Songster01

Just heard about an important clarification regarding rinks in Ontario from Skate Ontario: https://skateontario.org/skate-ontarios-covid-19-response-premier-fords-may-14th-announcement/ It looked like from the very recent PDF from Skate Canada outlining new rules for safe skating in the province it might take time to get things coordinated and changed, and of course there may be other considerations as well depending on individual rinks. And I don't know how long permission would take for foreign visitors, so Yuzu and his Mom taking their time to get things right before making the very big step of coming here would be smart. And of course who knows what will happen re: a second wave/when the border will open enough to permit international competitions etc etc. I'm going to hope PPE, testing and contact tracing here in Ontario and especially the Toronto area will continue to grow enough to quickly stamp out any new outbreaks. Most cases in the province are here in TO and so it's a risk for anyone living here, even more so for those with comorbidities. So hopefully he knows that and can make an informed decision about whether to risk coming back. ETA: @Paskud I am sorry I didn't see your post; I was typing this up when you posted.

Yuzuru (and nearly any other person arriving in Canada, including citizens and PRs), would have to 1) show they had permission/had a passport/PR card/visa (any that are applicable) and any other documents required for anyone granted special permission and 2) self-isolate for 14 days, unless the rules change by the time he arrives: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/coronavirus-covid19/travel-restrictions-exemptions.html#exemptions There would be a scandal if people were simply allowed in w/o doing this, quite apart from the legal ramifications: "If you’re exempt from the travel restrictions, you must have a plan to quarantine for 14 days when you arrive in Canada. This is mandatory, even if you have no symptoms. If you don’t have a plan, you should not travel to Canada. The penalties for not following your quarantine plan can include a fine of up to $750,000 6 months of jail time being found inadmissible, removed from Canada and banned from entering for 1 year Only people who provide essential services, for example truck drivers who regularly cross the border to maintain the flow of goods, are exempt from the quarantine requirements." Supposedly there is screening of all passengers, but reports even after casual travel ended suggest Canadian screening was minimal and some people ended up saying their symptoms happened to start during transit (I'm skeptical esp on short flights because it seems a bit too convenient), which makes going straight from the airport right into quarantine essential (without stopping anywhere so you need to arrange supplies for 14 days at your dwelling). Of course I would expect Yuzu and his Mom would follow the rules scrupulously and I know the coaches expect all the skaters to set a good example while here.

It's really difficult to make any strong assessment based on a single interview, especially one not in your native language. Of course there is a strong cultural dimension to friendship, as well as talking about friendship. Regardless, in many places I doubt people would count colleagues, no matter how friendly, as their "greatest friends" if they did not socialize with them outside of work or talk of things outside of work-related topics much/at all. Yuzu seems to view TCC as his primary fs workplace and is not interested in socializing with others. It may be that is tied strongly to his feelings of gratitude for having a rink to work at consistently as well as just plain surviving 3.11. So it may seem vitally important to him to not waste time here, alongside his own introversion, plus fears of stalking and his name constantly being dragged in with others for good and ill. I doubt many here in Canada would fault him for sharing a meal with his rinkmates, but his fame makes doing so harder. OTOH, it sounds like he has a few friends in Japan with whom it is easier to chat with about non-skating things from a language fluency perspective, but how deep these relationships are or how often they talk about non-skating topics I've no idea. You also have to consider Javi's position. Because he and Yuzu are friendly and were rivals in a sport famed for nastiness towards rivals there has been much press and they often ask about Yuzu. Yuzu has tried to point out that he would have plenty to say about Javi, but because of Y's fame he is not badgered the same way about Javi as Javi is about Yuzu. It can get frustrating fast to be asked so much about someone else when you want to talk about your own accomplishments. Remember too that fans have been ugly in the past to him and others (skaters, skaters' significant others) for one reason or another depending on how these fans view their relationships. So minimizing their friendship is also safer for Javi as people can be wildly overprotective about public figures they admire. Just look at the treatment poor Corey Circelli got for inadvertently disclosing one of Y's programs in a video of his own practice!

Ice rinks to open for fs in Ontario. Not sure if additional restrictions for Toronto, but not seeing any yet. Note border remains closed for tourism. Not sure if elite athletes would be granted an exception and then required to quarantine:

Ice rinks re-opening in Ontario next Tuesday: We will have to see if any restrictions for Toronto, but so far not seeing any.

As someone who is is a permanent resident in Canada, it is very hard to get that status and in some ways seems harder than citizenship. I'd be shocked if Yuzu or his Mom were permanent residents, because I'd think that would be seen as a step away from Japanese citizenship (whether or not it was intended as such) and would likely be big news? But anyway, Yuzu, if for some reason you or especially your Mom decide to become PRs be prepared for the FBI's awful fingerprint readers, which refused to read mine and so the FBI sent letters to the RCMP to "teach them how to fingerprint correctly," which as you can imagine went over like a lead balloon. After several failed attempts I had to retain an immigration lawyer to get a special exception. According to one expert I spoke with it is mostly women (esp Asian women) who have fingerprints that the FBI's machines can't read. Article from yesterday on the border basically implying that at most we will likely only be seeing an increase in essential workers crossing the border in the near future as provinces slowly experiment with opening up. And a reiteration from my (Ontario) premier that he doesn't want the borders to open. The premiers of Québec and BC feel the same: https://www.cp24.com/news/increased-border-traffic-likely-as-canada-u-s-economies-reopen-freeland-1.4935168 Frankly, watching the mad and tragic circus that is going on in the US, I hope the border remains shut for a very long time. The US poses too much a danger to us as it would potentially be a major source of cases. We already saw a fair number of cases linked to the US before the border shut. Ontario is between MI and NY, which have been major centres of the disease. OH, may see a new spike in cases as it's opened prematurely imo. Columbus already is looking like a potential new hotspot. And though it is in central OH, increased mobility could mean it spreads to the norther part of the state. As for special exceptions like elite athletes, we might have to see how they handle the big pro sports? If Toronto becomes a center for at least one big team sport for fan-less games, the foreign players who didn't stay here might be permitted as exceptions to come here, provided they quarantine and follow public health rules. But it seems like the talks are in flux atm. So no idea when foreign skaters might be allowed back to Ontario rinks once they do re-open. It's possible Skate Canada might wait to see how things go for 2-3 weeks with their own elite skaters to avoid the unpleasant situation of having to cancel someone's permission at the last minute because of a case spike here, or having to close the rinks after foreign athletes have entered Canada because of a spike. BTW: according to Keegan on his IG, he is back to training this week, likely because he's in Alaska and iirc they are opening up. Note: that doesn't mean all other US states are open. A friend in CO who skates there says their rinks are not open yet.

Yes, the premier announced a few days ago that on Monday automatic/self-serve car washes and a couple type of mostly outdoor seasonal businesses (lawn companies, nurseries) can open for curbside/delivery services and that marinas & golf courses can prep but not open. I was a bit shocked because a couple days earlier we were assured that community-spread cases would have to be well-below 200 per day for awhile before opening (and we're def not there yet), but perhaps "opening" here meant a more significant opening up of businesses. I'm not sure we are actually ready to handle any serious loosening of restrictions until there is: 1) more testing and contact tracing available for at the very least _all_ at-high-risk populations such as frontline workers, people living in long-term care, shelters of many types, prisons, meat/fish packers, Indigenous communities, etc. who need them. All the places I mentioned either have already had bad outbreaks or have been identified as at very high risk for them. 2) There should be enough testing to do some gold-standard randomized testing in selected areas to get a better sense of what is actually going on in the community. Otherwise we would be flying mostly blind about what is going on really in Ontario. Note today Health Canada has had to take at least one company's antigen testing method out of commission for anything but lab conditions, which may lead to more slowing of the needed growth in test capacity. 3) There should be enough sanitizer/soap and PPE to adequately protect workers. AFAIK we are still struggling to equip the frontline here in TO, but less-essential workers should also be protected when they do return to work. 4) Financial support should be given to prevent people from working while sick or when they know they were exposed to someone who is positive. It sickens me that health-care workers and others are being told to work while sick. All these things together would make it safer to enjoy greater freedom than we now have in the province. I know the province has upped the testing capacity with a target of 20,000, but even so it will take time to get through just the population at LTC facilities. But things seem rather murkier on the other points, which I feel concerned about personally. At least Ontario is not going the Québec route and is instead choosing to take baby steps so far. I hope we wait at least 3 weeks after every important change to assess how that affects cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. It's easier to continue on with restrictions than to come back to them after the taste of freedom, even if they have said they won't hesitate to go back to them as needed. It's tricky, as most people understand the gravity of our situation until a safe and reliable vaccine and/or antiviral is made widely accessible. But as weather becomes more consistently warm and the social side of things wears harder I do fear that significant additional waves could follow. Anyway, I mention all this because for a mostly indoor recreational club like TCC should come pretty low down on the list of things that "should" open soon. I would not want TCC to open until the staff are well protected (access to masks, gloves, and other supplies, as well as a progressive sick leave policy that supports people _not_ coming to work sick). I would hope that whenever the rink does open they will practice excellent hygiene, social distancing, and will limit people the numbers of people who can go to the rink so there is no crowding, especially at the pinch-points off the ice proper (they are there!). If they have to add garish signs to direct foot traffic, they should take a lesson from the groceries and do so asap. TTC's rink is an indoor space with circulated air and some people may spend many hours in the facilities normally, so there is more risk than at an outdoor rink with its fresh air. Some of the coaches and choreographers are young and fit and so likely have lower risk of a severe bout of the disease, but others are not and so are statistically more likely to get it badly enough to end up in hospital. Many people in hospital with it here are under 65, since many of the oldest/most frail people in LTC are choosing not to go to hospital now, given that ventilation is so traumatic and is no miracle cure. While there is always some risk in congregate settings, I do think it's reasonable to expect the ordinary workers and staff at a non-essential place to be protected. It's mostly a place for the wealthy to have fun and socialize, so there's no excuse to not protect their workers and staff. I believe the earliest date mentioned by local skaters for GTA rinks to re-open is after the Victoria Day weekend, but honestly I hope they wait until June or even later to permit members back in. If they decide to cut some or all skating classes for non-competitive skaters and/or stringently limit the number of people in the rink area alongside other precautions, I'd certainly feel easier for the TCC workers, the fs coaching team, Yuzu, and all the other skaters there. An additional factor is whether the border would be open to more than non-essential foreign workers. I'm personally hoping they keep it closed for a long time to tourists, considering how badly screening was handled in airports. I'd imagine crossing by other means (esp cars) into Canada would be even less-well handled. If the border closure also delayed the non-Canadian TTC skaters from coming back it would be disappointing, but the health of people living in Canada is more important. Canada partly dodged a bullet by our actions in March; let us hope we don't undo all that hard work and patience.

Just noting that today the City of Toronto announced that the lockdown will continue at least until the end of June. No idea how quickly ice rinks would re-open after a lockdown is lifted. Perhaps TCC could start its summer program in July, but I'd prefer they err on the side of caution until we have a reliable vaccine/antibody tests available here. I'm not sure if rinks would be safe, considering asymptomatic transmission and some people's tendency to ignore mild symptoms and still go out/work. So if Yuzu wants ice time, Japan seems like a better place atm? Still, I hope he is extremely careful, especially given his asthma. No need to be near anyone outside his household, no matter how healthy they seem. Given the current lack of widespread testing (please be better at testing than Ontario, Japan!) and the lack of people working from home/social distancing worries me. I feel it would be all too easy for community spread to go unrecognized too late. Much as I hate to say it, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with a season next year unless a good vaccine/antibody test is released worldwide. I would feel terrible if ACI, SCI, or another event facilitated a second wave in Ontario and elsewhere this fall/winter.

I wasn't trying to be sarcastic. I'm sorry I worded it in a way that read like that to you. When I wrote it I was thinking about how frustrating house prices and rents are in Toronto and not trying to shade you. It was my sadness and anger that the prices are ballooning upwards again here. And me wishing that, if it was being held here, that it could have been held in a neighborhood that didn't feel isolated like downtown. But the costs would be too high. Of course ACI can and should be held outside of Ontario and outside of the GTA again. Certainly I thought it might move back to QC or might move over to BC next year, given that those seem to be the most active regions for higher-level training. I think that would be a good thing for people living elsewhere in Canada to get a chance to see it without flying across the country.

It would be thrilling if it was downtown Toronto or some charming compact southern ON town with a decent rink. London might work in the latter case? But the former is likely much too expensive to rent. Hey, they could use my neighborhood outdoor rink!! I'm sure it's completely safe for triples, let alone quints Mr. Hanyu Of course there's the matter that in September they'd have to use roller skates! Only a half hour from TTC (if the traffic gods are kind)! I hope you all don't mind fighting over picnic tables or artfully arranged stone "bleachers". Canadian Nationals was held in Mississauga at a roughly comparable rink (though somewhat larger than 16 Mile) and man do I prefer the 16 Mile rink and location. Food was not great compared to 16 Mile and there was no easily walkable super nice grocery you could go to eat at. Also the wind was very strong and bitter and that was a couple days before there was an actual snowstorm (ok ok def not something you expect here in Sept!). And the buses were not reliable at all and I ended up spending a large sum on an Uber to get back home one night. There's also Scotiabank Pond in North York, where I've gone to the GTA Summer Skate (some Canadian and locally training international skaters like Nam, Keegan, and Utashin debuted their programs), but there's much less seating in the rink we were in (I think it's the biggest rink there, though I may be wrong) plus..HOCKEY NETTING Can you imagine the roars of disapproval at having to watch Yuzu through hockey netting? I loathe it. Trust me, it does subdue the performances and no photos will be good. And SP food and drink was the worst of the three local rinks I've seen competitions at. It does have more reliable buses, and sometimes there's a farmers' market open? If not you'd need the bus or car to find more decent fare. There may be other "potentials" at Nam and Roman's rinks, for example, but I'm not sure if any have seating for a thousand or not. Otherwise, I'm not sure if Sept sees a lot of training camps in local indoor rinks?

Is the "snow" option the one with the darker background? If so, then I'll take that one. No extra embellishment needed for me. I think "Songster" is fine. Thank you so much for doing this!

Is that Kevin Aymoz in the photo as well? A damn shame if it is and it does look like him. I had hoped better of him. I guess I will only be raising my Skating Survivors banner at Worlds and not a French flag.

Looks great! Thank you!

Thank you for organizing this! And yes, let us know if you need help re: costs. I like the first (Seimei one with stars?) best. My second choice would be satellites one because there is more space for writing (I think?), but if possible with non-gender-related colours for the satellites' bows, or even no bows at all, though they do "pop" nicely against the grey and white. Maybe an alternative would be bows, but using the palette of Seimei colours (more colours than Ballade to use)? That would tie the colours to a program rather than suggesting Yuzu's fans are only represented by cis women or adhere to a gender binary. To make it simple each bow might be a different colour of the Seimei palette. Just a thought!

Happy to see this petition grow! Now they have upped the desired total to 2,500. If you haven't yet please sign and share!

And: Cipres case was discussed a little on French TV. Note that the second one is speaking about environment at the rink where Cipres trains.

From French TV: Sadly not a surprise that physical abuse also took place. I've seen that in other abuse cases.

There's a petition asking Didier to resign. Please sign and share! https://twitter.com/Capspao1/status/1222932509694087171?s=20

And apparently the French Minister of Sport is dismayed with Didier. He seems to have made a career out of enabling predators. I'm glad he's being called on the carpet, though I worry that there will be follow through, given how few predators, let alone enablers face justice:

Another case that was largely hushed up by the French fed despite the conviction. Note Didier's actions downthread:

Exactly. I am not complaining about the need to find a competent lawyer, go through evidence, etc., though it is right to note the time involved is yet another source of agony for survivors, who go through so much even without that. If you follow Judge Three, you will see how much this affects survivors in the US who are forced to rely on SafeSport, which is underfunded and understaffed. As your question was why more people had not come forward yet, I was trying to give you some of the reasons why it was not surprising more people had come forward. One is the ugliness thrown at survivors from many directions; two is the fear they might never be able to compete or work in the field/community again (if they wish to do so). Third is the cost in money and time needed to take action. It is so much harder for people of less means to come forward unless a lawyer takes them on pro bono or reduced costs. I am sure there are additional reasons hindering people coming forward, depending on individual communities and circumstances.

I'm not at all surprised. Institutions have long had a vested interest in a culture of silence regarding abuse of many kinds and going against it is so very hard. If you wanted to compete and then later wanted to work in FS you would keep your mouth shut. Often it takes a long time before some extremely brave soul will step forward and once that happens it serves as a tipping point in which others are inspired to do the same. But that too often takes some time as lawyers, etc. need to be retained and consulted first, stories and evidence need to be checked. That usually takes someone with time and money available to fight.

I assume Jun will also be at both events and now that we know that Jason is on both teams, TCC should have three coaches at 4CC and Worlds: most likely Brian, Tracy, and Ghislain, since Ghislain travels with both Yuzu and Jun.

I wonder, if you're busy, maybe the easier solution for now would be to use the design that is being offered for the tote in the PM group for Worlds. It would be recognizable by people in that group at least? That is, if the creator of the image is willing, of course! Whatever is done, I would only list my handle on a badge. As a long time media fan I'm wary of having my real name "out there", just because the tradition is keeping "real" and "fannish" lives as separate as possible. Note, I'm not saying anyone must do what I do; people should choose whatever they feel most comfortable with sharing.