The National Assembly will again consider violent initiations in hockey. The parliamentarians want to hear again from the commissioner of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), Gilles Courteau, and they have agreed to meet soon to determine the follow-up to the commission.
A working meeting between the elected officials will take place in the coming weeks, according to our information. The members of the Coalition avenir Québec, who initially said they were unfavorable to the continuation of the work, have changed their minds: like their opposition colleagues, they want to question Mr. Courteau again.
The consensus between the parliamentary groups having been acquired, everything suggests that the order of initiative will be reopened.
On February 22, the QMJHL, the Canadian Hockey League and Hockey Quebec, in particular, had in turn answered questions from elected officials of the National Assembly regarding the physical and sexual violence suffered by players in the world of junior hockey in over the past 50 years. This followed the release of an Ontario Superior Court judgment riddled with disturbing testimony about hockey initiations.
While specifying that “it is the commission that decides”, the Minister responsible for Sport, Isabelle Charest, said she was satisfied with the exercise. “We have relevant information, and I think we have the material to work on, to improve things,” she said.
However, the commissioner of the QMJHL, Gilles Courteau, has since admitted in an interview to the Quebec newspaper not having read all of the testimonies contained in the judgment of the Court.
This forced Minister Charest to do an about-face on Thursday. “In light of the new information revealed in recent days by various media, [Mme] Charest says he is very much in favor of the work of the parliamentary committee continuing,” his cabinet said this time.
Quebec Solidarity MP Vincent Marissal, who had proposed that the commission take its course last week, asked Thursday that the commission hear “the players and former players who raised their hands to testify”.
“The CAQ wakes up after everyone. […] Today, we have proof that it was premature to “pull the plug” as the government did: we still have a lot of work to do to get to the bottom of this story and find lasting solutions,” said he said in a statement sent to the media.
Further details will follow.