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Gymnastics Canada Complicit For Keeping 2018 Investigation Results Confidential, Advocate Says

Gymnastics Canada failed its athletes by not publicizing the results of an internal investigation into the organization's handling of misconduct allegations, former gymnasts and coaches say.

BBC 15 NOV 2022.

https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/pr...F46DtQgtcMFA-Y

Rob Koehler, who's with the international athlete-led movement Global Athlete, says athletes remain unprotected when sport organizations keep investigations confidential. (CBC)

Several individuals who participated in the internal investigation told CBC News a more than 1,200-page report was produced by Toronto law firm Shearer Parnega, which detailed a "pattern of inaction" by Gymnastics Canada leadership in response to allegations of coaches' inappropriate behaviour.

The investigation, which took place through early 2018 and did not involve police, also heard some coaches had a "fear of retaliation" if they reported allegations of misconduct about their colleagues.

The current chair of Gymnastics Canada, Jeff Thomson, said findings from the report were "dealt with" by the board at the time and no issues have arisen since the results were released.

But critics disagree.

By keeping the report secret, Gymnastics Canada is "complicit in the abuse that's happening in Canadian sport," said Rob Koehler, the Montreal-based director of Global Athlete, an advocacy group dedicated to addressing the imbalance of power between athletes and administrators.

"Sport cannot be tasked to self-regulate," said Koehler. "It's a small community where everyone is interconnected and no one wants to call out a friend or colleague for wrongdoing."

More than 500 athletes have signed an open letter to federal Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge, demanding an independent third-party investigation into the "toxic culture" of gymnastics and Gymnastics Canada — one of the country's largest national sport organizations with more than 310,000 registered athletes.

Sources who participated in the 2018 internal investigation say it heard then-CEO Peter Nicol and Karl Balisch — who ran the national artistic gymnastics program for several years — failed to act on several misconduct complaints dating back to 2012.

The investigative report was so confidential, even those who participated have never seen a copy. CBC has agreed not to name the sources due to their concerns over potential retribution.