A story of gang rape once again shakes the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ). Three young men, two of whom were playing with the Drummondville Voltigeurs at the time, were charged with sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl. Two of the defendants, minors at the time, have already been convicted. The third, who was an adult, pleaded not guilty and will have his trial in the summer of 2023.
This adult defendant, 18 years old at the time of the events, is Noah Corson. He is the son of former Montreal Canadiens forward Shayne Corson. He briefly wore the Voltigeurs uniform during the 2016-2017 season.
The affair, which took place in 2016, was revealed by Radio-Canada on Tuesday. In a press release, both the Voltigeurs and the QMJHL assured Tuesday that they had only recently learned of the existence of these events. The two authorities have promised to offer “their full cooperation with the police investigation and the judicial process if they are requested”.
None of the three defendants is part of the training today. Noah Corson is currently under contract with the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League. This season, however, he played for the Adirondack Thunder, a school club for the Comets in the ECHL, a lower caliber professional league. At the end of the day, the Comets recalled Corson.
We are aware of the allegation [concernant Noah Corson]. We take this matter very seriously. We learned this morning [mardi] the accusations. We’ll have more comments soon.
Jeff Mead, President of Adirondack Thunder Operations
In the evening, the organization of the Comets announced that Corson was going “to be absent for an indefinite period”, and that she would not make “any other comments at this time”.
Corson’s lawyer, Mr.e Gilles Doré, did not answer our calls Tuesday evening.
The other two players, now 23, still play hockey but are not on professional league teams. It is impossible for us to identify them, since they were tried in the Youth Division of the Court of Quebec.
In July 2021, the court sentenced them to 18 months probation and ordered them to donate $1,000 to the Sexual Assault Center (CALACS) in Drummondville. They also had to provide a DNA sample and write a letter of apology to the victim, whose identity is subject to a publication ban.
Facts
According to a joint statement of facts that The Press was able to consult, the victim, then 15 years old, had been dating one of the two 17-year-old minors for a few weeks during the events. They had gone on a few dates, but weren’t a couple.
On the evening of the attack, she met him in a sports brasserie in Drummondville, when he was in the company of Noah Corson and the other minor Voltigeurs player. She didn’t know either of them.
PHOTO GUILLAUME LEFRANÇOIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Noah Corson last September at New Jersey Devils rookie camp
The group then moved to the victim’s home. The latter found herself alone with the two underage players, in her bedroom, where the two teenagers undertook “sexual initiatives” with her.
” [La victime] does not consent to group sexual activity and, given her age at the material time, she cannot legally consent to it,” the statement of facts states.
Noah Corson then joined the group and made more aggressive sexual gestures, according to the court document.
“Throughout the event, the three accused did not ensure the consent of the teenager and continued sexual activities with her,” adds the statement of facts.
The minor who was dating the victim before the assault filmed the assault with his cellphone, but later deleted the video. He observed that the victim was crying after the events.
This defendant was the subject of an arrest warrant during the year 2020 because he failed to appear in court within the framework of the legal proceedings.
another scandal
This isn’t the first time sexual assault allegations have been made against QMJHL players for alleged gang rapes.
In 2015, Gatineau police opened an investigation after a woman alleged that six Olympiques players engaged in sexual acts against her while she was intoxicated. No charges have been filed in this case.
Two Victoriaville Tigres players, who were 19 at the time of the incident, are also currently in court to defend themselves against charges of sexual assault and production of a video without the victim’s consent, for gestures that would have occurred hours after their team won the 2021 championship. Both players were suspended indefinitely by the QMJHL in October 2021, but their trial date has not yet been officially set.
The CBC article was published the same day former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell was testifying before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa about his investigation into the governance of Hockey. Canada. The organization’s board of directors was pressured to resign en masse in October following a scandal over the use of a special fund to settle the lawsuit of an alleged gang-rape victim who allegedly committed by former players of the Canadian junior hockey team in 2018.
Political reactions
“We are no longer in the anecdote”, says the Minister of Sports
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Pascale St-Onge, Federal Sports Minister
Federal Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge says Radio-Canada’s revelations about another case of gang rape involving two former Drummondville Voltigeurs players once again demonstrate that there is a “toxic in the world of hockey. “Every time we hear these stories, it’s horrifying. We are not in the anecdote. It’s really a culture that is permeated in the world of hockey, ”she lamented. She added that “everyone who is directly or indirectly involved in the world of hockey” — parents, referees, coaches, provincial and territorial associations — must do more to change this culture. She also indicated that the funding criteria for sports organizations will be changed to ensure better practices, more education and prevention.
A commission of inquiry is necessary, says the Bloc
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Yves-Francois Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois
A commission of inquiry is needed to shed light on sexual misconduct in amateur sport, said Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet. “The scale of the scandal, which not only worries many parents who have young women who practice sport […], it has such a scope that it cannot be a sequence of small measures that will be adequate. We really have to get to the end of this. We must expand the investigation process to all sports because I do not see how you can feel safe in the current context, ”said the Bloc leader. He specified that such a commission of inquiry could be chaired by a judge.
Joel-Denis Bellavance, The Press
With Vincent Larouche and Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel, The Press