Only ten of the 19 players present at a Hockey Canada event in 2018 where a gang rape allegedly occurred agreed to participate in the independent investigation commissioned by the organization. The other players would not have been forced to collaborate.
“We concluded that the players who did not speak [à l’enquête] should not be interviewed until the victim has been met,” explained Danielle Robitaille, a partner at Henein Hutchison LLP and hired to lead the independent investigation into the events of 2018.
In a testimony all in English, Ms. Robitaille explained that two players were in discussion with her to offer their collaboration. Seven others categorically refused to take part in the exercise before the end of the police investigation.
Ms. Robitaille indicated that it was she who, the day after the alleged facts, on June 19, 2018 in the morning, advised Hockey Canada to call the police. Officials of the organization actually contacted the police in the evening.
She specified that she had carried out her investigation for more than two years, but had closed it in September 2020, having been unable to collect the testimony of the alleged victim despite several attempts. “I needed his version of events to move forward in the process,” she said.
The victim recently changed his mind, and provided a “detailed version of events”. The investigation is thus reopened. “We are now able to question the remaining players,” said Danielle Robitaille, whose mandate is also to determine if systemic problems exist at Hockey Canada.
The lawyer refused to answer several questions from elected officials, citing the confidentiality of information held on behalf of her client. For example, she did not want to say if she now had a good idea of who the eight players targeted by the allegations of gang rape are.
Hockey Canada Hearings
The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC) began a series of hearings Tuesday morning into Hockey Canada’s involvement in allegations of gang rape against eight of its players on June 18, 2018, at a gala in London , Ontario.
A first appearance by senior Hockey Canada officials on June 21 did not convince any elected member of the committee. Senior officials were unable to say how many players had taken part in the investigation, and instead said it was “very common” for such an organization to settle a civil dispute against an alleged victim out of court. of rape.
Hockey Canada president and chief operating officer Scott Smith said the money quietly offered to the victim was kept in a separate bank account, unrelated to the funds received from the government.
In July, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau commented on the case. He said “a lot of people have lost faith in this organization”, and said he was “disturbed [de] the culture that has intruded at the highest level in this organization,” as a parent of a child who has already enrolled in a hockey program.
Since then, a new gang rape scandal has surfaced at Hockey Canada, this time involving members of the 2003 National Junior Team. rumor about “something bad happening at the 2003 World Juniors”.
Senior Hockey Canada officials are scheduled to appear again before the same parliamentary committee on Wednesday. They are Scott Smith, president and chief operating officer, Tom Renney, former chief executive officer, Dave Andrews, president of the Hockey Canada Foundation and Brian Cairo, chief financial officer. Other actors from the hockey community will also appear, such as the commissioner of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), Gilles Courteau.
Further details will follow.