Elected officials of the National Assembly say they are “shocked” by the acts of racism and degrading insults suffered by young black hockey players from Outaouais.
“This is completely unacceptable. Such actions must not be tolerated, neither in a hockey locker room nor anywhere else. We are working hard to offer our athletes an ever healthier and safer environment,” said Friday the Minister responsible for Sport, Isabelle Charest, in a written statement sent to the Duty and published on X (formerly Twitter).
According to what the daily reported The rightwho got his hands on a December 2022 report commissioned by Hockey Quebec, one of these young hockey players had a knee put on his neck and was forced to pronounce these loaded words: “I can’t t breathe”, reproducing the terrible scene which preceded the death of the American George Floyd.
The two young people also had to endure monkey noises, insults brandishing “the n-word” and references to slavery, according to what journalist Justine Mercier reports.
Questioned on this subject Friday morning, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, for whom this whole situation is “completely unacceptable” stressed that the “Plan to combat violence and intimidation”, which must be put in place by each school, must provide for actions to prevent this type of behavior.
We must make it clear to the offending students that what they have done “is immensely serious,” added the minister. And above all, we must support the students who have been victims and punish those at fault.
As for Minister Charest, she also indicated that she was working on a reform of the Sports Safety Act.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, also used harsh words: “shameful, horrible, simply revolting that this could have happened in one of our hockey locker rooms.”
He believes that these actions must be punished severely, even speaking of an “exemplary punishment” to send a clear message.