The Decibel - Jane Boon: Reflecting on my sexual experience with Frank Stronach

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

On June 7, the 91-year-old Canadian business magnate Frank Stronach was arrested and charged with sexual assault. On June 26, more charges were brought against him. He’s facing 13 criminal charges from 10 complainants.News of the charges stirred memories for Vancouver – and New York-based writer Jane Boon. In 1986, when she was a 19-year-old student that had a scholarship from Magna, she had an encounter with Mr. Stronach. While she is not one of the complainants, Boon has been wrestling with the meaning of that night ever since.Today on the show, the Globe’s transportation reporter Eric Atkins tells us about Frank Stronach and the criminal charges he’s facing. Then, Jane Boon talks about her experiences with him, and how she reflects on that night, more than three decades later.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail]

Before we get started, please note that today's episode deals with sexual content. Frank Stronach was very much the celebrity CEO. He was the face of Magna International, which was one of the world's biggest auto parts manufacturers. They have 279,000 employees currently at places all around the world. As a Globes transportation reporter, Eric Atkins has been following Frank Stronach's career closely. He's very well known all around the world. He ran for politics in Canada.

He at one point founded his own political party in his native Austria. He's worth, you know, a few billion probably to this day, although nobody tracks it anymore because his companies are private. He departed Magna more than 10 years ago and sold his controlling shares. And Magna is quick to point out that he has no affiliation whatsoever with the company any longer. On June 7th, at the age of 91, Frank Stronach was charged in connection with a sexual assault investigation. He's facing 13 charges, including rape and sexual assault, from 10 alleged victims. The first set of charges were laid June 7th by Peel Regional Police.

The second set of charges were laid by Peel Police on June 26th. And those charges date to alleged incidents that go back to 1977 and include a complaint from this year. Through his lawyer, he denies the charges. Even though these allegations date back to 1977, serious crimes in Canada aren't subject to the statute of limitations. He's scheduled to appear in court today, July 8th. It's likely a set date hearing where they just, he appears, could be virtually, to have another date set. We're a long way from a trial.

A trial like this would take a couple years to get to before a judge. After these charges became public, Jane Boone thought about her own experience with Stronach in 1986. She was a 19-year-old student at the time and part of a competitive academic placement with Magna International. Then, Frank Stronach took an interest in her. Today, she's on the show to tell her story. I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is The Decibel from The Globe and Mail. Jane, thanks so much for joining me today.

Well, I'm so grateful for your time and your attention. This is such an important matter. And, you know, the news as it continues to come out about Frank Stronach, is so staggering and upsetting to me that I felt compelled to come forward with my own experience with the man, dating back to when I was 19 years old, and he was the 54-year-old CEO of the company that was putting me through university. When Jane Boone was offered a sponsorship

from Magna International to attend General Motors Institute, she was thrilled. I really, really wanted to go to GMI. I come from a family of car freaks. General Motors Institute, or GMI, is now called Kettering University. It's located in Flint, Michigan, and it's where GM used to train its engineers. The Magna sponsorship meant she spent three months working at Magna and three months at school at GMI. It covered her tuition and living expenses. We were all assigned mentors who were among the senior executives at the company. And then we had the attention and the enthusiasm of the CEO. He would attend our end of term meetings and he would always have a couple questions for us. And for me in particular, which I adored

because I was the only girl and I felt a little competitive with the guys. And it thrilled me that maybe I had been identified as somebody with great potential and I had caught the eye of the CEO. At the time, Frank Stronach was the CEO of Magna. Jane first met him as part of the interview process. And then when I was in my first year, I had a reason to be at head office. And so I was in his vicinity because he had a large executive management suite. And he saw me.

He knew my name. And he invited me into his office. Jane says he took an interest in her and even gave her one-on-one time in his office. They talked for half an hour about her ambitions. It felt amazing. I mean, let's face it, he was already kind of a rock star of corporate Canada. And it was known that I had had this audience with him. And the coordinator would sort of point to it, to all the students, as a sign that the CEO was really behind us and really engaged

with our professional development. And I just assumed it was because, you know, I was such a good student and I worked so hard. And so I didn't really think it had anything to do with the fact that I was the woman because let's face it, I'm a nerd. You know, I was very studious. I was a very serious kid. If somebody had said, what kind of woman catches Frank Stronach's eye, I would be like, somebody hot and fast. That was not me. Jane says the attention she was getting from Frank was unusual. I didn't attribute to anything other than my great promise. And let's face it, I was naive. So I didn't have the sensors necessary to appreciate male attention in that way. So I just, given the benefit of doubt, if there was even any doubt in my head, I was like,

it's of course because I'm a great student. I want to turn now to the night in question. So this is in 1986, you're 19 years old. You attend this shareholders meeting at Roy Thompson Hall in downtown Toronto. What happened that night? And he was surrounded by people. And he sort of waved me over. And he invited me to the after party that was going to be held at his restaurant. And I was jazzed. And then, you know, I'd accomplished a caper. Like I was a student and I had breached the inner sanctum. I was going to see how these executives let their hair down and what they did behind closed doors. Because, you know, when you go to a school like GMI, your celebrities are actually your executives. I wasn't going to miss a detail. I was there and I couldn't wait to report back to, to my friends. So, so you're at Rooney's, this kind of this after party. Can you just like, what was it like? What were you doing? What was going on? So I was hanging out at the bar,

feeling very awkward and self-conscious because like, I didn't know anybody and I was only 19. So I had this crazy idea, like if they have any idea how young I am, I might get kicked out. Like I'm barely legal here. I'm just going to pretend like I know what I'm doing. I'll sip a glass of wine and look like I belong and nobody will bother me. And then there was this moment where you could see the light reflected in the hallway into the interior of the restaurant to the bar area where all these flashbulbs were going off. And then there was like a hum. And that was the arrival of Frank Stronach to the facility. It was like a celebrity had arrived at Cannes.

It was like a crazy moment. And I'm standing by the bar and he sees me and he waves me over. And then he takes my hand and he doesn't release it. He's talking to another gentleman. And it felt like an eternity. I'm like sort of stuck there with my hand in his. And this guy finally took the hint and left. And he makes a little small talk and then he invites me into dinner. It was crazy. I was so excited, so jazzed and kind of disbelieving, like, why is this happening to me of all people? But gosh darn it, I am here for the night. So as you can imagine, the owner's table was the hot table and people were drifting by. I was sitting adjacent to Stronach. Bill Davis, who had been the Premier of Ontario,

but was then a board member at Magna, sat with us for a while. I mean, it was pretty heady stuff for a 19-year-old. And so I hardly said a word. I didn't want to draw attention to myself. I didn't want to embarrass my host. I was just very quiet. And I was also sipping little bits of wine because I wasn't a drinker. I don't care for wine, but I needed something to do so I wouldn't feel self-conscious. Jane says that the service at the restaurant was impeccable and that her glass, just like everyone else's, was always filled. And then about halfway through the evening, Stronach turned to one of his assistants,

and there were a couple of women sitting at the table who worked for Stronach. And by this time, he understood that I was working at one of their divisions in Guelph. So I was about an hour away from home and he asked her if the guest house was available that night because he didn't want me driving back to Guelph. So you heard that? I did. It was right in front of me. It was right in front of her. It was right in front of the table. I mean, anybody who was listening would have heard this. And she goes, oh, it's available, Ms. Stronach. Jane could stay there. And then she turned to me and she's like, oh, this is great.

It's a wonderful house. You'll be very comfortable. And I was like, I'm fine. And I didn't want to be the kind of girl that needed that kind of help. I mean, I was very self-sufficient. And so I declined. The offer was made again. And I declined again. And there was like this sense like, is this dodgy? I knew it was like kind of weird, but he had said this to his assistant, a woman who presumably would know if it was dodgy. And she was telling me it was safe. So, you know, the alarms weren't going off. I was just confused. I mean, this is really weird. But the signals continued to be really mixed. Like there was this moment where he invited me to dance. We danced on the dance floor. And, you know, this is his restaurant surrounded by his people. We had to be noticed. And later in the evening, I'm sitting at

a table with Stronach after we danced and his driver comes up and Stronic announces to the driver, Jane has had too much to drink. She can't get back to Guelph. I'm going to take her to the guest house. You drive her car. Jane, give him your keys. So what'd you do? I was an obedient little moron. I opened my bag.

I pulled out my keys. I handed it to the driver. Meanwhile, I wasn't even convinced that I had had too much to drink, but this was a grownup. This was a man in a position of authority. This was the owner of the restaurant and the guy who pays my salary. Am I really going to argue with him? So, so I handed over my keys and I'd sort of had this dawning realization. Oh, my gosh. I think I just made a big mistake. And I think it means I'm going to have to sleep with this man.

I think this is where this is going. And I was disbelieving. I mean, I was just so alien to my experience at that stage. I was like, what am I going to do? I mean, this is crazy. Jane recalls a driver taking her car while Frank drove her to the guest house in his. And I was sitting there just sort of going through all my options. Well, what if I say I have my period? Hmm. Well, he might have other ideas. Okay. That's not going to work. What if I start to cry? Hmm. Will I elicit some sympathy? And then I realized, then I had the realization, oh, I don't know how to do that. And I'm like, OK, I guess I'm just going to have to play this out.

I want to be an engineer. Engineers are tough. I can have sex with this man. I can do it. It's what's it going to take? 30 minutes. I can I can manage that. And meanwhile, we're in the car.

And as he's driving and like I'd given the driver my keys, I had no idea where my car was. And and then I had these panicky thoughts. Well, what if I piss him off? Will he put me on the side of the road? How will I get my car? How will I get home? What will I tell my mom and dad? It was just a really awkward and unsettling experience being in that car.

And so we get there. And, you know, it was up a flight of stairs. And it was like this sort of kind of a terrifying climb. And we get in the room. And he did this thing where he opened the curtains to show me the scenic vista ahead of us. And then we began. And I was pretty freaked out. So I said absolutely nothing.

And then I have to applaud his efficiency because then it was over. So you had sex? Yes. Was it consensual? I never said no. I never said yes. It was murky. I was sort of, okay, let's do this in my head.

And so it doesn't fall into any of those neat categories that are helpful if you're speaking to the police. And I did speak to the police about this. And I told them. At the time you spoke to the police? So, no, no. I spoke to them the day after I learned of the rape allegations. I called them up that morning, the Saturday morning, and said, you know, something pretty awful happened to me when I was 19. I don't think I would be an easy complainant, but let me explain to you how it happened.

Let me explain to you the mechanisms that enabled it to happen. And let me discuss the infrastructure that existed to enable Stronic to identify women and then to get them alone. Because quite frankly, I believe I was the only one in that restaurant who didn't know that I was destined to be Frank's midnight snack that night. And that pisses me off. We'll be right back. I wanted to ask you because you wrote a piece for the Globe and Mail about the night and you said that what happened, it wasn't rape, but it certainly wasn't right. What do you mean by that?

Well, like I said, the issues of consent were murky. I never said no. I never said yes. I was just, let's get this over with. But it was all in my head. So what is that? It's not correct. But I think we can all agree that 54-year-old CEOs should not be hitting on 19-year-old

students in their employ. They should not be taking them in a car half an hour north of Toronto to an isolated home. They should not be having sex with them. And that, I think, is inarguable. It was wrong. He should have known better. And he put me in an awful position. There was no easy way to extract myself. There was no easy way to say no. I was out of my depth with a guy who knew how to get me into a position where I was extremely vulnerable and where my posture as it was happening was baffled acquiescence. You know, I was just there going along with it. And now that I've learned about all the allegations of sexual violence, I feel quite

fortunate that that was my posture because it was an evening that could have turned out far, far worse. I feel quite fortunate that that's all that happened. So I want to talk about what happened after that night. Did you tell anybody? So, you know, I just want to put it out there. He didn't sleep over. I spent the night rehashing the whole thing, freaked out, and just trying to figure out what to do because there was no easy path for me. I didn't trust Magnus HR. He was on the board of the university where I was attending. So it wasn't like that was an outlet that I could discuss this with. If I had a problem, it would have been me that had to do something. And that something would have been to leave Magna. So if I left Magna, I was leaving GMI. I just decided to stick it out.

I made a pretty cold assessment. You know, it's not that hard to miss a CEO if he's around. So if I learned that he was going to be making a site visit, I would hide in the bathroom or, you know, just make myself very scarce. And then at the end of term meetings, when he would show up, I would just sort of disappear into the background. And there was never any attempt to rekindle what had happened that one night. You know, I wasn't very interesting. I don't think I, you know, he checked that box and he'd moved on. And that was fine by me because the last thing I wanted was a repeat invitation. So this was in 1986. We're now in 2024. Why did you want to share your story now? So one of the things that I've seen with women who make serious allegations against powerful men is that the anonymity may empower them, but it also means that they're viewed as less credible by people. And I thought by coming forward, I don't have like a legal case against him, I don't think.

But the facts of my situation are so appalling that attaching a face and a name to a story of abuse of power, and let's face it, it was exploitative and coercive, might be helpful to those other women so that they know that what happened to them didn't just happen to them, and that they should feel more comfortable coming forward if that's what they want to do. And then what I also wanted to do was to speak to the infrastructure around Stronic. He couldn't have done this with me if he didn't have access to that guest house. If he didn't have a room full of colleagues willing to look the other way while he sat with a 19-year-old. If he didn't have a driver who could take my car. What you're describing there is kind of like this system put in place. Yes, yes.

And he was adept at creating systems to manufacture parts, but that effectiveness at creating systems to make parts also was used to, in my opinion, identify women and then to get them alone. And it's a travesty that it was allowed to go on for as long as it was. And that the consequences to these other ladies were so dire. I mean, I wasn't a victim of sexual violence, thank goodness. But there are 10 women who say they were. So again, just to clarify, you're not a complainant and you're not involved in any of Stronach's charges. And we don't actually have any information at this point

on the charges against Frank Stronach. We don't know the stories of the other people here. But I do want to ask you, what was your reaction when you did hear about the charges against him? I was staggered, but I wasn't surprised. And the duration that started in the 80s and now we know in the 70s, just so devastating that so many women have had so many bad experiences in his wake. It changed my life in ways small and large. I stopped wanting to work at Magna, for instance. I chose job assignments that wouldn't give me a path to

a career there. And then I became a little skeptical of men in positions of authority over me. I mean, it just sort of changed the dynamic in my dealings with bosses. So I made different decisions in terms of the kind of work I undertook at Magna and then afterwards. And then I started writing once I learned how to do that through my husband's example. And then more recently, I've started writing fiction, but you can even see the threads of that experience with Stronic in it because for my first novel, and a game that people play with first novels is trying to figure out what demons the author's working out in the book. And my protagonist is a woman who's the loyal deputy to a very rapacious and reckless executive

who uses her as a human shield while he has myriad affairs and makes bad business decisions. And there comes a time when she refuses to do that anymore, where she no longer consents to be in that role. And the final act of that novel is called Consent. And it digs pretty deeply into that topic. And, you know, it's not an accident that this is something that has informed my curiosity and my thinking since then. Jane, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your story. I really appreciate it.

You're most welcome. Thank you for your time today. That's it for today. I'm Cheryl Sutherland. Our producers are Madeline White, Rachel Eva McLaughlin, and Michal Stein. David Crosby edits the show. Adrienne Chung is our senior producer. And Matt Frainer is our managing editor. Thanks so much for listening.