A day after Hockey Canada officials testified before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage about the organization’s role in settling a sexual assault lawsuit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lambasted the national governing body, calling the way the allegations were handled “unacceptable”.
Trudeau, speaking in parliament on Tuesday, said Canadians have stood up to sexual misconduct and harassment in the workplace and Hockey Canada will get no special favors.
“Hockey Canada is no different,” Trudeau said. “We want to get to the bottom of it and all options are being considered to determine the next steps.”
On Monday, Hockey Canada officials provided hours of testimony regarding the lawsuit of a young woman, filed in April, who alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight hockey players in a hotel room in London, Ontario, following a Hockey Canada Foundation event in June 2018.
Some of the most significant revelations from Hockey Canada President Scott Smith and outgoing CEO Tom Renney include:
- Hockey Canada does not know the identities of the eight John Doe defendants listed in the lawsuit’s statement, although it settled the lawsuit on behalf of those defendants, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League.
- Players from the 2018 U20 men’s junior team, identified in the lawsuit, were asked to participate in a survey conducted by a third-party company, but were not required to do so.
- Hockey Canada has handled one to two sexual assault allegations per year for the past five to six years.
- At the time of the alleged 2018 incident, Hockey Canada’s code of conduct did not include off-ice conduct, an issue officials said they would seek to correct in the future. Renney also acknowledged that player supervision was insufficient and that the organization “falls short”.
The woman who filed the lawsuit has not spoken publicly and Hockey Canada declined to say whether there was a nondisclosure agreement included in the settlement that was agreed to last month. However, Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge said Renney told her there was indeed an NDA included.
Hockey Canada, which receives government funding, said no government money or insurance premiums were used to solve the case. Smith said the investments were liquidated to find the funds.
Several MPs who interviewed Hockey Canada officials implored the organization for more transparency and stressed the need for it. The Committee has the option of calling additional witnesses, although it is not immediately clear whether it plans to do so.
On Tuesday, St-Onge said she was ‘not happy’ with what she had heard from Hockey Canada and insisted the organization would be ‘held accountable’, according to senior political reporter Amanda Connolly. at Global News.
(Photo: AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
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