There is only one positive aspect to the false remarks made by the commissioner of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), Gilles Courteau, before Quebec elected officials.
It clearly proves once and for all that the QMJHL cannot be trusted to shed light on the allegations of sexual assault, assault, torture and abuse that may have been committed in its locker room on four decades.
We have already written1, but we will repeat it: the government of Quebec (or Canada, whatever) must launch a public inquiry into the toxic climate in junior hockey. For the past as for the present.
Here’s the cold reality: the QMJHL and its teams don’t really want to know what’s been going on in its locker room over the past few decades.
They are being sued in civil court over this in Ontario. If criminal acts or abuses have been committed, the victims will be entitled to significant financial compensation. It could cost the teams involved, in money and reputation.
Before elected officials on February 22, Commissioner Gilles Courteau declared under oath that “none of the situations listed [dans le texte du collègue Martin Leclerc de Radio-Canada sur la décision du juge Paul Perrel dans le litige civil en Ontario] involved a team from the QMJHL”.
It’s a lie.
One of the 17 ex-players who signed an affidavit in this dispute is Stephen Quirk, who played in the QMJHL in Moncton and Halifax between 1995 and 1998. He says he was the victim of sexual assault and sexual abuse (some players would have penetrated him in the anus with their fingers and heating cream). The QMJHL and its teams received Mr. Quirk’s affidavit in March 2021.
In a press scrum on February 22, Gilles Courteau added that there was no “sexual connotation in what is stated in [la déclaration sous serment de M. Quirk] “.
Put in front of his “contradictions” by colleague Martin Leclerc of Radio-Canada2 and by The Press3Gilles Courteau said he was not aware of this part of Mr. Quirk’s statement.
Think about it for two minutes: an ex-player testifies to criminal acts committed within your league, and you are not curious to know what he alleges? You couldn’t find a better definition of willful blindness.
In a serious organization, Gilles Courteau would have already lost his job. His retention says a lot about the QMJHL.
Anyway, the fate of Gilles Courteau is of little interest to us. Replacing the commissioner won’t change anything if the 18 QMJHL teams continue to hide in the sand on this file.
Plaintiffs Daniel Carcillo and Garrett Taylor’s class action against the three junior leagues and their teams was filed in June 2020 in Ontario. The 17the testimony, that of Mr. Quirk, was added in March 2021. It has therefore been at least two years since the QMJHL and the other junior teams in the country have not taken these allegations seriously from 17 former junior players in Canada. between 1979 and 2014.
For 14 months, the leagues and teams hid a devastating report submitted to them by their three independent experts (Sheldon Kennedy, Camille Thériault, Danièle Sauvageau). This report was made public after lawyers for Daniel Carcillo and Garrett Taylor requested it from the court.
For two weeks, Gilles Courteau has revealed in broad daylight how the QMJHL does not take these allegations seriously. But this is the attitude of the three junior leagues in court for two or three years.
Commissioner Courteau will therefore return to the parliamentary committee next week.
Frankly, we have no more questions for him. The world of Quebec junior hockey has proven since March 2021 that it does not care what happened in its locker room. Otherwise, the QMJHL would have launched an independent and serious investigation a long time ago.
However, we have questions for the Trudeau government and the Legault government.
Why do you stand idly by in the face of such serious allegations?
Why don’t you try to find out, through a public inquiry where the confidentiality of the victims will be guaranteed, what has been going on for decades in the locker rooms of the junior teams?
Currently, an alleged victim has two options to break the omerta of the locker room and make a difference: file a complaint with the police and/or join the civil litigation conducted by the law firm Koskie Minsky in Ontario. A commission of inquiry would shed light on what happened.
The QMJHL’s reaction is shameful, but not surprising. The junior hockey community has a lot to lose if these allegations turn out to be true.
The reaction of Quebec and Ottawa begins to be embarrassing too. But it is much more surprising.