Gymnasts wonder if abuse case could have been prevented

Abby Spadafora has had trouble sleeping since a gymnastics coach in Lethbridge, Alta., was charged with sexually assaulting a sevenyear-old girl last week.

Spadafora and other Canadian gymnasts say they’re devastated about the case that is only too familiar. And they wonder if it could have been prevented.

Gymnasts for Change, a group that has grown to over 500 current and retired gymnasts, has been calling on Sport Canada for an independent investigation into their sport for months. And while they applaud the swift measures taken against Hockey Canada around an alleged sexual assault of a woman in 2018, they wonder why no-one is hearing their own cries for change.

“The woman in hockey, she deserves every single piece of support out there,” said Spadafora. “And it’s heartbreaking when you know that there’s hundreds if not thousands of little girls being abused and being ignored (in gymnastics). It’s really hard to swallow.”

Jamie Ellacott, 33, was charged July 12 with sexual assault and sexual interference following an investigation by the Lethbridge Police Service violent crimes unit, which determined a seven-year-old girl was assaulted during training in May and June at the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy.

“It kept me up at night when the story broke, because all I could think is if we had been listened to, this could have been prevented,” Spadafora said.

The 38-year-old Spadafora detailed in a public letter in May her own allegations of years of sexual, emotional and physical abuse in the 1990s by coaches Dave and Elizabeth Brubaker.

Amelia Cline filed a class-action lawsuit in May against Gymnastics Canada and six provincial member organizations over alleged abuse. The class has over 100 members.

“I have certain complicated feelings about (the Hockey Canada case),” Cline said. “It’s horrible. But in the face of the inaction and silence that we’ve received, it’s frustrating.

“Gymnasts is hundreds (of cases) and they’re children. Why is that not getting people’s attention?”

Quebec gymnast Thierry Pellerin pleaded guilty last week to sex offences against two minors. He was charged back in 2020 with nine counts including luring a child, invitation to sexual touching and making child pornography. The two alleged victims were between 10 and 12 years old.

Last month, MPs grilled Hockey Canada executives during a Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage meeting about the organization’s response to the alleged assault and subsequent out-of-court-settlement.

“Their swift and honourable actions with the hockey abuse scandal show that they are not tolerant of abuse in Canadian sport,” said Kim Shore, a former gymnast.