MONTREAL — Four of the women sexually assaulted and abused by disgraced national ski coach Bertrand Charest spoke publicly Monday about what they endured, saying they are determined to ensure their stories ignite a movement to combat abuse in sports.
One by one, Genevieve Simard, Gail Kelly, Amelie-Frederique Gagnon and Anna Prchal spoke openly of dreams snuffed out, childhoods lost and a system that turned its back on them instead of protecting them.
From their nightmarish experiences though, they hope to make certain that other young athletes don't ever have to suffer the same pain.
"I have spent the last 26 years working very hard to forget a time that really should have been filled with dreams and personal growth," said Gagnon, who was among Charest's earliest victims.
"The only way I can justify to relive my abusive past is to provide a platform for others that will give them additional protections and safeguards."
Gagnon, now a 41-year-old married mother of two, has fought a lack of self-confidence, anorexia and even thoughts of suicide.
The extra protection she is advocating for is something that wasn't afforded to her or the other athletes who were abused, Gagnon said.
Finding strength in one another, the women are seeking several changes by 2020, including:
— Having members of sports organizations from top to bottom undergo online training about mental and physical abuse.
— Introducing a universal code for all sports authorities to follow.
— Ensuring that independent safety officers investigate whenever concerns are raised and conduct proper follow-up.
— Having a rule of two, which ensures that young athletes are always paired and never left alone with staff or coach for an extended period.
"Those are really the cornerstones of what will take the system from where it is today ... to a much higher level of safety," said J.D. Miller of B2ten, an organization that supports young athletes.
"If the governments accede to our request that eligibility for funding is tied to having an accredited safety program in place, we feel confident there will be change and the system will be much safer," he said.
Kelly said she has three young children and that she would never let them compete at the provincial or national level in any sport under the current structure.
"It is urgent that we put in place a system that allows our children to be safe," she said. "I don't want any one to go through what I did: being manipulated, denigrated and belittled. This has had an impact on my life right up until today.
"I used to be funny, smiling and very sociable but because of this manipulator, I became sad and withdrawn and someone who felt like a complete loser."
The women never referred to Charest by name in their remarks.
Prchal said the overwhelming feeling of shame and humiliation is one that has stayed with her for the better part of 20 years.
"My childhood dreams and goals were robbed from me," she said. "My self-esteem was crushed. I found myself abandoned by the very people who were supposed to be taking care of me. Worst of all, they made me feel like I'd done something wrong.
"As with most victims of abuse, I have lived with the feeling that this was my fault."
In a statement, Alpine Canada, applauded the courage of the four women and admitted in a statement it could have done more in 1998, when incidents first came to light.
"We have learned from this horrible situation by rewriting our policies, requiring mandatory training and improving governance," Canada's skiing body said. "We want to ensure no one ever suffers like these women have suffered."
Simard, who raised the curtain on the abuse by being the first to file a police complaint in 2015, choked back tears as she described a stolen childhood.
"Our predator created chaos within the team and used us against each other," Simard said. "Things did not turn out so well for him.
"Skiing was my passion. I aspired to great things. I had dreams and skiing was my life. The sexual abuse I suffered completely destroyed my self-confidence. My self-esteem was annihilated and my daily interactions with other people were greatly affected by the sexual assaults.
"My adolescence was in no way normal. It was a nightmare."
Charest was found guilty in June 2017 of 37 of the 57 sex-related charges he was facing, and was eventually given a 12-year prison term.
The convictions involved nine of the 12 women who'd accused him of crimes that occurred more than 20 years ago, when the victims and alleged victims were between the ages of 12 and 19.
He is appealing both his conviction and the sentence and was denied bail by the appellate court.
As of last December, he had seven years and 10 months left to serve because of his time in detention since his arrest in 2015.
The trial judge called him a sexual predator last June and had more harsh words last December when he said Charest still did not grasp the severity or the consequences of his crimes.
Quebec court Judge Sylvain Lepine said the victims were still suffering from what he called "serious health consequences'' as a result of the abuse that took place between 1991 and 1998.
The women won the right last week to be identified after a judge granted their request to lift a publication ban.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
