Statement from Gymnasts for Change Canada: “Broken - The Toxic Culture of Canadian Gymnastics”
Global Athlete has been asked to publish this statement on behalf of Gymnasts for Change Canada
7 November 2022: With the release of coproduction with TSN, CTV’s W5 and CraveCanada documentary, “BROKEN – The Toxic Culture of Canadian Gymnastics”, gymnasts’ voices are being elevated and the toxic culture and abuse happening across Canadian gyms is being exposed.
“We hope today’s documentary will empower more gymnasts to come forward to tell their stories. We hope that it will send a message to every gymnast that normalized abuse in the sport is in fact not normal and needs to be stopped,” said former gymnast Abby Spadafora.
“Today’s release of the documentary is an important step to inform the Canadian population and Government of the abuse happening in the sport. The government can no longer sit idle. We are very pleased that the Standing Committee on the Status of Women agreed to conduct a comprehensive study into physical and emotional abuse in sport. This is an important first step that must lead to a national independent third-party judicial investigation led by human rights experts,” said Kim Shore, former gymnast and co-founder of Gymnasts for Change Canada. “We have been clear that the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) is not equipped to handle this investigation. They lack independence, power to compel and they are directly funded by Sport Canada who has time and time again failed Canadian athletes.”
“The documentary is extremely important, but it is just the tip of the iceberg of the abuse occurring across gyms in this country and more needs to be done. We have seen since the beginning of the establishment of the OSIC that athletes do not trust this system and in fact younger athletes are outside their scope. This must be a red flag to the Minister to consider why there is such push back and rethink a solution that adequately serves athletes. We look forward to appearing before the Standing Committee on the Status of Women to share our lived experiences and to work together on long term solutions to make our sport safer for every child and elite athlete,” said Amelia Cline, former gymnast and co-founder of Gymnasts for Change Canada.
Gymnasts from across the country deserve to be heard; they deserve to see those who abused, and continue to abuse, their power over athletes made accountable and brought to justice. For far too long Gymnastics Canada has favoured brand protection over athlete protection. That is why the Canadian Government needs to yield our calls for a third-party judicial investigation outside the sport system.
Gymnasts For Change Canada applauds the brave athletes that found strength to speak up with the goal of exposing the truth to create a safer sport for the future. We all want to leave the sport of gymnastics in a better place then we found it.
We will continue to use our voice until justice is served and gymnasts across the country are protected.
-ENDS-
To arrange a pre and post interviews with the gymnasts: media@globalathlete.org
For survivor support contact: gymnasts4change_canada@outlook.com