Hockey Canada has buried the alleged gang rape of a 20-year-old woman by eight assailants from Canada’s 2018 junior team. This poses a serious ethical problem that must be addressed.
Indeed, Hockey Canada (HC) resorted to an amicable agreement to settle this hot potato that was burning its reputation. By doing so, he cleared these eight alleged rapists while casting doubt on all the other members of the team. Are any of these offending hockey players currently ending up on professional hockey teams, or even the National League? If so, HC shows a worrying laxity in trivializing these alleged attacks.
For his part, Logan Mailloux, first choice of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2021 draft, did not have this same treatment, since he continues to pay for his reprehensible sexual misconduct. Despite personal steps taken to rehabilitate and very strict supervision of Sainte-Flanelle, Logan Mailloux is still a pariah in some circles. Far from minimizing his gesture, he did not hide to assume his reprehensible conduct.
As we can see, even if the acts alleged against Mailloux are less than those of the eight alleged rapists, the latter is under enormous pressure, even a certain form of relentlessness. Are we forgetting that rehabilitation is at the very heart of social reintegration measures in Canada? Let us remember that the young Logan Mailloux was barely 18 years old when he lost his way and that he was evolving at that time far from his family in a Swedish hockey formation.
The Montreal Canadiens must assume the choice he made in drafting him and must continue to provide him with the necessary help he needs. By making him sign a first professional contract, he would show him that he has a future ahead of him in the world of hockey. To do otherwise would be detrimental to his life, depriving him of the hope that all young people need to become responsible beings.
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