Former N.S. sailing team member alleges sex assault ignored by sport governing bodies

A former member of Nova Scotia's Olympic sailing training program is suing the national and provincial governing bodies for the sport, alleging they failed to act when she reported a sexual assault.

The complainant from British Columbia says she was assaulted by a teammate in July 2024, during the time she was training and working as a sailing coach in Nova Scotia. She was 21 years old at the time.

The $9-million lawsuit alleges the complainant reported the assault 10 days after it occurred to supervisors at Sail Canada and Sail Nova Scotia, and that they ignored her and retaliated against her.

"My client reported the rape, but sailing authorities failed to take it seriously," Mike Smitiuch, a lawyer representing the complainant, says in a release. "Sail Canada and its Nova Scotia affiliate failed my client."

After she reported the sexual assault, her supervisors at Sail Canada and Sail Nova Scotia removed her from team communications and group chats, and several teammates blocked her on social media, the lawsuit alleges. The complainant also says she was cut out of training activities and effectively isolated.

"This is a case of an Old Boys club trying to make a young female's rape accusation go away," Smitiuch said.

The lawsuit alleges that none of the named defendants or the governing bodies reported the assault to the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, a body that administered a code of conduct for sports organizations that receive funding from the federal government. Since April 1, the code has been administered by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

In a statement, Kate MacLennan, chair of the board of directors at Sail Canada, said the organization will fully co-operate with the legal process.

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