Former Montreal basketball player 'disgusted' after hearing of sex assault allegations

Former Montreal basketball player Joëlle Martina says she was shocked to hear the news that three basketball coaches at École Secondaire Saint-Laurent had been charged for alleged sexual assault against at least two players, over a period of six years.

Shocked, she says, but also disgusted and enraged.

"It's just infuriating and dumbfounding that it's happening right under our noses -- and then it was difficult to realize that somewhere within the community, people were not as surprised as I was," Martina said.

"That felt very hurtful... then you realize people just felt powerless. They felt they didn't have a place to go. They didn't know how to denounce, they didn't really know if it was true."

As a former player herself, Martina says she knows all too well the power coaches can hold over young athletes -- and especially girls.

"It brings up a lot of things because you start thinking of how you were coached, what was around you at that time," she said.

"There are a lot of moments where I look back and I realize, oh, yeah, that really hurt me. I had to undo how I was screamed at or how they treated me in this moment. I've had to undo that for a lot of years."

The mother of four played for Montmorency College for three years, from 1999 to 2002.

Now, the 40-year-old says she's old enough to realize that the way she was treated was inappropriate and, at times, highly abusive.

"We have to break the toxic culture of silence and when we say that, the culture of silence is not just predators protecting predators," she said.

"It's also the silence that we feel we have to have because if in speaking up... you think it's going to affect your playing time and for some people, this is the only thing they have as a way out. For a lot of kids, this is supposed to be their happy place."

Martina points out that oftentimes the abusees are children -- sometimes girls, and in fact, people of colour.

"Especially as young women of colour, we need to be and have a right to feel safe," she said.

"The courage of the survivors that have come forward has now awakened and given back a voice to all these women that had lost their voice; to the women who felt something and didn't feel like they could say something; to the women who saw and didn't know what to do; the women who supported and could denounce because their friends said, 'I don't want to,' so now it's refinding our voices again and we're going to speak on this together."

Since hearing the news about École Secondaire Saint-Laurent, Martina, alongside more than a dozen other former players, joined forces to create the Big Sisters of Sports Coalition, to push for "the practice of sport in an environment free of violence, whether verbal, psychological, emotional, physical or sexual."

One of the group's first moves, Martina says, was to ask for the resignation of the director of the Quebec Federation of Basketball.

"This is not okay with us and we are going to demand change of all the institutions that have failed us," she said.

"I wanted to mobilize with women that were feeling the same, that wanted to do something... to change the culture that you don't have to be belittled and abused mentally, to be strong and to be a winner."

The coalition has since amassed more than 350 members, all working together to transform toxic sports culture.

"We're very aware that this is going to be a relay marathon to change sports culture in this way, but we have all the energy to do it and we know how to win," said Martina.

"We know how to make things happen. We know how to work hard... This feels like it's not just going to be a banner that's going to be hoisted at the top of the gym. This is something that's going to live in people's lives and make a difference. And that's priceless." 

Read the coalition's full letter below: