Boxing Canada wants to quickly turn the page on the Daniel Trépanier era

Met in his offices at Groupe Yvon Michel in Old Montreal, he seemed uncomfortable commenting on the events that led to the departure of the man who had been the high performance director of the national federation since 2008.

Daniel considered, evaluating everything that had happened, that it was better for him personally and for Boxing Canada, for the athletes, for the program, to resign. And we (the board of directors), we accepted his resignationhe first said.

Invited to explain why we had come to this conclusion, Yvon Michel contented himself with recalling the observation that the management had come to in the face of the many voices raised in the face of the management of Daniel Trépanier.

” As there were reports or allegations, Boxing Canada took matters into their own hands and made the required changes. But at some point, you had to consider the structure to assess whether it was a good deal for him to continue. »

Without going into details, he spoke of the many encounters that took place over the weekend. He nevertheless indicated that the members of the Board had echoes, as of Saturday, of Trépanier’s intentions to leave.

If we trust the comments made by Yvon Michel, Boxing Canada clearly wants to turn the page as quickly as possible to put in place new managers to occupy the positions of high performance director and national coach separately.

At no time, during the interview he gave to Radio-Canada, was there any question of an internal or independent investigation that would allow a better understanding of what led the federation to the embarrassing situation denounced by more than 230 boxers and trainers, present and past.

For a long time, Canada, between 1980 and 1997, we had many international medals. We were No. 1 at the Commonwealth Games. We had Olympic medals each time. Something happened that took us in another direction, but I think now we have what it takes to raise the bar and bring the (national) program back to the level of the potential of the athletes herehe said.

Limited powers

Of course, questions remain about what allowed Daniel Trépanier to stay in office for so long. On this, Yvon Michel underlined the limits of the powers of intervention of the board of directors of Boxing Canada vis-a-vis the management of the program intended for the elite.

The management office issues policies and regulations that are applied by the people in the community. We have a general manager in Ryan Halpern. After that, it’s left to the initiation of the people that we put in place. All board members are volunteers.

” We receive reports regularly. But since the majority of Board members are not technicians, they are only there to provide general guidelines on all of Boxing Canada’s policies. »

When he was questioned about Daniel Trépanier’s alleged methods and schemes and his impunity, Yvon Michel preferred to talk about the excellent relations that the resigner had with government decision-makers and the management of Own the Podium.

Because that would be the crux of the problem. From what it has been possible to learn over the past few days, the fear of the loss of Own the Podium funding of $600,000 per year for the national team was on the minds of several members of the Board in connection with the presence of Daniel Trépanier in the seat of the high performance director.

We must take and leave much of what has been said in recent times. That’s the past. Happened what happened. We now have to look for someone to replace Daniel as high performance director. We don’t have a national coach, we have to find onesaid Michael.

Canada first

To this end, it is essential for him that recruitment be done right here in Canada, instead of turning to foreign expertise, as has been the case in recent years.

We have to look within the provincial associations for people who we think are capable of having an influence in the development of our programs.insisted Michel while implying that this process would move forward quickly to choose the ideal person in the shortest possible time.

Beyond the identity of Daniel Trépanier’s successor, Yvon Michel believes that it is essential to restore the confidence of all members of the national team by putting in place the best people possible, by supervising them and by supporting them to bring everyone together towards a common goal.

Among the demands expressed by the signatories of the letter sent by the pugilists to Sports Canada and Minister Pascale St-Onge last week is a clear separation of powers between the high performance director and the national coach.

This was also part of an analysis report filed in 2014 by À nous le podium and of which Radio-Canada Sports obtained a copy.

It also addresses issues of leadership, governance, transparency in the national team selection process, performance culture and apparent weaknesses in everything related to athlete coaching.

However, six years later, this report is sleeping and gathering dust somewhere on the shelves of Own the Podium and Boxing Canada.

Yvon Michel reiterates the importance of setting goals to achieve so that each boxer can measure his progress and fully understand the path to follow towards the realization of his dreams as athletes, whether Olympic or otherwise.

” It’s important, we do it in professional boxing. When an athlete finishes a fight or a competition, he must know immediately where he is going. You don’t have to ask yourself any questions. You have to know what you need to do, in a very transparent, very clear way, to have access to the Olympic Games. »

We will make sure to have all this enthusiasm and all this knowledge so that the athletes perform to the maximum of their abilities.

Initially scheduled last March at the Pierre-Charbonneau Center in Montreal, the Canadian Amateur Championships, canceled due to COVID-19, could be rescheduled this fall. Should we expect to see a visible change in their progress?

Yvon Michel is quick to point out that there have been no Canadian championships for two years.

It’s because of COVID and not because of malfeasance, by anyonesaid Michel, ignoring the passage of alleged cases of favoritism put in place by Daniel Trépanier.

It would have to be done on a case-by-case basis and I don’t want to dwell on that. I think we had good criteria. Now it’s about having the right people to apply themhe concluded.