A toxic and fearful culture at Boxing Canada; an omerta and a culture of silence for more than 10 years to discourage those who would like to publicly denounce the structure in place; physical and psychological abuse felt by some boxers within the national team. A group of 121, which includes former athletes, coaches, officials and members of provincial organizations, issues a letter to denounce the practices of Boxing Canada leaders who have remained in office for years, despite the lack of success on the international scene and the absence of an Olympic medal for 25 years.
They demand the immediate departure of the high performance director, Daniel Trépanier, without naming him directly in the letter sent Wednesday morning to the media and ministers. They also want Sport Canada to conduct a thorough investigation of Boxing Canada and its practices. According to the 121 signatories, these measures are necessary to “eliminate the toxic culture of Boxing Canada, to allow the federation to become a safe, fair, transparent organization, which aims to create Olympic champions”.
The letter mentions that although the issues have been reported on numerous occasions, they have been ignored. According to the letter, Boxing Canada’s board of directors received confidential testimony last year, which however did not lead to any investigation. “Despite recent superficial changes in the structure of the organization,” it reads, “there is no evidence that the concerns of athletes and their coaches have been addressed. »
Dangerous and disrespectful practices
According to the signatories, Boxing Canada lacks transparency and impartiality, which leads to a questioning according to them “of the sums paid arbitrarily for competitions and training” and directly blames the high performance director. They believe that the selection processes for the national teams were based on favoritism and not on the results of the fights. For this reason, some boxers left amateur boxing to turn to professional boxing.
Even more serious, they mention that the high performance director forced them to train or fight in unsafe conditions, despite having symptoms of concussion. Some athletes would also have engaged in practice bouts against other athletes of distinctly different categories.
The Federation would also have ignored repeated complaints about homophobic, misogynistic and sexist comments made by the leaders of the Boxing Canada program.
An Olympian testifies
The signatories are anonymous “for fear of reprisals”. But one of the athletes who represented Canada at the last Olympic boxing tournament agreed to confide in RDS in the hope of bringing a wind of change.
Myriam Da Silva was one of 5 boxers (4 women and 1 man) who represented Canada at the Tokyo Games last summer. She only fought once in the under 69 kg category, where she was dominated by rival Maria Moronta of the Dominican Republic. She explains that she was physically and psychologically demolished by her pre-Olympic camp in Montreal.
“Daniel used the pandemic to say that we had no training partners. On many occasions, I delivered “test matches” and training rounds with Tammara Thibeault (bronze medalist at the world championships in the under 75 kg category). We have 15 pounds difference! She’s a foot taller than me! But on paper, Daniel had proven that Tammara was the best training partner for me. Yet Thibault and Moronta do not have the same profile! I didn’t want to do test matches with her, I didn’t want to do practice rounds and I’ve said that many times. And at the last test match, 6 weeks before the Olympics, I broke down. And all they found to do the following week was to isolate me from the group since clearly I was not well. He took me away. They didn’t help me. »
The Quebec boxer, who has now left the national team, explains that she hardly remembers her Olympic Games. “I don’t know how I did it, I don’t remember, I wasn’t there. After the Games, she watched her fight and the ensuing interview, and she manages to remember her feelings at the time. “In the interview, I was asked what happened. I rolled my eyes and for me it meant: “HELP, HELP”. I just wanted to get away! »
After her fight, the then 37-year-old athlete isolated herself in her room for 24 hours, without eating or drinking. Meanwhile, one of the Canadian team’s coaches, John Mbumba, mocked his boxer’s performance on social media. Mbumba was subsequently expelled from the Olympic Village before the end of the boxing tournament. Mbumba had succeeded Joao Carlos Soares Gomes de Barros before the Tokyo Games. Boxing Canada is currently in the process of finding a new National Coach.
During these Games, only Thibeault and Caroline Veyre won a fight for Canada, but their path stopped at the foot of the podium in their respective categories. Thibeault is still on the national team and preparing to compete at the World Championships. Like Da Silva, Veyre left the national team, although she had first expressed her desire to qualify for the 2024 Games. Mandy Bujold announced her retirement 2 weeks ago.
