(Quebec) The commissioner of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), Gilles Courteau, “certainly did not tell the whole truth” during his appearance before the parliamentary committee last week in Quebec, believes Quebec solidaire, which demands his immediate departure.
“He is clearly no longer the man for the job. In a court of law, what he did is called perjury, ”said MP Vincent Marissal. According to the MP for Québec solidaire, Mr. Courteau “certainly did not tell the whole truth” in front of parliamentarians. “I think he tried to hide things, he tried to play on words,” he added in an interview.
The Press revealed on Tuesday that Mr. Courteau admitted in sworn testimony in 2021 that he had observed “problems” related to hazing in his organization for 45 years. This is a version that differs from the testimony he gave in parliamentary committee where he was much more circumspect.
He also assured in committee, while he was also under oath, that “no case reported” to the league was “similar” to the violent acts described in a recent decision by Judge Paul Perell, of the Superior Court. of Ontario. However, legal proceedings show that a QMJHL player, Stephen Quirk, was allegedly the victim of sexual abuse during his time in the league between 1995 and 1998.
In a press scrum, Mr. Courteau added that there was no “sexual connotation in what is stated in his affidavit [celui de Quirk] “. The testimony of Quirk, who has played in Moncton and Halifax, shows the opposite, as Radio-Canada columnist Martin Leclerc pointed out on Monday morning.
“I am not a judge in life, but I see that [M. Courteau] did not cooperate fully with the commission. […] I think he would do himself a favor and that he would do the league a favor by lifting his skates, ”supports Vincent Marissal. The MP for Rosemont reiterated on Monday his request for an extension of the mandate of the National Assembly’s Committee on Culture and Education.
He showed us that it is apparently more important for him to protect the organization than to protect the players and that, we do not want that.
Vincent Marissal, Spokesperson for Sports
The request for an extension was refused for the first time by the Coalition avenir Québec, last Thursday, before the publication of these new revelations. The Minister responsible for Sport, Isabelle Charest, was not available Tuesday to comment on the situation.
Commissioner Gilles Courteau is due to bow out of the QMJHL in 2024. The organization said Tuesday that Mr. Courteau did not wish to comment on the information revealed by The Press.
Courteau must be summoned again, according to the PLQ
The Liberal deputy and ex-hockey player, Enrico Ciccone, asks that Mr. Courteau be again summoned before the members of the parliamentary committee. “It is sure that he should come back”, underlined the deputy of Marquette who considers that this new information “leaves a doubt”.
“What shocks me in all this and I warned my colleagues is that it is absolutely necessary to ensure [de briser] this perception that commissions are useless […] we are talking about our children, we have to go all the way. It has to last for the duration of the mandate, ”he argued.
Mr. Ciccone had asked last week that the groups who marched in front of parliamentarians – the LHJMQ, Hockey Quebec, the Canadian Hockey League and the Regroupement Loisir et Sport du Québec (RLSQ) – be heard annually. He also wanted to extend the invitation to other sports federations.
The Parti Québécois also said it was open to extending the mandate of the parliamentary commission. “If we have to summon Mr. Courteau again, we are open,” assured MP Pascal Bérubé.
“These are new elements, it seems to me that the questions were sufficiently clear and precise [la semaine dernière] and on oath, he could have revealed this information to us and that could have changed the dynamic of the exchanges, ”argued Mr. Bérubé.
For his part, deputy Vincent Marissal is not very interested in hearing Mr. Courteau again.
“I’m not sure I want to see Mr. Courteau again. I’m pretty ready to see the people who are going to set up the sequel again […] I think enough is known now to move on to the next step, which is solutions and upgrading protocols [de dépôt de plaintes] which are really not adequate,” he said.
The parliamentary commission on violent initiations in sport is the initiative of the deputies in the face of the scandal that is shaking the hockey community.
It is moreover the Member for Rosemont who is at the origin of this order of initiative in parliamentary committee following the update by Radio-Canada of the decision of Judge Perrel which reports cases of sexual assault, physical and psychological violence or kidnapping, among others, in the Canadian Hockey League, an entity that brings together the three main junior circuits in the country.
With Simon-Olivier Lorange and Ariane Lacoursière, The Press