Canadian Olympic Skier Reaches Settlement Over Charest Lawsuit

Summary

• Alpine Canada and Olympian Allison Forsyth have reached a settlement
• The settlement stems from a 25 year old case regarding sexual abuse by Bertrand Charest
• Alpine Canada was sued for not properly handling Charest allowing him to abuse multiple individuals

Lots of Canadians may not remember Allison Forsyth as she hasn’t been in active sports competitions for many years now.

As a skier, Forsyth was in her prime in the late 90s and early 2000 when she went on to represent Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics. She would win as many as 5 World Cup medals over her career in in giant slalom before retiring in 2008.

Forsyth Gets Settlement From Alpine Canada

Forsyth who represented the Canadian national skiing team first reported in 1998 that head coach Bertrand Charest had sexually abused her. Forsyth would later file a class action lawsuit against Alpine Canada for not handling the situation with Bertrand Charest correctly and then file another individual lawsuit against Alpine Canada.

Charest was later accused by more national skiers of committing sexual abuse against them. In 2017, Charest was finally convicted and received a 12 year prison sentence but he was not convicted on charges against Forsyth on the basis that they took place outside Canada. In the end, Charest prison sentence was reduced to just 57 months and he received parole in 2020.

Alpine Canada has now confirmed that it has reached a settlement agreement with Forsyth and the settlement will be paid via instance.

In a statement Therese Brisson, Alpine Canada CEO said

This settlement is between Allison and our third-party insurer. This isn’t a situation where Alpine Canada funds were used to settle claims. Certainly saddened by Allison’s experience personally and apologize to her for her harm. We support her continued ability to discuss her experience without any restrictions.

Forsyth Happy To Get Closure After 25 Years

Allison Forsyth who now works as a safe sport advocate said she kept fighting for justice for the last 25 years to show that it is important that one continues to fight for accountability and not give up. The terms of the settlement agreement was not made public.

In a statement, Forsyth said

I truly think Alpine Canada as of today is doing their very best to protect their athletes. This is about righting the wrongs of the past, and providing an organization an opportunity bear witness to how wrong the past was.