Major crisis at the CAMO swimming club

One of the biggest if not the biggest swimming club in the province swims in troubled waters.

Since the beginning of July, the contract of the head coach of the CAMO swimming club, Greg Arkhurst, has not been renewed and all the members of the board of directors have resigned. Meanwhile, three other coaches had resigned, in support of Arkhurst, before reconsidering their decision.

The storm is so strong that the Quebec Swimming Federation has requested and organized the holding of an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday evening to elect a new board of directors, the first step in the possible placing under guardianship of the club.

Faced with all the departures, I told the remaining members of the board of directors that they no longer had the legitimacy to do their job and that they needed to have their mandate confirmed in the elections, explains Francis Ménard, director General of the Quebec Swimming Federation (FNQ). The new Board can then put the club under trusteeship if that is their intention and we will help them hire an independent administrator.

Tensions between the C. A. and the coaches have been particularly high since April. In fact, they were exacerbated by the filing of a report by the Complaints Officer, whose mission is to receive and process complaints of abuse and harassment from the Quebec sports community.

The process is confidential, but Radio-Canada Sports has learned that at least one complaint targets head coach Greg Arkhurst. The precise nature of the complaint is unknown, but the coach received a variety of sanctions, including a two-week suspension.

A recognized coach, he was elected to the board of directors of the Fédération de Natation du Québec in 2017. However, he left his post in February 2023. His departure would not be linked to the steps taken by the Complaints Officer.

In Japan with the national team

Arkhurst could not be reached. A former Olympic swimmer for the Ivory Coast, he is currently in Japan with the Canadian team for the World Championships. In particular, he accompanies two swimmers from the CAMO club, Katerine Savard and Marie-Sophie Harvey.

By email, a Swimming Canada representative responded that Greg’s status as a coach was in good standing at the time of the Canadian Swimming Trials (late March) and the selection committee had chosen him on merit, based on the performance of his athletes.

We understand that a process has been put in place with the Quebec Swimming Federation with the complaints manager. The FNQ respected the process and took the necessary measures. Greg has been a member of the Team Canada coaching staff since 2021 and today travels as a coach in good standing.

Selvin Cortez was the Chairman of the Board of CAMO Swimming until his recent resignation. He confirms the conflict between certain members of the Board and the head coach, but affirms that the report of the Complaints Officer did not lead directly to the non-renewal of Greg Arkhurst’s contract.

It would rather be its administrative and communication deficiencies.

We didn’t want to fire him, on the contrary, but we wanted him to give up his position as head coach to focus on his group of 10 athletes, including Katerine Savard and Marie-Sophie Harvey, with whom things are going very well, explains Selvin Cortez. Administrative responsibilities were removed from his plate and he kept the same salary. He replied that I was not his boss and that he did not recognize the authority of the C. A.

From what I hear, as a coach, he is excellent, but he lacks communication skills and people management, adds Cortez. He had inappropriate language with me, in particular.

The Board of Directors has sounded out the interest of Claude St-Jean, also a coach with the CAMO club, to become the head coach of the club, a position he held for many years. St-Jean refused and also submitted his resignation in full meeting with the C. A. last week, before changing his mind after the resignation of the board members.

He had yet shown his support, so his resignation in the middle of a meeting had the effect of a bomb, says Selvin Cortez. The emotions were so strong that I cried in front of everyone. In his letter of resignation, he denounced the fact that the vision of the CA was not compatible with the values ​​of the club. We, all we wanted was to have good governance and transparency. We ran out of time to accomplish this mandate.

Claude St-Jean confirms the version of the resigning president. He understands that he may have felt betrayed.

He told me not to resign without talking to them before, explains the coach. In the situation we were in, I didn’t have to show my colors. I did it in support of Greg.

St-Jean has known Greg Arkhurst for many years. St-Jean was first his coach before making him his assistant. The two have worked together for a dozen years.

His confidence in his former protege is not shaken by the Complaints Officer’s report.

I am somewhat aware of the file and I am not shaken, said St-Jean, recalling that the information was confidential. He is a very honest person who cares about everyone. His office door was always open for athletes and parents. I think the C. A. pushed him a bit too far.

Broken trust bond

The bond of trust was well and truly broken between the C. A. of CAMO swimming and its head coach. Francis Ménard, of the Quebec Swimming Federation, would have preferred that the crisis not take on such magnitude.

CAMO had a young C.A. who wanted to make legitimate changes to the governance of the club, but perhaps it was too fast in the pre-Olympic year and for Greg it was a lot, explains the general manager. I advised the Board to stabilize the situation and then to be accompanied towards a change of governance.

What was the plan to replace Greg Arkhurst? I didn’t get a response from them and in a pre-Olympic year, that’s unacceptable. Regardless of what Greg did, was the move thought out by the right people at the right time? Maybe not.

The CAMO club is not immune to a board that changes quickly and loses its historical knowledge.

Ménard says he does not take a position in the dispute.

It’s an explosive situation and we’ve been in this for two months, explains the DG. I want to avoid bad links that tarnish the reputation of someone who does not deserve it to escalate the situation. If the club deems Greg Arkhurst can’t stay, that’s fine, but I advise them to do so in accordance with labor rules.

Moreover, Arkhurst called on a lawyer to contest the non-renewal of his contract.

The resigning president of the C. A., Selvin Cortez, claims not to have been sufficiently supported by the Quebec Swimming Federation during his mandate.

Since our resignations, the general manager has called me every day. This is the kind of support I would have liked to have received during the process. That’s life. We were made aware of a sanction and the FNQ asked us to put in place certain measures to supervise the head coach and ensure that what he is accused of does not happen again.

But we did not know what he was accused of precisely and we never got an answer, he adds. We wanted to know what to watch out for, what was the inappropriate conduct.

The director general of the FNQ explains that his hands were tied and that he did not have the authorization of the Complaints Officer to reveal the details of the file.

There is a report that is strictly confidential, says Ménard. Only the plaintiff, Greg Arkhurst and the C. A. of the Quebec Swimming Federation can know the details. These are the rules of the Complaints Officer.

Francis Ménard hopes that the extraordinary general meeting on Thursday will be able to bring some stability to this flagship club of Quebec swimming.

I especially want to protect the 10 athletes of the elite group, specifies Ménard. These are athletes who have a chance of qualifying for the next Olympic Games or the following ones. I proposed that the club renew the coach’s contract for one year and that if he does not meet the conditions after the year, the end of the contract will be better justified.

Coach Claude St-Jean simply hopes that the next board will be made up of members and parents who will work for the well-being of the club and the swimmers, in keeping with the club’s mission.

The last C. A. was not in office long enough to prove to us that he wanted to work for the mission of the clubanalyzes St-Jean, who will attend the meeting.

The president and several resigning members do not intend to present their candidacy Thursday evening.

I think a new board will be elected and its members will be more aligned with the vision of Greg and the coaches. They won, says Selvin Cortez. I think we can say that at CAMO, it’s performance at all costs.