Minister Isabelle Charest will not require the presence of Gilles Courteau during the three new days of the parliamentary committee on degrading initiations in the world of hockey, next week, despite the omissions which ultimately cost him his post.
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“For us, what is important is to hear the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and to hear the league’s explanations. This is not the trial of an individual. So, I will let the major junior league of Quebec decide who is the right person to answer the commission, ”commented the Minister responsible for Sport in the corridors of the National Assembly.
When the former commissioner of the QMJHL, Gilles Courteau, came to account before parliamentarians last February, he affirmed that none of the teams on his circuit were involved in the allegations of brutal initiations in three Canadian Junior Hockey Leagues.
However, these remarks turned out to be false, and Mr. Courteau resigned a few days later, when even Premier Legault had expressed that he would come to clarify his remarks.
Rather, it is the league’s interim commissioner, Martin Lavallée, and its future commissioner who will take office later this year, Mario Cecchini, who will testify for the QMJHL.
No casualties either
Mme Charest also does not consider it necessary to invite victims of initiations, such as former LHMJQ player Stephen Quirk, who recently testified about the abuse he suffered in The duty. “The objective of this commission is to see what mechanisms are being put in place to ensure that situations like this do not happen,” explained Minister Charest, specifying that it is the members of the commission, and not itself, who invite the witnesses to appear.
“I am not convinced that the testimony of the victims, and to have details on how it happened in the past, is so relevant, added Isabelle Charest. We have heard of it, we have seen testimonies of it.
In addition to the QMJHL, the parliamentary committee will hear counselor and speaker Danielle Sauvageau as well as former New Brunswick Premier Camille Thériault, co-authors of a report for the Canadian Hockey League commissioned following the class action abuses denounced by young players.
The parliamentarians will also call the following witnesses:
- The National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ)
- Sylvie Parent, professor in the Department of Physical Education at Université Laval and regular researcher at CRIPCAS
- Michel Dorais, Full Professor, School of Social Work and Criminology at Laval University
- Dany Bernard, doctor in sports psychology
- Complaints Officer for the Protection of Integrity in Sport and/or the Directorate for the Promotion of Safe Sport (MEQ)
- Félix-Antoine Michaud, lawyer associated with Triviüm and specialist in labor law
- Sport’Help
The solidarity deputy Vincent Marissal was delighted, Wednesday morning, that the CAQ had agreed to continue the work of the parliamentary commission on junior hockey.
“With everything we’ve heard in the last few weeks, it was unthinkable to pull the plug without having been at the bottom of this story. The real work has only just begun,” he reacted in a written statement sent to the media.
– With QMI Agency