Allison Forsyth, OLY

COO | Partner ITP Sport & Recreation. Safe Sport Advocate and abuse survivor. Loving mama to 3 littles -- Prevent. Protect. Perform

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

Because education doesn't pause while we build our website, my new venture Generation Safe is live! Would love a follow on Linkedin and proud to announce our education is one of only 3 accredited in Canada! Let's goooo
https://t.co/TFA7MraGdL

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

Allison Forsyth, a former Olympic skier, safe sport advocate, and abuse survivor, is joining Headversity, a Calgary-based company whose mental health platform and safe sport training is used by sport organizations countrywide.
Evolving the foundation of the current Respect in Sport program, Headversity will integrate the curriculum and methodology of Forsyth’s company Generation Safe. Forsyth will become the Headversity’s chief sport officer.
@AlliForsyth

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

My new book, WE BREED LIONS: Confronting Canada’s Troubled Hockey Culture, is coming this fall.

Hockey in Canada is at a crossroads.

Over the past three years, I have interviewed current and former junior hockey players, as well as parents, player agents, hockey coaches and executives, team owners, legal experts and sociologists about hockey culture in Canada. Their stories are shocking and offer insights into so much about our national game that is broken.

Yet there are reasons to be optimistic. I’ve also spoken to men and women who want to see hockey get to a better place and are working hard to help young players become the best versions of themselves playing the game they love.

Coming in November 2025 via @randomhouseca.
Pre-order your copy today:
https://t.co/w3QXGQbgwE

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

Honoured to have supported this incredible book. A must read for everyone in sport and most notably as a hockey parent myself… parents.

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

My new book, WE BREED LIONS: Confronting Canada’s Troubled Hockey Culture, is coming this fall.

Hockey in Canada is at a crossroads.

Over the past three years, I have interviewed current and former junior hockey players, as well as parents, player agents, hockey coaches and executives, team owners, legal experts and sociologists about hockey culture in Canada. Their stories are shocking and offer insights into so much about our national game that is broken.

Yet there are reasons to be optimistic. I’ve also spoken to men and women who want to see hockey get to a better place and are working hard to help young players become the best versions of themselves playing the game they love.

Coming in November 2025 via @randomhouseca.
Pre-order your copy today:
https://t.co/w3QXGQbgwE

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

I have yet to see a minor hockey org that PROACTIVELY communicates with parents that complaints be filed directly with @HockeyCanada. Why? Because they don’t want HC to know the gravity of the issues happenning within their org and want to keep it quiet. ‘Let’s have a call’

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

Hockey Canada's independent third party is investigating an incident in which a number of players on a U-15 team in Brantford, Ont., allegedly threatened to kill a teammate on a group chat.
The Brantford Minor Hockey Association confirmed today that Hockey Canada's ITP has opened an investigation of the matter after receiving a complaint from the alleged victim's parents.
According to social media posts about the incident, which included screen grabs of a team group chat titled "kill [name redacted]," a player was threatened with violence including rape, having pucks shot at his head, and having his throat stepped on with skates.
When the targeted player's parents went to the team and to local police, coaches allegedly suggested the player move to another team, while police allegedly told them, "kids will be kids."
It's unclear how long Hockey Canada's ITP investigation process will take. A spokesperson for the Brantford police service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Stephen Murdoch @canadianprguy]

Win or lose: we have a bigger problem than just this game. Hockey has become too expensive. It’s unaffordable for most Canadian families. Tonight, we’re seeing the best who can afford to play. We need to make hockey financially accessible to more Canadians. #WorldJuniors

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

@rwesthead I often hear from organizations ‘but we can’t be expected to police everything online’. This is not about policing, its about putting in place trackable comms standards, a social media policy, education including parents and athletes, and understanding the risk.

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

When I tell orgs the importance of proper communication methods - and no snapChat I often hear ‘but we can’t be expected to police everything online’. This is not about policing- it’s about policy, education (incl parents) and awareness. Once people know the perils they shift.

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

Newfoundland figure skating coach Matthew Power was convicted of sexual assault in late November.
In her reasons to find Power guilty, which have now been published, Justice Valerie Marshall detailed how Power frequently used the app SnapChat because unlike FaceBook or Instagram, SnapChat allows for disappearing messages.
Allison Forsyth, a sexual assault survivor and advocate who educates on culture and safe sport issues, told me Power's case is illustrative of why sports organizations should ban the use of SnapChat.
Forsyth: “Whether it's bullying, hazing, or sexual abuse, ShapChat is the most used tool for online abuse.”
Forsyth also told me the case also offers examples of how cunning predators convince victims they are complicit in their abuse.
In one instance, Power texted his 15-year-old victim: “You’re a minor lol, that’s where the trouble begins lol.”
Forsyth: ���If an athlete engages after this they immediately feel responsible and complicit.”
@AlliForsyth

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

https://t.co/IBlQB34fHr

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

New: Ontario’s Office of the Chief Coroner, with the assistance of the Waterloo Regional Police Service, is undertaking a second investigation into the death of 17-year-old minor hockey player Benjamin Teague, who died during a “team building” event hosted by his Oakville Rangers team.
The new investigation, confirmed by the coroner’s office, comes after the OPP found York Regional Police Service officers negligent in their original investigation into Benjamin’s death in 2019.
A posthumous toxicology report concluded that Benjamin had the drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, in his system at the time of his death.
When mixed with alcohol, the colourless, tasteless, odorless chemical can be lethal even in small doses, Dr. Lewis Nelson, the Director of Medical Toxicology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School told me in an interview.

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

One in five coaches in Ontario are aware of extreme hazing rituals within their club or organization in the past two years, according to a new survey released by the Coaches Association of Ontario.
Extreme hazing practices include pressure to consume alcohol or drugs, physical and/or sexual assault, and pretend abductions/kidnappings, the association said.
The survey also reported that almost 20 percent of coaches reported a positive view of hazing-like initiation practices and that only 43 percent of coaches intervene to stop hazing when it discovered.
@coaches_ont
https://t.co/a5Hv9zGsYU

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

After two 14-year-old boys were reportedly found to have sexually abused an 11-year-old in a gym and suspended indefinitely by Gymnastics Quebec, their parents downplayed the behaviour, calling it “teasing,” and filed a lawsuit to challenge the suspensions.
Their efforts were unsuccessful.
Raises interesting questions about the extremes some parents will go to defend children who behave deplorably.
via @LP_LaPresse.
https://t.co/RFANF0r333

[Rod Wilhelm @globrod]

Pleasure to receive @AlliForsyth before our important game Saturday in Ontario Cup with my U13 👌📚🧠🧑‍🏫

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

@rwesthead Further, organizations must have social media policies that are educated on and all chats should be regulated on platforms such as teamsnap. Athlete to athlete maltreatment online and coach to athlete grooming online is rampant. As we work to shift culture, we need to safeguard.

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

Further, organizations need social media policies that are educated on and all chats should be regulated on platforms such as teamsnap. Athlete to athlete maltreatment online and coach athlete grooming online are rampant. While we shift behaviour we also need safeguards.

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

Hearing Swim Ontario has commissioned an investigation of an allegation that photos of a female swimmer in her bathing suit were shared among male team members via a group chat.
Subsequent comments about the teenage swimmer from several of her male teammates, who are also minors, allegedly included mentions of rape and other sexualized commentary.
Swim Ontario told me it does not confirm or discuss particulars of confidential complaints and it's unclear what it can/will do following investigation.
Allison Forsyth, a former Canadian Olympian who is an expert on safe sport issues, told me organizations that follow best practices ensure at least one adult is present on any team group chats involving minors.
@AlliForsyth

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

While criminal charges are a matter of public record, neither the Peterborough Police Service nor the Petes informed the public that one of the OHL team’s billets was charged with sexual exploitation.
Billets have been advised by the Petes that another billet may face criminal charges, The Peterborough Examiner reported today.

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

The London Police Service will provide an update this afternoon at 2 pm et related to a sexual assault investigation involving players from Canada’s 2018 WJC team.
TSN will broadcast the news conference live and begin our coverage at 1:45.
Chief Thai Truong and Detective Sergeant Katherine Dann of the LPS's Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section are expected to take questions from media.
Here's a backgrounder on what may happen behind the scenes in the coming weeks and months:
https://t.co/lbKXXJGp6l

[Allison Forsyth, OLY @AlliForsyth]

I will never presume to know someone else’s journey or pain but honoured to share my own in hopes of shedding some light for others. #traumainformed 🙏@rwesthead

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

*Will players be tried separately or together?
*Will the Crown try to flip one of the defendants?
*If the players are convicted, what would their sentences be?
*What about other players who were in the hotel room?

TSN has interviewed 16 current and former Crown attorneys and defence lawyers who specialize in sexual assault cases.
They offered insights into how prosecutors and the defence team will navigate what will be among Canada’s highest-profile sexual assault cases since former CBC personality Jian Ghomeshi went on trial and was acquitted in 2016.
https://t.co/XEtJermGJw

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

Former Chicoutimi Saguenéens player Carl Latulippe filed a $15.7M lawsuit in April 2023 against the CHL, the QMJHL and its teams, alleging he and other rookie players were beaten with bars of soap in towels and were forced to watch pornography and masturbate on a team bus in the presence of adult coaches.
Latulippe was Chicoutimi's first-round draft pick in 1994. He quit the QMJHL team weeks into the 1994-95 season. Media at the time reported he was homesick and missed his girlfriend.
Latulippe's allegations have been corroborated by a teammate, acc to a media report.
A judge in a Québec City court is scheduled to hear arguments on Mar. 19 about whether the case should proceed as a class action.
(The QMJHL has said it hired a lawyer to investigate Latulippe's allegations, but has not committed to making the investigation findings public.)

[Jill Moffatt OLY @jillmoffatt_]

Thank you to @TeamCanada for letting me sharing my story. I’m proud of the resilience that my anxiety has given me, and I plan to use my emotional range as a powerful tool at my disposal.

#BellLetsTalk #rowing #paris2024

[Tara Slone @TaraSlone]

Wondering if the @globeandmail might consider lifting the paywall for this story. 🙏