a new parliamentary inquiry into the topic of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse in sports, the committee chair said in an interview.
Karen Vecchio, a Conservative MP from Elgin-Middlesex-London, said committee members have agreed to move forward with a study but still need to decide on particulars, including the study’s goals, how many witnesses to call, whether only female abuse survivors will be eligible to testify because of the committee's mandate, and how to put out a call to the public for potential witnesses.
“This study is very important as we continue to hear from victims and survivors across the country,” Vecchio, the Shadow Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, wrote in a text message to TSN on Sunday. “It is not just what we saw with hockey this summer. It is gymnasts, rowers, swimmers, skiers, soccer, water polo and the list goes on. I believe this is an opportunity for survivors to be heard and protected.”
The committee’s recent work has included studies on ending violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada, intimate partner and domestic violence in Canada, and mental health of young women and girls. The committee’s mental health study has already heard from 44 witnesses, according to its website.
Vecchio said several members of the committee felt compelled to request an immediate meeting after TSN reported on Friday the story of four former members of Canada’s women’s national water polo team.
The women alleged in a $5.5 million lawsuit that the federally funded national sport organization fostered a toxic culture for more than a decade that saw young women sexually harassed by coaches, mocked and insulted for their physical appearance, and told they would lose their federal carding if they complained about the alleged abuse.
The lawsuit alleged that the women’s repeated formal complaints to Water Polo Canada about incidents never results in change. Water Polo Canada said it will investigate the allegations.
Several members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, including Vecchio and Andréanne Larouche, a Bloc Quebecois MP from Shefford, Que., are also members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which has been investigating Hockey Canada’s response to an alleged 2018 sexual assault purportedly involving members of Canada’s 2018 World Juniors Hockey team.
That study continues in two weeks when former Hockey Canada chief executive Bob Nicholson is expected to testify on Nov. 15.