Friday Feb. 24^th 2023

In light of recent concerns about maltreatment in sport, including a blog post published February 21, 2023 by a former university fencer, we would like to highlight the policies and procedures the Canadian Fencing Federation (CFF) has in place to receive and manage complaints of maltreatment. We would like to reiterate our strong commitment to ensuring a safe sport environment and encourage anyone with concerns to contact our independent third party, W&W Dispute Resolution. As a reminder, the CFF will also be joining the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) before the end of March 2023.

Concerns that were raised in the blog regarding the national team leading up to and post the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, were addressed through various measures including a performance evaluation, debriefs with national team athletes, and the hiring of a new national team head coach.

We appreciate the additional complexity of reporting historical complaints and recognize our responsibility to provide our community with the necessary resources and information to have their complaints heard. With respect to the concerns shared in the blog, we are ensuring that the parties involved are aware of their options and appropriately supported.

As part of our continuing efforts to foster a safe and welcoming environment for all participants, we encourage all members of our community to proactively bring forward concerns so they can be dealt with fairly.

For any additional information, please contact:

Yann Bernard
President
Canadian Fencing Federation
president@fencing.ca