The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) is facing a class action claim filed on behalf of all the victims of abuses suffered in the ranks of the organization since 1969. The action claims the sum of 15 million dollars as “punitive and exemplary” damages.
Carl Latulippe, a former player of the Saguenéens de Chicoutimi who says he suffered a series of abuse during his time in the major junior ranks, is acting as plaintiff in this motion presented by the firm Kluger Kandestin.
In it, the former athlete recounts having had to masturbate during a bus trip, before being locked up with other naked recruits in the toilets of the vehicle. Carl Latulippe maintains that coaches were on board.
” [Ils] were aware of what was happening, did not stop the abuse, and through their inaction sent the message that abuse was allowed, abusers would not be punished, and recruits had no choice than to endure them,” the request describes. The former hockey player would have kept several consequences of this episode, in particular a claustrophobia which still makes him anxious at the idea of boarding a plane or entering an enclosed space.
Carl Latulippe alleges that he suffered the same fate with the Voltigeurs de Drummondville in the fall of 1994. “The plaintiff realized that abuses were also occurring in this team,” continues the request. The document certifies that the applicant and other recruits smeared their bodies with shampoo before entering the showers in order to have slippery skin and, thus, to escape more easily the attempts at aggression perpetrated by the veterans.
Carl Latulippe, according to the request, would have seen a veteran introduce a hanger into the anus of a teammate until it was torn.
This testimony echoes that of Stephen Quirk, a player who evolved from 1995 with the Moncton Alpines. The former hockey player had testified to the Duty traumas still vivid inherited from his time in the ranks of major junior hockey in Quebec, where a string of abuses would have scarred him for life and disgusted with his sport.
The appeal filed Wednesday at the Quebec City courthouse targets the QMJHL, the 18 teams that make it up today and the Canadian Hockey League. He represents “all the players who suffered abuse when they were minors and [qui ont évolué] within the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League” since its creation in 1969.
According to the request, the two leagues and the teams had a collective responsibility to protect the players placed under their responsibility. The motion accuses their directive management of having been aware of “a systemic problem of abusive behavior towards underage players, exacerbated by a culture of silence which is widespread” and of having done nothing to put an end to it.
Abuse means, the request specifies, “any form of physical, sexual and psychological aggression. “Among the acts in question: having been confined, shaved, stripped naked or intoxicated against his will; being forced or encouraged to attack another person; being forced to swallow urine, saliva, semen or feces; being forced to self-mutilate or commit acts of bestiality. »
These complaints echo several allegations contained in another class action lawsuit filed in Ontario, in 2020, and brought against the three main major junior hockey circuits in Canada. The judge in the record, Paul Perell, said he believed all the charges reported in the context of the petition, but nevertheless dismissed the request for class action, believing that it was not about the appropriate way for the plaintiffs – which included Stephen Quirk – get justice.
The new class action request filed Wednesday at the Quebec City courthouse excludes anyone who decides to fight an individual fight to obtain compensation.
These new legal setbacks throw a cold shower on the jubilation shown on Sunday, when the QMJHL crowned its new champions, the Quebec Remparts. The playoffs looked like a triumph for the league, which saw the nation’s capital ablaze with enthusiasm for the champion team and turn out in record numbers to see the games.
Three days later, the abuses allegedly committed in its locker rooms and buses caught up with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. She offered no comment on Wednesday.