FORMER SKIER, NOW SAFE SPORT ADVOCATE, 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.” Ski coach Bertrand Charest wasn’t convicted of assaulting Forsyth, but he served 57 months in jail for sexual assault of other athletes, including minors, under his care in the 1990s. Forsyth has said Alpine Canada ignored her complaints about the coach’s behaviour while she was competing. 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.