Although Hockey Canada was only targeted in April 2022 by a lawsuit in connection with a sordid case of alleged sexual assault, the organization was made aware very quickly of the alleged facts, which date back to the end of the spring. 2018.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The Press was able to confirm, with three sources involved in the investigation process, that Hockey Canada had not waited before entrusting a Toronto law firm with the mandate to conduct an independent investigation. At least one person has been seen less than a month after the alleged assault, which allegedly took place in London, Ontario, on the night of June 18-19, 2018.
However, even if the nature of the scabrous events has been known internally for almost four years, Hockey Canada refuses to reveal whether measures have been taken following this investigation, concluded at an unspecified time.
We asked if any of the players involved in this case have worn the maple leaf uniform on the international stage again. Our question remained unanswered. A spokesperson referred us to a terse statement.
Amicable settlement
The small world of Canadian hockey has been in shock for the past few weeks. On April 20, a young woman filed a lawsuit against eight former Canadian Hockey League (CHL) players, against the league itself and against Hockey Canada.
Now 24, she accuses the players, some of whom had just won the gold medal at the world junior championship with the Canadian squad, of assaulting her in a hotel room in the early hours of the morning.
The gang rape allegedly took place hours after a gala hosted by Hockey Canada on the sidelines of its foundation’s annual golf tournament. The organization’s financial partners as well as many well-known personalities from Canadian sport invariably take part in this prestigious event.
TSN reporter Rick Westhead was the first to report the case. Citing the 18-page lawsuit filed in Ontario Superior Court in London, the city where the assault allegedly took place, Westhead described the degrading acts the victim was allegedly coerced into without her consent. The document, which The Press has since obtained, identifies neither the young woman nor her eight attackers. These are renamed “John Doe” and numbered from 1 to 8.
The case was quickly settled out of court. The victim claimed 3.55 million dollars, including 2 million in past and future pecuniary damages and 1 million in punitive damages.
No details of the settlement have leaked so far, and little, if any, additional information has emerged in the wake of TSN’s report.
The victim would not have filed a complaint with the authorities, and the London police do not confirm the existence of an investigation, in progress or past. The lawsuit also mentions that the young woman underwent, at the time, pressure from the defendants so that she did not denounce them.
Three weeks
Hockey Canada, immediately after being made aware of the events, claims to have contacted the police and commissioned an independent internal investigation from the firm Henein Hutchison LLP.
Until now, it was unknown when Hockey Canada was made aware. Gold, The Press learned that the investigation had been launched days after the alleged attack.
The players of the champion team were quickly summoned. At least one of them was met in person during the week of July 9, about three weeks after the Hockey Canada gala, confirms a source who has followed the process closely.
For many hours, they were individually questioned about their involvement in this case. Some were able to provide alibis clearing them of all suspicion.
After the gala organized by Hockey Canada, the suspects, along with other teammates, went to Jack’s Yard, a restaurant and bar located in downtown London. Late at night, the player identified as “John Doe 1” left the scene to go to his hotel room with the victim. This one, we read in the lawsuit, was in an advanced state of intoxication.
After the two had sex, the young man “invited all the other ‘John Doe’ defendants into the room”, without notifying the victim or seeking his consent, it is added.
Rigorous
The group of players questioned as part of the investigation was much larger than that of the suspects. All those who lent themselves to the process therefore had to carefully establish, with the investigators, the thread of their evening and their night during interrogations described as rigorous by a person who attended one of them.
Those who claimed to have no connection with the attack were thus able to express themselves. Some, for example, were asleep at the time of the incident. Others just weren’t in London for the gala.
We could not confirm whether all the team members had been summoned or how many of them had cooperated in the investigation.
Since the lawsuit identifies the eight suspects as CHL players, goaltender Colton Point as well as defenders Cale Makar and Dante Fabbro, who were then playing on American university teams, seem to be excluded from the outset from the list of potential aggressors. . Freelance journalist Ken Campbell also established, after contacting agents of Jonah Gadjovich, Cal Foote and Victor Mete, that they were not “John Doe”. None of these testimonies has, of course, been tested by the courts. Note, however, that Mete, a member of the organization of the Montreal Canadiens at the time, was in Cancun, Mexico, at the time of the events.
The leaders of the team were also reached by telephone by the investigators, in the weeks or months following the events. This includes Quebecers Dominique Ducharme and Joël Bouchard, respectively head coach and general manager of the gold medal-winning squad. Both were present in London on the evening of June 18, 2018.
However, with the Hockey Canada gala taking place more than five months after the World Juniors, neither Ducharme nor Bouchard was yet linked to the team. They had just been hired by the organization of the Canadian.
According to our information, they left the gala relatively early since they had to fly the next morning to Dallas to join the management of the Habs for the NHL Draft. They therefore had no knowledge, at that time, of the acts that were committed and were only informed of the details in recent weeks. Very little information was disclosed to them by the firm in charge of the investigation. During interviews much more succinct than those held with the players, the names of the suspects, in particular, were not communicated to them.
Other survey
Hockey Canada declined to respond to requests for clarification from The Press.
In an email, a spokesperson simply referred us to the written statement online since May 26. It is underlined in particular that no comment will be made and it is taken care to recall that the victim “chose not to speak with the police or the independent investigators of Hockey Canada”.
After the case came to light a little over two weeks ago, the NHL launched an investigation.
The vast majority of Canada’s 2018 champion team members are now established professional players. Some are already stars of the circuit.
The Canadian government, on the initiative of the Minister of Sports, Pascale Saint-Onge, for its part launched a financial audit to determine if public money was used to finance the agreement concluded with the victim.
Hockey Canada officials may testify in Ottawa in the coming days. In its 2020-2021 annual report, the organization indicates that government assistance represents 6% of its funding, while 2% comes from contributions from its members, namely the federations of the provinces and territories of the country.
Photo Olivier Jean, LA PRESSE archives
In the lawsuit against Hockey Canada, the organization is accused of “ignoring a culture and an environment that glorify the sexual exploitation of young women. »
What Hockey Canada was accused of
This is certainly one of the most intriguing questions in this out-of-court settlement between Hockey Canada and a plaintiff who accused eight players of sexual assault: why did the national federation become the running back for a lawsuit that, at the base, emanated from gestures reproached to players?
However, it appears that in addition to the eight players in question (identified as John Doe and numbered 1 to 8) in the lawsuit, two bodies were targeted: Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), i.e. the grouping of three junior hockey circuits in Canada. These three leagues are the Ontario Junior League (OHL), the Western Junior League (WHL) and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
In pursuit, that The Press has obtained, Hockey Canada and the CHL are united under the expression “The Hockey League”. Four issues in the lawsuit relate to these two proceedings, including one that contains 17 allegations.
Among the allegations, the two organizations are accused of:
- of “ignoring or letting go of systemic and institutionalized aggressions within the organization”;
- of “having been aware for several years that players were sexually assaulted or were encouraged to commit sexual assaults”;
- of “ignoring a culture and environment that glorifies the sexual exploitation of young women”;
- of “failing to educate members about the standards of conduct on and off the rink, specifically in their interactions with women”;
- for “not having expelled the John Does from their teams, and not having imposed sanctions on them”;
- of “failing to investigate the John Does once they were made aware of their actions”.
The lawsuit alleges that both instances were “negligent”.
It is not unusual for such suits to encompass so many elements. The burden of proof is significantly lower in a civil suit like this than in a criminal trial. It is not a question of proving guilt “beyond any reasonable doubt”, but rather of convincing by virtue of the balance of probabilities, that is to demonstrate that one’s version is more probable than the other version.
Beyond the charges listed above, Hockey Canada and the CHL may also have some degree of responsibility for the conduct of players under their auspices, we are told. This is the principle of the principal-agent relationship. This explains why, to take a purely fictitious example, a company can be sued for damage caused by its delivery person in the performance of his duties.
Radio silence
It’s radio silence on both sides of this case. Hockey Canada eventually responded to emails from The Press at the end of the day on Friday, simply referring to the statement sent to the media on May 26, in which she said she was “troubled” by these allegations.
In this same statement, Hockey Canada claims to have contacted the police authorities, which contradicts paragraph 26, paragraph n) of the lawsuit, where it is read that the accused authorities “failed to report to the police the complaints received for sexual assault” . Hockey Canada also claims to have immediately investigated the events, a statement corroborated by brother Simon-Olivier Lorange.
Me Rob Talach, the alleged victim’s attorney, also declined to answer our questions. “No comments,” he replied in an email to The Press. To Rick Westhead of TSN, Me Talach said his client was “pleased” and “relieved” the deal was done.