Mr. Gilles Déry

Director General of Sport Canada

Sport Canada/Canadian Heritage

15 Eddy Street, 16th Floor, Room 116

Gatineau, Quebec

Canada

K1A 0M5

August 4th, 2008

Re: Response letter to Gilles Déry  Director General Sport Canada

Dear Gilles Déry,

I am writing to you Monday, August the 4th 2008.  After receiving your email yesterday, I wanted to ensure that there were no misunderstandings about what has happened in the last few weeks concerning the issues you responded to in that e-mail.

Not only I, but other colleagues in sport as well, were very disappointed with your scripted letter, which came as a shock to many of us.  There seems to be a serious disconnect between all our previous conversations and emails and this response and it could have a serious impact on the system and put other Canadian athletes at risk, since the underlying issue is really about diversity in sport. Therefore, I need to reiterate why I was depending on you to sort this out and I had been given the impression that you were in fact going to do just that – make sure that the history of discrimination against gender variant athletes that has plagued the CCA come to an end.

It is important that other members of Canadian sport be aware of what you and I discussed on the phone because the conversations that we had are not consistent with what you have written to me in this scripted letter.  You were already aware that I had already exhausted all possibilities of sorting this out with the CCA because three previous letters that I had sent to the CCA still remain unanswered.  You were also aware that the director of the CCA, Ms. Lafreniere, had made very offensive statements at Nationals last September to me, such as "Why couldn't you just stick with your water skiing?" I had reported to you that Ms. Lafreniere had created such a hostile environment by alienating me, which affects all aspects of my professional life and I also reported that she had refused to ever respond to any of my requests concerning the issue of qualifying events.  Therefore, it is quite disturbing that I am now being told at such a late date, right before Canadian athletes are leaving for Beijing, that I am to start this whole process all over and with the very person that has created the problem by never responding to any of my previous requests and by having created such a hostile environment within Canadian cycling.

Also, many leaders in Canadian sport, as well as Hon. Helena Guergis, Minister of International Affairs and Sport, are aware that we had this same problem several weeks ago with Idee Inyangudor, senior advisor to Ms. Guergis.  The real issue was sexism in sports and that was what should have been dealt with when Jacques Rogge came to Canada.  Instead of dealing with the issues that women athletes had, Helena Guergis only spoke about women's ski jumping in general.  After many people complained, we were told that this would be dealt with in Lausanne in June 2008 with the IOC executives.  Now they are denying that the conversation ever took place.  However, many women sports leaders knew this conversation has occurred. It appears that sexism has once again been swept under the carpet.  Why is there no willingness to deal with this openly, knowing that we have an official project here in Canada to deal with this very issue?

When government officials say one thing on the phone and another publicly, this has serious consequences on those that are supposed to be protected by government officials from discrimination, sexism and hostile environments within Canadian sport.  When Canadian law and human rights are being violated in such an egregious manner, it is crucial that the truth be exposed and that is why past Director General Tom Scrimger stepped in to intervene on behalf of those athletes whose safety and human rights were in jeopardy.  Tom Scrimger would never send out such a scripted email which makes it appear that we had never had any previous conversation about all the history with CCA and my repeated attempts to sort this out with the CCA nor your assurance that I did not have to worry about this.  I was told that I would have all the time I needed to qualify and I was told to take care of burying my father.

In closing, l would like to reiterate the facts, many of which have been suppressed from public scrutiny.  It is important that I not be misrepresented as someone wanting special treatment.  That is not true and I refuse to be misrepresented in this offensive manner.

1) Everyone knew that I was performing well beyond the qualifying times required to go to Beijing.

2) I repeatedly corresponded with Ms. Lafreniere about extenuating circumstances, which might prevent me from attending certain qualifying events.  Not once did I ever receive a response.  Not only that, I was subjected to harassing treatment and hostile comments from Ms. Lafreniere which alienated me from other athletes and had an affect on my professional life as well.

3) Since Ms. Lafreniere and the CCA already have a history of discrimination against gender variant athletes and lesbians (one of the motivations behind the diversity project in Canadian sport), I felt I had no choice but to explain this situation with you, Gilles

Déry, who is the Director of Sport Canada.

4) The death of one's father is an extenuating circumstance, which was the issue that I discussed with your office and they informed me that I need not worry about these qualifying events at this specific time and assured me that I would have time to do that as there were (3) months till Beijing. I was told to focus on my father and my training at this time. I was concerned enough to contact Sport Canada, knowing the failing of my father’s health, and I could not leave him to go to my qualifications at that time, though my training was going so well and knew I was on target.   There have been other athletes who have been given exemptions because of extenuating circumstances.  This agreement that your office made with me seemed reasonable and compassionate and I took your office at its word.

5) Now, at the last minute, I receive a form letter that says to start back at point zero with the organization, the CCA, which is responsible for the current situation in the first place.

I have trusted you and I am devastated by this response.

I hope that you will do what you said and sort this out.  It is your responsibility.  I have done everything I could do and I trusted you.

This is a violation of my trust and my human rights because I am not being treated like any other athlete who had been in a similar circumstance and you understood quite well that I was not asking for special treatment and that is why you agreed that I should just focus on my father's funeral and my training.  I have done what you said.

Now, I expect you to do the same.

With professional regards,

/Kristen Worley

P.S. At no time did I ask for any special treatment.  My father died on June 6th 2008.  That left me 7 weeks before Beijing and I never once received any confirmation from your office about any UCI sanctioned events that I wanted to compete in either in Canada or the United States and I wanted to demonstrate my qualifications and abilities to represent my country in Beijing. However, your office never followed up on my desire to qualify in any of these sanctioned events.  Therefore, I feel that it is you and your office who have not treated me as you would any other athlete.  I am once again asking why I have not been treated as any other athlete would be in Canada.  I trusted you and your office and I feel you have betrayed my trust at a time when I was in mourning and still willing to attend UCI sanctioned events to meet qualification guidelines. 

Open Letter to Mr. Gilles Déry from Kristen Worley

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