Safe sport advocate, former Olympic skier Allison Forsyth says major change is needed

Former Olympic skier Allison Forsyth told a parliamentary committee that Canada's safe sport crisis will continue "unless we do something big."

Forsyth was among witnesses appearing Thursday before a Heritage standing committee that's held a series of hearings on safe sport in Canada since last year.

Forsyth works in the field of safe sport, but also introduced herself as a survivor of "egregious sexual abuse within our Canadian sport system."

He was granted parole in 2020.

Forsyth has said Alpine Canada ignored her complaints about the coach's behaviour while she was competing.

"The reality is that our sport system has for decades been accepting of and conducive to maltreatment and abuse," said the 44-year-old from Nanaimo, B.C.

"Cases are coming in and courageous survivors are coming forward faster than we can educate and put safeguarding hiring measures in place. Coaches are becoming fearful of coaching and officials, we are losing them on a daily basis."

WATCH | Allison Forsyth discusses safe-sport advocacy:

A wave of athlete complaints of maltreatment and abuse that gained speed coming out of the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing further accelerated last summer in large part because of Hockey Canada.

A furor erupted when news of how Hockey Canada handled alleged sexual assaults became public.

The federal Heritage and Status of Women committees have held hearings and heard from tearful athletes across the sports of gymnastics, soccer, track and field, water polo, cycling and boxing.

The heads of national sports organizations, including Hockey Canada, as well as federal sports minister Pascale St-Onge and new sport integrity officer Sarah-Eve Pelletier have been grilled by members of Parliament in these hearings.

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