Dozens of Canadian and global sport scholars have joined the chorus in calling for an independent inquiry into sport in Canada, saying Canadian athletes deserve better.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, Scholars Against Abuse in Canadian Sport urgently asked for the inquiry amid "widespread reports of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of athletes throughout the nation's sport system." The letter was signed by 91 individuals from 30 Canadian and 17 international institutions. "[We] stand in solidarity with the over 1,000 Canadian athletes seeking immediate accountability and meaningful change from Sport Canada and the broader system it governs," it said.
The letter comes amid growing calls for an inquiry after athletes from bobsled, skeleton and gymnastics, plus several members of Parliament, have pleaded with Canada's sport minister Pascale St-Onge for an investigation similar to the Dubin Inquiry into doping in 1989. "The vast majority of professors thought there should be an independent inquiry, similar to the Dubin Inquiry," Ross told The Canadian Press in an interview. "Certainly, the stakes are so much higher for this issue.
This isn't doping and a matter of unfair competition. It's actually the safety and well-being of athletes of all ages. Which it seems like an obvious thing that you would want to investigate and have all the information possible to try to fix the system so nobody else, or as few people as possible, get hurt going forward." St-Onge appointed former artistic swimmer Sarah-Eve Pelletier as the country's first sport integrity commissioner amid a wave of current and retired athletes pointing to their toxic cultures in their sports and demanding change.