“Shocked” and “angry”, the federal Minister of Sports, Pascale St-Onge, ordered a financial audit to ensure that Hockey Canada did not use public funds to settle a story of gang rape.
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Mme St-Onge reacted Thursday afternoon to this file that has shaken the world of hockey for a few days. Hockey Canada would have paid, in an out-of-court settlement, $3.5 million to a young woman who was suing the organization in civil proceedings.
The young woman, now 24, alleges that she was the victim of a gang rape by several players of the junior team which won the World Cup in 2018.
“Like everyone who has read this story, I am shocked and angry to read the allegations that [visent] the players of the Canadian junior hockey team,” said the minister at a press briefing.
“The thing that all Canadians want to know and I want to know too is if public funds were used to cover up this gang rape story. We’re going to do a financial audit to make sure that’s not the case.”
The minister also wondered about the fact that Hockey Canada would have ensured that the players were not “accountable” for their actions by settling the file in this way.
“Worrying”
Invited to react, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women in Quebec, Isabelle Charest, also expressed concern about the situation.
“What concerns me in this situation is that we are in 2022 and that the organization’s reflex was to settle out of court and therefore somewhere to camouflage this story,” he said. she indicated.
“I find that very worrying, because we have reached an era where we have to address these situations, to ensure that we provide tools, resources, measures so that it does not happen again.”