The board of directors of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) should be completely independent and not include a majority of team owners, recommends a report written by parliamentarians following the initiation scandal. “Govern yourself because [sinon]we are going to move on to another stage”, thundered one of them, the liberal Enrico Ciccone, admitting that the rest of things rest in the hands of the government.
What there is to know
The parliamentarians’ initiative was launched last winter after the announcement of the rejection in Ontario of a class action lawsuit brought by three former players who were allegedly victims of sexual abuse during their years in Canadian junior hockey.
The players, including Stephen Quirk, who played in the QMJHL, said they had been victims of intimidation and acts of physical, verbal and sexual violence, in particular.
Former QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau resigned just days after appearing before the parliamentary commission, where he gave contested testimony.
The document made public on Tuesday contains 23 recommendations and was produced by the Committee on Culture and Education following public hearings held in February and March on violence during initiations in the world of junior hockey and possible situations similar in other sports.
The members of the Commission assert that “all sports are affected by cases of violence or abuse”. “The phenomenon of violent initiations is not exclusive to hockey, but the popularity of this sport partly explains the greater number of potential acts and gestures”, it is written.
Ten of the report’s twenty-three recommendations target the QMJHL.
A cyclical phenomenon
According to the Commission, there is “a consensus on the presence of a culture that favors excesses during initiations in the world of junior hockey”. “This culture is characterized in particular by an unequal relationship between recruits and veterans, as well as by the overvaluation of victory,” we can read.
The report explains that initiations are “a cyclical phenomenon.”
Initiated recruits will become the initiators themselves when new members join their team. Thus, the cycle of initiatory violence has persisted from year to year for several decades.
Extract from the report written by parliamentarians
The QMJHL has announced in recent months its intention to review its ways of doing things, in particular by modifying its complaint handling mechanism.
What happens next is now in the hands of the government, which will have the task of determining how to implement the report’s recommendations, commission members said on Tuesday.
No legal obligation, but…
It is true that the QMJHL has no legal obligation to review the composition of its board of directors, recognized the united deputy Vincent Marissal, but the league is not deaf to external pressure, as demonstrated by the resignation sudden outburst of former commissioner Gilles Courteau.
“The proof has been made – in a somewhat brutal way, I agree, but it went very far – that by putting political and popular pressure, it puts pressure on these people who live in the public eye,” Mr. Marissal explained.
Liberal MP Enrico Ciccone went further by saying that the parliamentarians had “kept the right” to summon the leaders of the QMJHL again in order to follow up in the years to come.
There is no ruler [d’une ligue sportive] who wants to end up in a parliamentary committee because they sincerely know that it hurts the product when they end up there.
Enrico Ciccone, Liberal MP
The League has also banned initiations for years. But “the prohibition of initiations is not enough to eradicate the phenomenon”, writes the Commission. Especially since in the QMJHL as in other sports organizations, the policies prohibit initiations, “but do not formally define the prohibited gestures”.
The QMJHL reacts
The Commission also recommends that “sports federations draw up a policy on hazing and inappropriate initiation practices” which clearly prohibits a series of acts, such as “ridiculing or devaluing a person or a social group”, “undressing or appearing unclothed in a public or private place”, or “participating in a sexual act or simulating a sexual act”.
For 5 years, the Canadian Hockey League, of which the QMJHL is a member, has received 12 complaints relating to cases of hazing, harassment and mistreatment. Ten of them led to various sanctions.
In a succinct press release, the Office of the Commissioner of the QMJHL indicated that it had “taken note” of the report on Tuesday and that it intended to take “the next few weeks” to “well analyze its content and its recommendations in order to be able to respond adequately. to the members of the committee.
The Minister responsible for Sports, Recreation and the Outdoors, Isabelle Charest, reacted for her part by affirming that she was analyzing the report “to see how we can follow up on it”. She specifies that she “did not wait for the parliamentary committee, and even less for the report, to act”, but adds that these recommendations “could guide the rest of our work”.
Some of the recommendations of the Committee on Culture and Education
- That the QMJHL Board of Directors be completely independent and not include a majority of team owners or staff and include a better ratio of women and cultural minorities.
- That the athletes be represented in the direction and senior management of the QMJHL through, for example, an independent committee including players who could express claims.
- That the QMJHL adopt an independent and external mechanism for handling complaints including the possibility of sanctions and that a link be ensured with the mechanism of the I file a complaint platform to avoid ambiguities.
- That a mechanism be put in place for communicating sanctions between federated, private and school sports organizations and the RSEQ.
- That the government assess the possibility of setting up a primary prevention program and that funds be set aside to offer such programs to student athletes.
- That the Complaints Officer for the Protection of Integrity in Sport can receive complaints related to facts that would have happened prior to 120 days.