To access the CBC article, click here.
Originally posted: February 1, 2018
Statement: [Brian] Stock said the most recent allegations are “terribly upsetting,” but he said “a lot of progress” had been made over the last decade and that the college has “addressed a lot of those concerns.” […] “I feel like our theatre school has been very proactive in recent years to make sure that some of the stories that we’re hearing aren’t happening again,” said Stock.
Patrick’s Response: Stories received by gbsurvivors.org would appear to completely refute Stock’s claim. Read about the continuation of abuse during the years 2011-2014 and 2015-2016. It is difficult to imagine upon what evidence Stock is basing his bold assertion.
Statement: But Simon, whose position as co-ordinator had its title changed to artistic director, said no complaints were received until the letters in 2007 and 2008, at which time action was taken by the college.
Patrick’s Response: Shawn Hitchins filed a complaint in 2001 when an instructor told him he needed to “‘get rid of the gay.'” In 2007 and 2008 when we alerted the College to further ongoing abuse taking place in the theatre school, action certainly was taken: the school retaliated against us. I was accused of harassment and threatened with a lawsuit. I was also labelled a security threat, despite all of my communication with the College being explicitly pro-collaboration, pro-peace, anti-abuse and anti-violence. At the same time, the perpetrators were shielded from accountability and the College willingly allowed the abuse to continue for another decade.
Statement: “The co-ordinator is a faculty position, not a management one. I was not a supervisor of my fellow faculty. Like all faculty, I report to the Chair,” Simon explained in a statement to CBC Toronto.
Patrick’s Response: During my time as a student at GBTS, I never knew this man to miss any opportunity to publicly accept credit for the successes of the school when the prestige still flowed freely. I find it exceptionally curious that he would now be so quick to disavow all responsibility for the multitude of failures which flourished under the tenure of his leadership. Curious, albeit entirely expected.
Statement: Simon said the idea that students who complain will get cut from the program is a “myth” and he regrets none of the former students ever utilized the “options for safe and anonymous feedback while at the school.”
Patrick’s Response: See gaslighting: an insidious form of abuse in which the abuser uses denial and misdirection to make his victim(s) question the reality and memory of their own direct experiences. Further information on gaslighting can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Statement: Simon concluded: “My feelings about actor training have evolved. I used to feel we needed to prepare them for the realities of a demanding profession. I now feel it is incumbent upon us to prepare them to go forth and change it.”
Patrick’s Response: We tried that 11 years ago. In response, you treated us like criminals.