Two years after Marcel Aubut’s resignation, Leanne Nicolle is speaking out publicly about her experience working for the former Canadian Olympic Committee president, who was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women.Nicolle, the former executive director of the Canadian Olympic Foundation, filed a formal complaint against Aubut in 2015 and said he resigned seven days later.“I was scared of him. I was alone,” she said in a CTV interview on Monday night. CTV reached out to Aubut for comment, but he declined.Nicolle, who is now the president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto, told CTV that many people working under Aubut who knew what was going on were also being harassed, abused, and yelled at all the time.“They were being harassed and they were being yelled at all the time and living in constant fear of reprisal,” she said. “The whole organization was based in fear.”On Oct. 3, 2015, Marcel Aubut resigned as president of the COC and left the BCF law firm where he worked after he was accused of sexual harassment. “Although I assume full responsibility for my effusive and demonstrative personality, I would like to reiterate that I never intended to offend or upset anyone with my remarks or my behaviour,” he said in the statement at the time.“Unfortunately, the current situation is a major distraction that obscures the COC’s real goals, especially with the Rio Games fast approaching,” he said. “For these reasons, I announce today that I am stepping down as president of the Canadian Olympic Committee.”Aubut lingered over hugs and kisses, called staff his girlfriends and made comments about women and their boyfriends and husbands, according to a former COC employee who spoke to the Star at the time but did not want her name used.“People did warn him . . . ‘Marcel, you shouldn’t say that,’ or ‘That’s inappropriate,’ ” she ...
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