Ben Cooper, age 27, is being charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse over a period of eight years in Ottawa and Kingston
Allegations against a gymnastics coach who was later charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and other sexual offenses were first brought to the attention of Gymnastics Ontario in October 2021, about 16 months before he was charged and the public was told.
Ben Cooper, who is 27 and from Toronto, facesmultiple chargesbetween 14 and 17-year-olds that took place over the course of eight years, from 2014 to 2022.
Cooper worked at gyms in Ottawa and Kingston, Ont., until 2021, but Ottawa police say the sexual offenses continued into 2022 and happened both during and after his coaching duties.
None of the things said about Cooper in court have been proven to be true.
Gymnastics Ontario CEO Dave Sandford said they first heard about the accusations against Cooper in October 2021, a month after he stopped working at Trillium Gymnastics in Kingston, Ont.
Formal complaints were filed in March 2022. In April 2022, Gymnastics Ontario started its own investigation and told Cooper he couldn’t coach in the meantime.
Sandford says that the police were told about it in the same month.
“Our process for handling complaints about discipline was used by two people.” At about the same time as the announcement, two other people came forward with very serious accusations. I then called the Ottawa police to find out more “Sandford said to CBC.
Trillium and the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre, where Cooper worked as a coach from 2014 to 2019, knew about the investigation and suspension, but other clubs did not.
“In any process, you want to keep it honest and private, both for the people who are hurt or who are making a complaint and for the people who are being accused,” he said.
Sandford said that Gymnastics Ontario kept an eye on Cooper through its membership database and talked with local clubs “just to make sure that he wasn’t coaching.”
Sandford said that he didn’t realize how serious the accusations were until this week, when the police announced that Cooper had been arrested.
Whisper networ
A former gymnast and co-founder of a group that works to stop abuse in the sport says it’s troubling that other Ontario clubs weren’t told about the allegations, even after an internal or police investigation was started.
But Kim Shore of Gymnasts for Change Canada says that even when allegations are made, they are often not put together. This could mean that a pattern of behavior is starting to emerge, she said.
“Many of these provincial organizations have rules that require a certain level of secrecy.” This is done to protect the abuser. “It’s not good for the kids,” Shore told us.
A CBC investigation showed just a few months ago that Gymnastics Canada put a coach in one of the most important jobs in the organization.Even though people said they were treated badly,where both the coaches and gymnasts are women.
Other sports, like hockey, and youth groups have had to deal with the fallout of abuses that happened in their ranks for decades.
But Shore said the problem is just as big in her sport and isn’t limited to sexual abuse.
She said that there is a lot of verbal, emotional, and mental abuse, which puts children in a dangerous position.
“This is not a one-off,” Shore said. “I think this is a problem with the system. “I think there is a network of whispers that has been covering up these abuses, which is dangerous for young children who are innocent and just want to do something that makes them happy.”
She is worried that the accusations in this case go back almost a decade and that no adult has come forward with proof.
She said, “Our policies and ways of doing things are failing our kids.”
The Ottawa Club doesn’t know how serious the claims are
The Ottawa Gymnastics Centre (OGC) confirmed that Cooper worked there from 2014 to 2019. He was a coach for both recreational and competitive gymnastics, and he may have worked with kids as young as five.
The club says it was told about the internal investigation by Gymnastics Ontario, but it didn’t know how bad the allegations were.
Mike Vieira, the club’s interim executive director, said, “We didn’t know” about any sexual offense claims.
Many of these provincial organizations have rules that require a certain level of secrecy. This is done to protect the abuser.Gymnasts for Change Canada, Kim Shore
He agreed that gymnastics, like many other sports, has had a lot of problems with abuse, but he thinks that things are getting better.
He said, “This sport, especially the kind of whisper culture, the old boys club, or whatever you want to call it, is being broken down.” “It’s not like… we’re passing [coaches] around if people are just keeping quiet and sweeping things under the rug or anything like that.”
Vieira said that every coach has to go through an “extensive” screening process. He also said that rules are in place and have been since 2014 that make sure there are always two adults from two different programs on duty.
“We turned, I think, every stone that we could have at the time, and we continue to do that.” It’s horrible because we work hard to make sure our place is safe, and we thought it was something he said.
CBC has tried to get in touch with Trillium Gymnastics more than once but hasn’t heard back.