Boxing Canada’s high performance director Daniel Trépanier finally tendered his resignation on Sunday, a few days following the publication of an open letter in which his practices were decried by more than a hundred athletes, coaches and managers. stakeholders in the amateur boxing community.
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The organization made the announcement in a press release.
“The Boxing Canada Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Daniel Trépanier as High Performance Director. His resignation takes effect immediately. Therefore, Boxing Canada will be entering into discussions with provincial sport organizations over the next few weeks to form a search committee that will guide the process of hiring a new High Performance Director,” reads the missive. .
“Boxing Canada’s Board of Directors held emergency meetings over the weekend to discuss ways to improve the organization’s transparency and governance,” the federation added.
The open letter demanded the immediate departure of Trépanier, who had been in office for 14 years. The document released last Wednesday lifted the veil on a toxic culture of favoritism and fear at Boxing Canada. In addition, some national team boxers were allegedly victims of physical and psychological abuse.
“The Board has decided to expedite the work of the third party expert who was engaged in March 2022 to conduct a comprehensive review of the High Performance Program culture to ensure athletes and coaches can excel in an optimal environment,” Boxing Canada said in its press release.
After the publication of the open letter, boxer Kim Clavel had made a vibrant testimony on her social networks to decry Trépanier’s ways of doing things.
The one who was a member of the national team between 2010 and 2017 spoke of her pitfalls with the federation and recounted having seen Boxing Canada “put a spoke in the wheels of promising, talented and dedicated athletes”. She was referring in particular to her friend and corner woman Sara Kali.
The latter reacted to Trépanier’s resignation on her Instagram account, calling this day “the best day of her life.”
Olympian Myriam Da Silva said it was “the first step”, but “there is still a lot more to do”.
It should also be noted that the International Boxing Association decided to withdraw Trépanier’s accreditation, following calls for his resignation. He was therefore unable to supervise the boxers present at the women’s worlds this weekend in Istanbul. Under the leadership of the man, the maple leaf did not win any Olympic medals and the results in international competitions were starved.