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ARTICLE · 09 FEBRUARY 2026

Spinney v. Fowlie

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The underlying dispute involved a harassment complaint by a Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) complaints and appeal officer, Dr. Frank Fowlie. WCL tasked Dr. Fowlie with investigating a code of conduct complaint...

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
James Plotkin
James Plotkin
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Ontario Court sets aside award for want of procedural fairness after arbitrator switches hearing format mid-arbitration and refuses to consider written closing submissions.

Background

The underlying dispute involved a harassment complaint by a Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) complaints and appeal officer, Dr. Frank Fowlie. WCL tasked Dr. Fowlie with investigating a code of conduct complaint involving a wrestling coach, Mr. Spinney. The complaint alleged that Mr. Spinney had an undeclared relationship with a female athlete he coached.

During the investigation, Mr. Spinney and the other two applicants to the arbitration appeal, Mr. Shamiyah (another wrestling coach) and Ms. Schiavelli (the female athlete's mother) sent Dr. Fowlie 18 "very strongly worded emails" that included personal attacks. Dr. Fowlie felt this amounted to harassment. He asked WCL to take steps to remedy the situation; it did not. Dr. Fowlie then filed a harassment complaint under WCL's internal

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