Ice dancer Mazingue faces inaction from authorities after rape complaint

[RoseRed]

The coach is a member of Skate Canada, and was a member of Skate Canada when the incident happened. That obliges them to follow Skate Canada policies, including the mandatory reporting policy.

And even if there was no legal obligation to report (although I'd argue there is), there is certainly a moral and ethical obligation to report, or at the very least to support a skater reporting an assault. What does it say about Marie-France as a person in a position of responsibility that one of her skaters told her about being assaulted, and she apparently did nothing about it?

I'm fairly certain there is not a legal obligation, as Solene was an adult at the time of the incident. The only mandatory reporting laws in Canada that I'm familiar with are for child abuse (which apply to minors under 16-18, depending on the province).

There was certainly a moral and ethical obligation, I absolutely agree with you there.

Now the question for me (in terms of possible consequences) is whether M-F had an obligation to Skate Canada/OSIC to report. I lean towards no, for the reasons @Colonel Green gave.

Failure to report is listed as one type of misconduct covered by the Skate Canada policy, and the page on Skate Canada's site says this about the consequences for failing to report:

FAILURE TO REPORT An individual who knowingly fails to report a known actual or suspected behaviours or actions of misconduct pursuant to this Policy and the Procedure may be subject to disciplinary action, at the sole discretion of Skate Canada.

Reporting means the provision of information in writing by an individual as outlined in this Policy to an independent external authority (i.e., Skate-Safe or Abuse-Free Sport, as applicable) as designated by Skate Canada to receive complaints regarding an alleged or suspected violation of this Policy

Skate Safe / Skate Canada would have had no jurisdiction or ability to impose any disciplinary action in terms of the this. Neither party involved is Canadian, the alleged perpetrator does not train in Canada, and it didn't happen in Canada. I assume Solene is/was not a member of a Skate Canada club either. If she was maybe that would change it a bit, though they still would be unable to do anything disciplinary to him, so I don't know if it would. Given that, I would guess that Marie-France would not have a duty to report to them, since they couldn't do anything about it. The policy defines reporting in terms of independent external authorities designated by Skate Canada. Which US Safe Sport would not be.

I did take a look at the policy, and had a few thoughts of other bits that might apply

• They mention the policy applying to "travel associated with Skate Canada activities" – I think this would not apply since neither party represents SC, and no Canadian dance teams were at the comp, so MF was not there associated with SC
• Neglect is one kind of maltreatment that falls under the policy. It is defined as "any pattern or a single serious incident of lack of reasonable care, inattention to an individual’s needs, nurturing or wellbeing, or omissions in care..." – the examples given don't fit with this case, but Solene could maybe make a complaint based on this
• Psychological maltreatment is defined as "any pattern or a single serious incident of deliberate conduct that has the potential to be harmful to a person’s psychological well-being, which includes…conduct that denies attention of support..." Lack of support is said to include "ignoring psychological needs" – again, the examples don't fit with this incident, but this could possibly apply if Solene made a complaint against MF
• It also says "This Policy applies to an individual’s action, conduct, and/or behaviour outside of SkateCanada’s business, activities, environment, and events when such conduct, action, and/or behaviour: adversely affects relationships within Skate Canada (and its work and sport environment); is detrimental to the image and reputation of Skate Canada; could undermine the integrity of sport; is sufficiently serious and significant as to be of importance to skating and/or of importance to the overall ability of Skate Canada to discharge its objectives; has a serious and detrimental impact on another individual" – you could claim the "detrimental to the image and reputation of Skate Canada" applies, and certainly the "serious and detrimental impact on another individual"
• Following the above, it says:

Important Note:The physical location(s) of where the actual and/or suspected act, conduct and/or behaviour occurred is not determinative. The applicability of the individual’s conduct outside of Skate Canada’s business, activities, and events will be determined by SkateCanada or by the external authorities as designated by Skate Canada, each at their sole discretion.

So I think there would be potential grounds to file a complaint against M-F, but I don't think she violated mandatory reporting to Skate Canada, given the jurisdictional issues.

 

[Sylvia]

Solène’s Instagram post (you can send her a message of support and/or share your own experience with her via Instagram story):

𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕖̀𝕟𝕖 𝕄𝕒𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕦𝕖 on Instagram: "I wasn’t listened to, so now I’m speaking up! #survivor #metoo #breakthesilence #speakout #figureskating #youarenotalone #stopsexualviolence #standwithsurvivors #victimevoice #nomoreshame #skating #sportsafe #metooska

1,304 likes, 75 comments - solenemazingue_ on November 5, 2024: "I wasn’t listened to, so now I’m speaking up! #survivor #metoo #breakthesilence #speakout #figureskating #youarenotalone #stopsexualviolence #standwithsurvivors #victimevoice #nomoreshame #skating #sportsafe #metooskating".

www.instagram.com

ETA that she's started sharing responses in her stories.

 

[Spikefan]

Nor does it seem to me that the policy means to govern how coaches are supposed to interact with other countries' agencies (e.g., SafeSport).

This needs to change then, especially since these coaches have athletes from multiple countries. A coach should be a mandatory reporter to whatever country applies and if they don’t there should be penalties from the coach’s country.

She may skirt current law but she is a horrible human for not reporting.

 

[overedge]

@RoseRed thank you for this. I'm still not convinced that the Skate Canada policy doesn't apply to Marie-France, because AFAIK any coach working in Canada has to be a Skate Canada member, regardless of the nationality of the skaters they're coaching. But I completely agree with you that Solene has at least some grounds to file a complaint against Marie-France.

 

[Colonel Green]

@RoseRed thank you for this. I'm still not convinced that the Skate Canada policy doesn't apply to Marie-France, because AFAIK any coach working in Canada has to be a Skate Canada member, regardless of the nationality of the skaters they're coaching.

Skate Canada policy obviously does apply to Marie-France, but that doesn't mean it applies to everything that she does.

 

[Yyzskater]

Safesport Canada requires mandatory reporting of actual and suspected misconduct. As a Skate Canada coach, M-F is bound by that responsibility. If she was at all intent on reporting the incident, I'm sure they could have pointed M-F in the right direction if there was any confusion during her reporting due to differing federation, location of attack, etc. She obviously was not advocating for the victim here and should be held accountable.

 

[5Ali3]

Marie-France is not accredited with USFS (Patrice, Romain, and Pascal Denis were the only IAM coaches I could find in the database) so officially USFS couldn't take action, but doesn't Skate Canada or Canadian version of SafeSport have a similar mandatory reporting rule? She could face consequences under that?

She was a member of U.S. Figure Skating at the time and all adult members of USFS are mandated reporters.

 

[marbri]

Did the US federation know? The article mentions neither of the Federations concerned reacted. That has to be the Estonian and US Feds. So did the US Fed NOT know or did they know and not react until Solene went to the police in September and then had to react?

 

[Yyzskater]

Did the US federation know? The article mentions neither of the Federations concerned reacted. That has to be the Estonian and US Feds. So did the US Fed NOT know or did they know and not react until Solene went to the police in September and then had to react?

It sounds like M-F told Solene she was going to report to safesport, but the first report was by Solene much later. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I don't want misinformation out on such a serious issue.

 

[marbri]

It sounds like M-F told Solene she was going to report to safesport, but the first report was by Solene much later. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I don't want misinformation out on such a serious issue.

I understood that. I am just a bit confused by the translations from the french article because the way it is translated implies, to me anyway, that his coaches and fed may have known. I say that because you can't say someone didn't react to something if they didn't know about it. But because French is a gendered language I think sometimes things can get muddled through google translation. Like you I don't want to make assumptions on such a serious issue.

 

[cholla]

Just to be clear, I'm French.

I know. And saying that France doesn't prosecute sex crimes is like saying Macron is a psychopath: an unsubstantiated generalization.

If you've followed the Pélicot case for example, you can't have missed the horrible statements by the accused's lawyers ("Il y a viol et viol", etc.), the fact that the judge seems very old-school, siding with the defense a lot (like when he decided the videos wouldn't be shown to the press, in direct contradiction of Gisèle's wishes), or the fact that out of 51 accused, about 35, iirc, deny the facts, despite the overwhelming video evidence.

Contradiction. You can't say that sexual abuse isn't prosecuted then cites the Pelicot case. The Pelicot case is the prosecution of sexual abuse. All what you describe is happening in a court of law. The rapists are being prosecuted. Prosecuting properly is another matter. Putting 51 rapists on trial should take at least 1 year, not 4 months, and Roger Arata seems more concerned by finishing this trial on time than by justice for the victim. But 25/30 years ago, it was virtually impossible to be heard when you were a victim. Progress has been made. Pelicot will go to jail. And he won't go alone.

(If you want to be horrified / informed, you can follow https://www.instagram.com/anna_margueritat/, a journalist who covers the trial and posts highlights.)

I already follow Anna who I happen to know personally as we worked together in the past. Her job is videographer and photographer.

You reference Depardieu. Macron himself, in 2023, when we had already known for decades who Depardieu was, said: "He makes France proud".

Whatever Macron said, Depardieu is currently on trial. His sex crimes are being prosecuted. The unfortunate and infuriating President's f*ck-up didn't keep Depardieu away from court.

Rape culture is alive and well in France.

That's why sex crimes are prosecuted.

And it is a fact that police discourage victims from pressing charges, that very few cases are prosecuted, that "sexist and sexual violences" are minimized. Come on now.

I wouldn't try to lecture me on this particular subject if I were you as I just know personally all too well how things go when you press charges. Based on this unsavory personal experience I have written more than a dozen articles on the subject. I know a lot more about facts that I'd wish to actually know. Victims aren't heard, abuse is belittled and banalized but more and more cases are prosecuted because abused women are less and less silent. 30 years ago, it wasn't even worth trying to speak. I wish huge steps had been made since then instead of baby steps. But sometimes, when you want justice, you have to learn that a step is a step, whatever its size, the most important is that it goes forward. The road to fairness and justice for women is still hard, winding and long. But negating the efforts that are done in this country, and to which I try to actively partake however meager my means are, with peremptory sentences like 'they don't prosecute sexual crimes' is pretty unfair, not to say uncalled for.

 

[MacMadame]

The article can be found on the figure skating Reddit and is also circulating on Twitter now -- I won't link directly for copyright reasons but it's easy to find both places.

Linking to an article does not violate copyright. Copying the entire (or most) of the article would those.

The muddle of feds and jurisdictions involved in assault case after assault case is convincing me that, criminal court issues aside, skating needs an international Safe Sport program. And even given the confusion of who had what duty to which fed, I think a coach to whom a skater confides about an assault has some duty, and ought to follow through on a promise to report.

I agree. She told Solene she would do something and she didn't. That's horrible. She should have told USFS regardless of whether or not she was a member because they are responsible for the perpetrator. Or talk to SC to see who she should report to.

 

[Karen-W]

I agree. She told Solene she would do something and she didn't. That's horrible. She should have told USFS regardless of whether or not she was a member because they are responsible for the perpetrator. Or talk to SC to see who she should report to.

Exactly! How hard would it have been for her to have pulled the Team Leader for the US aside and said "hey, we have an issue"? If not in Zagreb then certainly a month later at Nats when she would have had plenty of time to have a private conversation with someone and there are rink boards with "SkateSafe" plastered all over them.

 

[Debbie S]

Exactly! How hard would it have been for her to have pulled the Team Leader for the US aside and said "hey, we have an issue"? If not in Zagreb then certainly a month later at Nats when she would have had plenty of time to have a private conversation with someone and there are rink boards with "SkateSafe" plastered all over them.

Completely agree with you but FYI, MFD was not at U.S. Nats. And I'm not sure she was at Golden Spin. But it's not like she doesn't have access to electronic communication or a phone...

 

[Karen-W]

Completely agree with you but FYI, MFD was not at U.S. Nats. And I'm not sure she was at Golden Spin. But it's not like she doesn't have access to electronic communication or a phone...

Fair enough - we don't know for sure if she was at Golden Spin (damn cheap Croatian fed).

 

[made_in_canada]

Skate Canada policy obviously does apply to Marie-France, but that doesn't mean it applies to everything that she does.

I was a Skate Canada coach for many years and I think Dubreil absolutely had an obligation to report. She was working as a coach registered with Skate Canada. Doesn’t matter where the incident happened or what the nationality of the skater. She was approached in her capacity as a coach. Saying she would report and then not is supremely shitty regardless of any legalities.

 

[marbri]

Fair enough - we don't know for sure if she was at Golden Spin (damn cheap Croatian fed).

Pascal Denis was with the IAM teams at that competition.

 

[Vagabond]

Irrespective of anything else, Dubreuil had a moral duty to report the incident. The fact that she did not speaks volumes.

 

[MacMadame]

Irrespective of anything else, Dubreuil had a moral duty to report the incident. The fact that she did not speaks volumes.

The fact that she said she would and then didn't speaks a bazillion volumes.

 

[kosjenka]

I was at the competition.
Denis Pascal was with IAM teams.

Fair enough - we don't know for sure if she was at Golden Spin (damn cheap Croatian fed).

Pascal Denis was with the IAM teams at that competition.

 

[kosjenka]

double

 

[kosjenka]

Triple …

 

[Karen-W]

I was at the competition.
Denis Pascal was with IAM teams.

Well, then, let's blame him for not taking Solene's report seriously enough to report it to the USFS.

I'm not sure how much it matters whether it was MF or Pascal or Romain or whomever from IAM there with their teams. The whole academy needs a massive culture change.

 

[kosjenka]

@Karen-W

If one reads comprehensively what Solene has been saying about her assault, you will understand that she did not confide into anybody but months after this took place. So this indicates that she did not confide to her coach that was at the competition with her either.
That would also indicate that she didn’t say anything to her partner or to Holly who was with her hours before the attack and with Desyatov at dinner.

Edit: The french article says that she did confide into Estonian-judge at the event.

 

[Former Lurve Goddess]

The muddle of feds and jurisdictions involved in assault case after assault case is convincing me that, criminal court issues aside, skating needs an international Safe Sport program. And even given the confusion of who had what duty to which fed, I think a coach to whom a skater confides about an assault has some duty, and ought to follow through on a promise to report.

Considering the international nature of ice dance and pairs in particular, I agree that the ISU needs a SafeSport kind of organization of its own.

 

[cholla]

Triple …

Congrats! But it's a flutz. Pls hold your edge!

-------

I'm all for an ISU Safe Sport, it should have existed for ages. The ISU must absolutely find a way to protect its athletes.

 

[ice coverage]

Among ISU efforts are its thirteen-page ISU Athlete Safeguarding Policy; a designated ISU Safeguarding Officer (currently Cristina Ibarra); and explanations in writing of procedures for reporting. [ETA: Ibarra has been certified by IOC after taking its seven-month training course for safeguarding officers.]

Communication No. 2479
ISU Athlete Safeguarding Policy

Excerpt: All those involved in the ISU sports have a responsibility to learn how to recognize and respond to signs of harassment and abuse. It is also incumbent upon all those involved to act on and report concerns that harassment and abuse of an athlete may be taking place. There may be times when abuse is reported from outside the sporting arena.​

Excerpt: The ISU will support ‘whistle blowers’ by providing a confidential reporting system. The ISU believes it is important for anyone who has concerns to speak up (“if you see something, say something”), in the confidence that wherever possible the organization will provide anonymity. The ISU encourages anyone who has such concerns to make a report promptly, to try to prevent continuing harm and damage to an athlete or participant.​

Excerpt from Confidential ISU Incident Report Form: This Incident Report Form may be used to make a report to the ISU under Article 7 of the ISU Code of Ethics, but the Form is not required to make a report. You may always use the reporting channel you feel most comfortable with, such as this Form, a phone call, an email or other means. [emphasis in original]​

https://current.isu.org/inside-isu/...munications/28392-isu-communication-2479/file [updated Aug 2023 (originally published May 2022)]

"Reporting and Procedures for Addressing Incidents of Harassment and Abuse" is the subject of Article 7 [starting on page 5] of ISU Code of Ethics 2024.

7.1 Anyone affected by or who has observed an alleged incident of harassment or abuse during the period of an ISU Event or any other ISU activity may either file a Statement of Complaint against the Alleged Offender in accordance with the ISU Disciplinary Rules of Procedure (currently ISU Communication No. 2551) or report the incident in writing or verbally to one of the following persons:​

The ISU Representative for the ISU Event;​

The ISU Event Director / Manager;​

The Chair of the ISU Medical Commission;​

The designated ISU Safeguarding Officer, currently Ms. Cristina Ibarra ([email protected]), who can also provide guidance to any individual regarding whether and how to report to the ISU observed or suspected harassment or abuse, in particular of an athlete;​

If a Skater is involved in the incident: any ISU Athletes Commission member. ...​

Excerpts from Section 7.2:​

All reports of harassment and abuse of a Skater through any of the above reporting channels shall be referred to the ISU Safeguarding Officer.​

... Based on the facts and evidence in the report, the ISU Safeguarding Officer will, if appropriate, after consultation with the Chair of the ISU Medical Commission and/or the ISU Legal Advisors, determine whether any follow-up action is warranted and recommend to the reporting person whether the matter should be submitted to the ISU Disciplinary Commission and/or notified to local authorities, as appropriate and required by local law.​

In case the reporting person decides not to submit the matter to the ISU Disciplinary Commission and/or to notify it to local authorities against the recommendation of the ISU Safeguarding Officer, the ISU Safeguarding Officer shall forward the report together with any comments to the ISU Council which may then decide whether to file a Statement of Complaint to the ISU Disciplinary Commission and/or notify the local authorities in its own name. However, if the reporting person is the alleged victim of the alleged incident, the ISU Safeguarding Officer shall forward the report only with the explicit oral or written consent of the reporting person.​

"Reciprocity with Other Organizations" is the subject of Section 7.6.​

https://current.isu.org/inside-isu/...munications/33974-isu-communication-2641/file (updated Jun 28, 2024)

After 2024 Congress, ISU recently has offered federations extra funding that is earmarked for safeguarding.

b) At a minimum the following must be implemented by the ISU Member:​

i) Adoption of an Athlete Safeguarding Policy by the ISU Member.​

ii) Creation and implementation of Athlete Safeguarding Procedures to implement the ISU Member’s Safeguarding Policy.​

iii) Identification and training of a Safeguarding Lead within the ISU Member federation, who shall have completed appropriate Safeguarding training (either training provided at a national level by an appropriate entity, or the three Safeguarding eLearning modules available here [https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=11403]).​

iv) Creation of a communication plan to raise awareness of Safeguarding matters within the ISU Member federation, including among Skaters, Coaches and Athlete Support Personnel, Officials, and federation staff members who have direct contact with Skaters. The communication plan must include how to report incidents of suspected or observed abuse or harassment to the ISU Member federation. [emphasis added]​

c) Athlete Safeguarding Education for Skaters, Coaches and other Athlete Support Personnel (such as medical staff, Team Leaders etc.), and also Skaters’ parents, is highly recommended.​

Templates and resources can be found on the ISU website and advice is available from the ISU Safeguarding Officer, Cristina Ibarra ([email protected]).​

... an additional report on the use of the C Contribution for the implementation of Athlete Safeguarding measures is required. ... [emphasis in original]​

https://current.isu.org/inside-isu/...munications/34103-isu-communication-2660/file (Aug 8, 2024)

ETA:​

ISU page for safeguarding has phone number and e-mail addresses for ISU Safeguarding Officer, and e-mail addresses for ISU Athlete Commission and chair of ISU Medical Commission.​

Athlete Safeguarding

The International Skating Union is the international sport federation administering Ice Skating sports throughout the world.

current.isu.org

2024 ISU Congress (Day 1, Session 2) devoted a significant chunk of time to safeguarding, including a focus on harassment and abuse. Head of the IOC Safe Sport Unit, named Kirsty Burrows, gave a live presentation. #SafeSport4all "It's everyone's responsibility" (She spoke at the Congress at the invitation of ISU President Jae Youl Kim, whom she called a champion of safeguarding.)​

https://current.isu.org/isu-news/ne...Iiwia2lyc3R5IGJ1cnJvd3MiXQ==&templateParam=15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QOtP6dk__o​

 

[MacMadame]

And then what happens once people report?

 

[Vagabond]

And then what happens once people report?

Here, USFS has suspended Destyakov and may ban him. I hope that the Estonian Skating Union would provide Mazingue with whatever support it can, but I don't know what authority and resources it has. It’s also possible that USFS will refer the matter to prosecutors in Croatia.

 

[Sylvia]

I hope that the Estonian Skating Union would provide Mazingue with whatever support it can, but I don't know what authority and resources it has.

From earlier this year - final post in this thread:

Anna Levandi being investigated for abusive coaching practices ("it's not really just her, but the whole system")

Well, people were assuming that Estonia only had 1 spot for Worlds but they have two. One has to presume that Niina will be named to the team regardless of how her recovery is going. And I'd guess that Eva-Lotta would get the 2nd spot if she can earn the SP TES min but she was pretty far off...

www.fsuniverse.net

ETA:

Edit: The french article says that she did confide into Estonian-judge at the event.

Disappointing to hear about her inaction(?) in this matter.