Wider inquiry into a toxic culture of abuse in Canadian sporting organizations needed, says federal Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge
OTTAWA — The new sport integrity commissioner needs to do a wider inquiry digging into a toxic culture of abuse in Canadian sporting organizations, federal Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge said Wednesday.
St-Onge's office is currently seized with allegations of abuse and sexual assaults in Canadian hockey, and both she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have called for a full change in leadership at Hockey Canada over its handling of the situation. He said he really hopes they figure it out "because hockey is a really important sport to a lot of Canadians and a lot of kids, and right now this mess is doing no favours to kids across the country."
But hockey is far from the only sport with issues. St-Onge took on the role of minister of sport just last October, but within the first few months hundreds of athletes from at least eight sports had come forward with allegations of abuse, maltreatment and misuse of funds. In March of this year, 70 current and former gymnasts wrote an open letter to Sport Canada asking for an independent investigation into a toxic culture in their sport. That number has now grown to more than 500, and more and more gymnasts are speaking publicly about physical, mental and sexual abuse suffered often at the hands of coaches.
Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan, who was the minister of sport in 2018 and 2019, said in a speech at the University of Saskatchewan last month that Canada held an inquiry in 1989 to investigate allegations of widespread athlete doping after Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal from the Seoul Olympics after testing positive for steroids.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ohio walleye scandal deals big blow to tournament fishing – Terrace StandardDisqualification bringing integrity of the sport into serious question
Read more »
'Boggles the mind': Trudeau says Hockey Canada failing to take situation seriouslyThe PM and Sport Minister Pascale St\u002DOnge have both called for Hockey Canada executives to step down
Read more »
'Boggles the mind': Trudeau says Hockey Canada failing to take situation seriouslyThe PM and Sport Minister Pascale St\u002DOnge have both called for Hockey Canada executives to step down
Read more »