Nine Brave Women

Back in November, I had written a long piece about how the investigation done by Western University was a farce and that the women who were demanding changes with regards to their mistreatment committed by women's hockey head coach Candice Moxley deserved better. At the time, I had written about the decision to reinstate Moxley as the head coach without any punishment that it allowed everyone to go "home blissfully and willfully ignorant while 30 women are left without an advocate to help them figure out their own futures at the school and beyond," and that's precisely where the problem still stands. However, nine women stepped forward to drive home the point that Moxley was very aware about what went on within the program, and I'm here to support and commend these nine women.

Before we go any further, I do want to warn readers that some of the descriptions of the assaults committed against these women may not be suitable for all readers. Please exercise discretion if you choose to read more of my thoughts on this.

The newest reporting from TSN's Rick Westhead involves "nine former Western women's hockey players who agreed to speak on the record in a series of interviews with TSN about their time playing for Moxley" which feels a lot like what happened at Lethbridge when Michelle Janus was dismissed as the Pronghorns head coach. In his reporting, some of these women share details about the harassment and assaults that strength and conditioning coach Jeff Watson committed and the details of what happened when they reported the harassment and assaults to Moxley.

Kaitlyn Booth, a former goaltender with Western, described one of her encounters with both Watson and Moxley to Westhead from her rookie season in 2018-19, and I have zero reason not to believe that the following happened to Booth which makes it even harder to believe that the school found nothing wrong with Moxley's actions.

"Booth told Moxley that she had been working out in the school gym when Watson had thrown her to the floor, and while she was on all fours, knelt behind her, touched her inappropriately, and simulated a sexual act.

"'Moxley told me that I should wear longer shorts,' Booth said in an interview with TSN. 'That was it. That was her response. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.'"

Again, let me remind you that the univeristy cleared Moxley in the investigation while laying the fault fully on Watson who had already left his position at Western. If you read Booth's statement again, how the heck was Moxley cleared? What will it take for Western University to believe these women who are stepping forward? And, most importantly, why is the university protecting a woman who clearly had zero interest in keeping players safe from what sounds like a known sexual predator in Watson?

You may think I'm taking it too far in describing Watson as a sexual predator, but the following statement by former forward Sydnee Baker to Westhead only seems to add more evidence that Watson used his position to take advantage of these women while Moxley did nothing to ensure their safety and well-being from Watson.

"'We told Mox that we had been doing a... neck-strengthening exercise and Jeff made a completely inappropriate comment about oral sex,' Baker said. 'But the way he touched people was the most disturbing part. I was doing a hip lift type of workout, and he was touching my hips when there was no reason for him to touch me. He didn't need to put [his] hands on my hips and tell me to engage my hips because they're already engaged, based on the exercise I was doing.'"

I think we can safely establish that Jeff Watson is a sexual predator, and he should have been charged with crimes for harassment and assault. I'm not a judge nor jury, so I can't say he's guilty beyond all reasonable doubt, but the picture painted by these women make it very clear that Watson should never be allowed to work in an environment like a gym or fitness center. Was Western right to find fault in Watson's actions and words? Absolutely.

However, there is a gigantic "But" at the end of that "Absolutely" because the one person in whom these women confided about Watson's actions and words did nothing to protect them from Watson nor did anything to correct the problems they described in their interactions with Watson. I don't understand how Moxley has avoided any fallout from the investigation when you hear the stories like Baker and Booth told Westhead, but it seems the problem lies with Elizabeth Hewitt, who conducted the investigation, and Western University itself in that they found that "Moxley was not in breach of the school's non-discrimination and harassment policy."

Look, it might be true that she didn't break the non-discrimination and harassment policies held at the school, but the amount of ignorance and negligence of the bigger, criminal problems here cannot go unpunished. Further to this, the number of times that Moxley simply did nothing after serious complaints of misconduct by a staff member is astounding to the point of disbelief. Here's what former goaltender Tareya Webster told Westhead about Moxley's ignorance of the problem.

"'She did nothing to protect us,' Webster said. 'Baker and I started going to work out later in the days, at a time when Jeff would not be in the gym. Mox called us into her office and told us that was unacceptable... instead of taking action on Jeff's inappropriate comments and diving into the reason we're not going to work out in the morning. I remember Mox started showing up at the workouts in the morning to take attendance... She just doubled down.'"

Not only did Moxley ignore the players' concerns and complaints about why they decided to switch workout times, she actually forced them back into the situation they went out of their way to avoid! And Sydnee Baker added the statement that should now make Candice Moxley an accomplice to Watson's crimes when she told Westhead, "Jeff remained our trainer and he kept doing the same things."

You might be asking why I feel so strongly when it comes to believing the players, and I made that clear in the November piece I wrote. The women who are making the allegations aren't gaining anything by speaking out other than peace of mind and knowledge that justice was served. They were assaulted and harassed by a man who they were told to trust in Jeff Watson, and when they reported those violations against them to the person who recruited to them to come to the school they were told "no harm, no foul" by Candice Moxley. If you want to know why sexual assualt and rape victims don't step forward, Candice Moxley's behaviours are entirely the reason why.

For Kaitlyn Booth, she was interviewed by Elizabeth Hewitt in the investigative process, and she still struggles to believe that Hewitt and Western University gave Moxley a free pass with respect to what she experienced. She told Westhead,

"How is it possible that the school believed me and others about what Watson did but didn't believe that we told Mox and asked her for help?" Booth said. "If the school actually did believe us, that means they didn't think covering up something like this when students ask for help is that bad."

Booth's assessment of what went on is entirely accurate because if the Western women's testimonies helped Western pin the blame on Watson, how can they overlook the vast number of people who said they spoke to Moxley about Watson's behaviours? That contradiction can't be denied, yet Western decided to scapegoat Watson and let Moxley off the hook without so much as a slap on the wrist. It's truly baffling that a school with a proven track record of not protecting its students from potential sex and assault crimes on campus would be so brazen as to completely ignore the direct connection between Watson's crimes and Moxley's negligence.

You know what would help people understand how these conclusions were made? Western University releasing the investigation report filed by Hewitt. To date, those findings are still not a public document, so any other findings or conclusions outside of "Moxley was not in breach of the school's non-discrimination and harassment policy" have been silenced by Western's refusal to publish the document. Perhaps that was the only conclusion that Hewitt reached in the investigation, or maybe there were other findings or evidence that suggested additional conclusions to be drawn. It seems we'll never know because Western's done their damnedest to keep the report from the public's eyes.

Claire Balas, a former defenceman, echoes this sentiment. "If the school stands by the fact that they want to keep [Moxley], they should be able to stand by this report being publicized and made available to everyone," Balas said to Westhead. I completely agree with Balas, and she makes several good points that go a step further. Westhead writes,

"If there was enough evidence to fire Watson, the school should also explain why it has not broadened its investigation to ask female athletes on other teams if they also were harassed or touched inappropriately by Watson, Balas said.

"If athletes told other coaches besides Moxley about incidents with Watson, the school should be transparent about that, Balas said. Western should also explain whether it has, or has not, forwarded information about any alleged sexual assaults by Watson to London police, she said."

Balas highlights the other part I struggle to understand in that if there was enough evidence to terminate Watson, why wasn't he charged with crimes? Based on the statements by the Western players above, it seems very clear that he should be charged with several counts of sexual assault, yet Western has brought zero charges to the London police. Is there any explanation for this oversight when it comes to actually getting retribution against a man who did a ton of damage to the school's reputation?

While I've focused on the negligence by Moxley in this article, Westhead also has reports from some of the women that the abuse took a mental toll with the mindgames that Moxley played. Carmen Lasis, who I saw play in person when Western met Manitoba for the U SPORTS National Championship gold medal, told Westhead that their first meeting really set the tone for their player-coach relationship.

"'In our first meeting Moxley asked what were my hockey goals,' Lasis said. 'I told her I wanted one day to play for Team Canada. She looked at me and laughed in my face. Didn't say anything, just laughed. I guess after that I didn’t feel like I could trust her.'"

What kind of coach asks for goals and then proceeds to destroy those dreams in one fell swoop? What kind of monster laughs at a 20 year-old woman coming off a U SPORTS silver-medal season when she expresses her desire to play for her country at the highest levels?

It didn't end there for Lasis either. She suffered a concussion after being hit with a shot in the mask, and things went from bad to worse with Moxley who seemingly doesn't have any concept of how concussions work. Lasis described her first practice back with the team after being cleared to play.

"'I was really headachy, so I went to the bench and sat down,' Lasis said. 'Candice got really mad at me for getting off the ice. She told me that I shouldn't get distracted, and I should refocus and get back on the ice. When I said I wasn't feeling well, she didn't do anything to get me help, she just skated away and left me there. It's sad. Even though I'm a former player, I don't feel like I can cheer for Western women's hockey while she's still the coach there.'"

This is the reality that Western's going to have to face because alumni relations will suffer, recruiting is certainly going to be affected, and sponsor support will likely be revoked by some companies thanks to the negative press and word-of-mouth that the team is receiving. Is it deserved? I can't help but believe it is based on what's gone on, but we're hardly done with Moxley's mindgames.

Goaltender Tareya Webster played in just 25 games in four seasons for Western, and she confided to Westhead that her conversation with Moxley about her mental health resulted in Webster being benched without explanation, adding, "I think about that time of my life all the time and I realize how much damage she did, severe damage at such a young, important age when I was vulnerable and away from home."

Forward Catherine O'Connor, who earned a silver medal in 2018, quit Western following the 2018-19 season because "Moxley played head games with her and others and divided the locker room." O'Connor's story was corroborated by Beatrice Dufour, another silver-medallist defender with Western, who added, "Some girls she texted all the time, others she never said a word to. A few girls got top-of-the-line sticks, and most didn't. It's just not acceptable behaviour from a coach. It creates a divide."

I think Rick Westhead did a great job in exposing the hypocrisy of the investigation that did nothing but raise more questions about Moxley's tenure at Western when more and more evidence is exposed about what went on behind the scenes. For me, I needed to connect more dots to make this as clear as possible, but it might be time for some of these women to follow the path cut by the four women from the Lethbridge Pronghorns who filed a civil suit against the University of Lethbridge that forced the school to fire women's hockey heach coach Michelle Janus. This might be an extreme way to get results, but I have a feeling Western University will have a change of heart if they're forced to present their case in a court of law.

Because Western University enjoys an existence of cowardice and gutlessness, I wouldn't expect that report to be released at any point in the future so if you're looking for names when it comes to the cowards who run the school, let's start with Christine Stapleton who is the Director of Sports and Recreation. Maybe Alan Shepard's name should be included as one of the gutless cowards as well since he's the President and Vice-Chancellor of Western University. And I'll take the liberty of adding Keith Gibbons' name to the list of gutless cowards since he's the Chairman of Board of Governors at Western University. There are likely more people who should be checking their own personal morals and ethics to see what kind of people they truly are, but we'll start with these three cowards for now.

In my dealings with people's shameful behaviour on this blog, I can honestly say that no one likes being named as a gutless coward so I'm hoping we'll see one or all of Christine Stapleton, Alan Shepard, and/or Keith Gibbons reach out for a discussion. They'll likely demand a retraction of my descriptions above, and I'll grant that concession on one condition: release the report so the players of the Western Mustangs women's hockey team can read through the findings.

Any other request or demand made by those three administrators will be denied with prejudice unless Candice Moxley's position with Western is terminated. That includes any type of apology, printed retraction, and/or deletion of names and descriptors attached to those names. My terms are simple: do right by the players and I'll remove any negative descriptions about you.

To the nine women who stepped forward and spoke with Rick Westhead, you have my full support in this situation. I believe every word of what you told Westhead happened, and that your experiences certainly affected not only your experience as a Mustang, but it has caused physical and mental hardships that you've been forced to deal with and overcome to be the successful women you are. I stand with you, and I believe each and every one of you.

Will any of Western's administrators read this? I can't say they will, but my hope is that they do. I also hope they're reading Rick Westhead's reports on the TSN website because it's hard to see a once-prominent program reduced to ashes because of the coach's ignorance, negligence, and metnal abuse inflicted upon her players. If your daughter has been contacted by Western about potentially joining the team, you have every right to ask to see the report. In fact, demand to see it before making any decision.

Nine women have brought compelling evidence to light about the mistreatment and misconduct by two of your staff members, Western University. At what point do you drop the lame attempts to save face and do the right thing? Feel free to make that move now.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!