Troubles at Boxing Canada: Ariane Fortin also points the finger at Daniel Trépanier

Joined in Italy, where she sees to the final details of the preparation of the South Korean women’s team for the World Championships (Istanbul May 6 to 22), Fortin brings grist to the mill of the recriminations directed at the place of Daniel Trépanier.

Fortin, who also wears the hat of president of the Quebec Boxing Federation, does not want to put her personal story at the forefront. She is especially keen to highlight the shortcomings of the one who holds the destiny of the national elite in his hands.

She points out from the outset that this process was undertaken following numerous unsuccessful attempts by boxers, the most recent dating back to October. This latest attempt resulted, after an internal investigation, in a full discharge for the High Performance Director.

Complaints have also been filed with the Sport Dispute Resolution Center of Canada (SDRCC), but individuals have been told these fall outside Boxing Canada’s policy registry. explained Fortin.

Most of these were complaints denouncing situations that have persisted for years, such as injustice, non-compliance with the selection process or the hiring process for coaches, the abusive language of certain coaches towards athletes. These situations have persisted for several years.

” It’s not the first time these things have been named and nothing happens. Even Boxing Canada’s response to our open letter is ridiculous. Are you fooling me!? It’s like they don’t understand what’s creating the toxic culture to remove or change it. Daniel (Trépanier) has been in the job since 2008 and does what he wants. »

Among the measures announced by Boxing Canada, there is this separation of responsibilities between the high performance director and the coaching function.

However, according to Ariane Fortin, Daniel Trépanier continues to operate at the National Sports Institute (INS) in the spaces of the Olympic Park rather than at the head office of Boxing Canada, on René-Lévesque Boulevard, in Montreal.

The president of the federation, Ryan Savage would then have chosen to support Trépanier who used the pretext of difficulties linked to teleworking to sweep aside the suggestion coming from the athletes themselves.

” For me, it’s not a problem in itself that the high performance director is also a coach. It’s because it’s Daniel that it’s a problem. »

Money, always money

For Fortin, another source of governance problems is directly linked to the funding offered by Own the Podium.

According to what she said, Trépanier assumes the power to distribute the sums provided by this support program for elite athletes as it sees fit. It is in this way that a year before the Olympic Games, Fortin would have lost this important financial support in favor of Mary Spencer, who was fighting in the same weight category as her.

Similarly, in the fall of 2015, Fortin and Mandy Bujold had to pay their living expenses and those of the coach they had taken with them for a competition in Germany.

At that time, we were six Own the Podium funded athletes, including me and Mandy. So in theory there is money for us. But Daniel wanted nothing to do with paying for our trip there.

It was always like that. At that time, I was roommates with Kim Clavel and her sister. We paid ourselves a ridiculous rent (very low) to steal money. I had made up my mind that I had to act like that [pour espérer se rendre à ces tournois servant de préparation olympique, NDLR].

The affected succession

Ariane Fortin is also against Daniel Trépanier’s choices which, according to her, deprive the country of a succession capable of achieving success on the international scene. The same goes for athletes and coaches.

Proof of this is that no Level 4 course has been offered in Canada for over 5 years. Danielle Bouchard, she’s been waiting for her Level 4 for 7 years. To tell you, it’s not even called Level 4 anymore. There’s always a module she should do, but there’s time to switch she explains.

She adds that Boxing Canada argues its point of view with the existence of a pilot project of which it is part.

It’s for the famous Level 3. It’s been like two years. It’s now called Competition and Development. It consists of four online sessions (on the internet). But he (Daniel Trépanier), kept putting it off week after week, for at least a year and with 24 hours notice. We ended up having the sessions, but then there were delays for the (practical) work and it’s been going on for two years.

Since the Level 3 criterion is still in effect at Boxing Canada, Trépanier takes the opportunity to choose his coaches and thus keep control of operations.

” From his office, Daniel sees everything and controls everything. He observes the assistants that he himself put in place, who will report everything to him and who will do exactly what he wants because they are indebted to him for this job. »

Cases in spades

Regarding the toxic culture allegations within Boxing Canada, Fortin says she has thousands of situations in mind and each of the signatories has solid grounds to complain.

I reconsidered that. I listened to old podcasts again and realized how toxic it was. It really affected me. And with this open letter, I reach a quota where I tell myself that I am off. I have drive and energy, and it still gets to me. It picks me up because I know my colleagues on the team are still going through this.

As for the message that this bickering, which has become very public, sends to young people who aspire to an international amateur career and an Olympic dream, Ariane is not reassured.

It doesn’t send a good message. But the path to international teams has been unclear for years. Previously, you won at the national level and that was enough to go further. It is correct to exempt a boxer from the Canadian championships so as not to undermine his preparation for worlds. But to protect an athlete for a full Olympic cycle, and it has happened, is not good for other boxers in his category, nor for that boxer’s confidence and his own development.

” The other problem is that there is so much big money (Own the Podium) for the elite and the cream of the crop, that there is nothing left for development. Fortunately, we have professional boxing to allow some to live their dream. »

In the absence of clear outlets at the amateur level, this leads to a disengagement on the part of young people.

For me, it falls into the category of total lack of vision. The national team program is completely down. We haven’t performed for three Olympic Games, but it’s not because we haven’t had good results outside, especially among women. We had four world champions in Canada, but that’s despite the system in place and not thanks to it.

According to her, it is because he managed to get significant funding from Own the Podium – we are talking about about $600,000 – that Boxing Canada keeps Daniel Trépanier in place. He is also very close to Chris Clark, member of the board of directors of Own the Podium.she insisted.

Even in Italy, because she is training the South Koreans, Fortin says he has had echoes of the fallout from the open letter from the Canadian boxers. For your information, Korea will have representatives in each of the 10 weight classes at the World Championships, while Canada has only sent four, including Tammara Thibeault.

Fortin is also aware that she was chosen for her skills, she was nevertheless the subject of a recommendation from Boxing Canada to whom the federation of South Korea turned to inquire about her coaching qualities.

This is also why she thought twice rather than once about whether she was going to testify to what is going on at Boxing Canada.

Does she believe this is the right time to force a change in Boxing Canada’s high performance leadership?

No. First, I was really disappointed with Ryan Savage’s answer which came out very quickly. It wasn’t a mea culpa, but a message to say that things had changed in the past few months.

I have the impression that we have exhausted all the resources. It’s not fun to go out in the media like that. We don’t like that! But I think it has to be done for the athletes of Canada and Quebec. I’m disappointed with the response and I don’t think they have the tools. I don’t think they have the will. I don’t think the president of Boxing Canada knew what he was getting into when he took over as president.

” I hope I’m wrong. I don’t want to say that I’m disillusioned or pessimistic, but it’s a whole system that needs to be changed. Daniel (Trépanier) is a big piece. Of course he has to leave for it to work, but it will take other steps afterwards, that’s for sure. »

Fortin concluded by affirming that it will be necessary to put competent people in place in order to give ourselves leeway at all levels.

There are competent people who know boxing on the board. It’ll take more. These see a little game. It takes people who know enough boxing to understand that even if we lose Own the Podium, it doesn’t matter. Right now, even with 600,000 piastres, we’re not going anywhere…