(Ottawa) Other than revealing that she was the one who recommended that Hockey Canada contact London police to inform them of the gang rape allegations, firm lawyer Henein Hutchison could not say anything about the recommendations. she made to the organization.
Posted at 12:08 p.m.
It is that at the request of her client, Hockey Canada, Danielle Robitaille, who is a lawyer with the Toronto firm Heinein Hutchison, invoked professional secrecy on this subject, Tuesday, at the table of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
The elected members of the committee, which kicked off the second round of hearings into this scandal within the organization, tried in several ways to find out what recommendations had been provided to Hockey Canada at the end of the investigation launched on June 19, 2018.
It was in vain. “The only thing I can say respecting professional secrecy is that my first recommendation was to contact the London Police Service,” replied Mr.e Robitaille to Bloc player Sébastien Lemire.
“We would have liked to have the preliminary report,” dropped this one.
Ten of 19 players, not “12 or 13” as Hockey Canada claimed, agreed to participate in the 2018 independent investigation into the alleged gang rape, while seven said they would not cooperate. not, and that two were waiting to know the result of the police investigation, said the lawyer.
As we know, this one did not lead to charges, but it was reopened last week. The investigation by the Henein Hutchison firm has also resumed, and the alleged victim, who had refused to give his version of the facts, this time agreed to participate.
“We now have the detailed version of events,” said Mr.e Robitaille.
The lawyer did not want to specify whether, in light of the testimonies she collected as part of the investigation still in progress, she had a good idea of the eight hockey players who are targeted by these allegations. She said she understood the impatience of the population.
“I understand it’s very frustrating for Canadians that we don’t know everything that happened. Justice takes time, and my investigation takes time, ”dropped the lawyer, who repeatedly invoked professional secrecy in response to pointed questions from deputies.
The Minister of Sports, Pascale St-Onge, must appear from 1 p.m.
The committee will hear Wednesday from several representatives of the hockey community, including, of course, the leaders of Hockey Canada. Their first appearance before elected officials at the end of June was unanimously criticized. The vague and opaque nature of their answers had displeased the deputies and Minister St-Onge.