Hockey Canada has much to answer for in wake of civil suit over sexual assault

This is hockey at its worst.

The details of the sexual assault are so odious it makes you want to cleanse yourself after reading them, never mind having gone through what a woman in London, Ontario insisted in a civil suit she went through at the hands of eight unnamed hockey players, some of whom won gold medals as part of Team Canada’s 2018 World Junior Championship team, after meeting them in a bar following a Hockey Canada event in the summer of 2018.

The details of the suit that was filed in a London court in April, and first reported by TSN’s Rick Westhead, have not been proven in court, although Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and the eight players named in the suit have reached a settlement with the woman.

But even if this matter ends for this young woman, as is her right, it does not end here for those named in the suit. It should not and cannot end here. No matter how much Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League, which is the umbrella organization that oversees the three major junior hockey leagues in North America, seem to want this to go. No matter how much the players involved in this despicable act want it to go away, there must be an accounting for this tawdry event.

We spend so much time talking about changing the culture of the game, about making it more welcoming and accessible. They are noble goals but if achieving those goals means sometimes shining a light on the grotesque and the horrific, if it means people accountable for disgracing themselves and the game, then so be it.

And kudos to the National Hockey League for responding promptly and with a firm warning to the many players who were on that World Junior Championship team and that have graduated to the NHL. If any of the unnamed eight former CHL players are now part of the NHL, the league is going to be taking a very hard look at what exactly transpired in that London hotel room.

In a statement the league explained that it will conduct its own investigation after becoming aware of the allegations contained in the civil suit.

“We were subsequently provided with the Statement of Claim, containing allegations of behavior that is both abhorrent and reprehensible,” the NHL said in its statement. “We will endeavor to determine the underlying facts and, to the extent this may involve players who are now in the NHL, we will determine what action, if any, would be appropriate.”

It’s difficult to imagine what kind of sanctions the league could impose on a player who was not yet in the NHL when the acts took place, but NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has a wide latitude in terms of his ability to punish those who bring the game into ill repute. If the league is able to confirm that current NHL players were involved and took part in the degrading sexual exploitation the complainant outlines, one would hope the sanctions would be harsh and immediate.

But whatever punishment is meted out, it won’t be nearly enough to offset the kind of trauma the victim endured and what she will continue to endure likely for the rest of her life.

So, again, good on the NHL for laying down the gauntlet, and here’s hoping it follows through swiftly and diligently.

Perhaps the NHL’s involvement will shame Hockey Canada into answering for its role in this.

We heard from a Hockey Canada spokesperson Friday. They provided a statement as they had earlier to Westhead outlining their response to the allegations when they were first brought to the national hockey body’s attention.

“Hockey Canada is deeply troubled by the very serious allegations of sexual assault regarding members of the 2017-18 National Junior Hockey Team,” the statement reads.

“As soon as Hockey Canada became aware of this matter in 2018, we contacted local police authorities to inform them. The same day, we also retained Henein Hutchison LLP, a firm with extensive experience in this area, to undertake a thorough independent internal investigation and make recommendations on areas for improvement which we have been implementing and will continue to pursue.

“The person bringing the allegations forward chose not to speak with police or with Hockey Canada’s independent investigator and also chose not to identify the players involved. This was her right and we fully respect her wishes.

“We have settled this matter and as part of that settlement, we will not be commenting further.”

So, Hockey Canada settles and then walks away?

That’s the plan? That’s the strategy that a publicly funded body like Hockey Canada comes up with?

Not so fast.

If I’m an MP anywhere in Canada I would certainly be putting my hand up on Parliament Hill and demanding that Michael Brind’Amour, the head of Hockey Canada’s Board of Directors, and Scott Smith the new CEO of Hockey Canada taking over for Tom Renney, appear hat in hand to answer the boatload of questions that this disgraceful event has raised given the funding Hockey Canada receives from taxpayers.

If I’m a parent with a child in Hockey Canada’s system or thinking of having a son or daughter join a Hockey Canada program, I ‘d want answers, too.

If I’m one of Hockey Canada’s many corporate sponsors I’d certainly be thinking about whether I want my company associated with an organization that seems to be more interested in burying what happened than in any kind of transparency.

Like, for starters, what was Hockey Canada’s role in the golf event that led to the alleged incident in 2018?

Were coaches and/or administrators on hand?

Were coaches and or administrators drinking with the players in the time that led up to the incident which took place after the players met the victim at a local bar?

When and how did they become aware of the repeated assaults?

Not sure how an internal investigation can hope to be independent as the statement indicates, but what exactly were the findings of that report?

We know that the victim declined to talk to Hockey Canada or police as is her right, but who did Hockey Canada’s investigators talk to as part of their investigation?

Did they talk to the players? Some? Any? All?

Were any of the accused players allowed to represent Canada at additional international events after Hockey Canada became aware of the incident?

What exactly are the recommendations that Hockey Canada is allegedly implementing and pursuing as outlined in the release that arise from this independent investigation?

What exactly is being done to ensure that some other person is not victimized in the same way?

We wouldn’t know since no one from Hockey Canada will speak on it and each time we tried to reach out to someone who might have an opinion on this matter from within the organization, we were directed to the statement.

That Hockey Canada statement indicates they were “deeply troubled by the serious allegations of sexual assault.”

But not troubled enough to have a plan to be forthright about what they found and what the ramifications of this incident might be. Not troubled enough to willingly be accountable for what appears given the details outlined in the suit is a hockey culture incident.

If the acts as described are stomach-churning, the apparent determination to cover its collective butt legally by Hockey Canada – and given the failure to share relevant details, how else can we characterize Hockey Canada’s response to this? – is its own kind of odious.

It’s clear the CHL, which oversees the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League, and whose players were at the heart of this attack, takes its cues from Hockey Canada in this matter. CHL President Dan MacKenzie responded to our inquiry about the CHL’s response with the following:

“In early May, we were notified of the claim that named several parties, including the CHL, and we are deeply troubled by the allegations. We have been advised by Hockey Canada that they have settled the matter and we will not be providing further comment.”

Another hand-washing. Nothing to see here. Apparently as long as Hockey Canada is prepared to sweep this under the rug, so, too, is the CHL. One would wonder if players and parents of players and sponsors of teams in those major junior leagues would also want some questions answered about how this might have happened and what the message of secrecy regarding these players is sending.

We spoke to Karri Dawson, Executive Director, Values-Based Sport with the Canadian Centre For Ethics In Sport, about how sport should reflect the kinds of values that people in a community or a society aspire to. And by extension, how sport shouldn’t be about setting up a separate value system with its own rules and behavior that are outside or run contrary to the values and morals of a society or community.

“In order for sport to do good it must also be good,” Dawson said.

When it’s done right, a sport and the athletes who make up that sport become role models and provide a powerful lesson in character and perseverance and leadership and many other positive qualities. Sport done right can strengthen a community.

“I really think as people who work in sport, our job is to create good people first,” Dawson said. And good athletes second. Good sport doesn’t happen by accident. We need to be intentional.”

But when those values and principles get out of balance, that’s where sport can become a destructive or negative influence.

Winning at all costs at the expense of others, taking performance-enhancing substances or developing a belief that athletes can act outside the acceptable standards of the community are all examples of how sport can go wrong.

It’s especially important to address these situations because often athletes have a higher profile and younger athletes and others take their cues from them, Dawson said.

“Athletes aren’t exempt from what we would accept in other parts of society,” Dawson said.

In fact, they should hold themselves to a higher standard.

“They have a responsibility to set an example,” she added.

And that’s what this incident speaks to, no?

A group of young men who presumably believed their status as elite hockey players, at least some of whom who had risen to the level of being chosen to play on a national team with an enormous profile and the subject of national adoration, gave them the right to behave like a pack of animals with another human being.

What must be troubling for the other members of this championship hockey team – many of whom are on the verge of or have already achieved stardom at the NHL level – is that they will all be tarred with the same brush because of the secretive way in which this has come to light. The behavior of their boorish teammates will forever taint everyone on that team or who attended that event.

Hockey Canada has a number of programs and staff dedicated to making hockey a safer place and to encourage people, whether they’re players or parents or friends of victims, to come forward if there are inappropriate incidents.

How does this obfuscation and wagon-circling from the organization promote coming forward to tell the truth when perpetrators are hidden and protected?

Whether police officials in London will take a longer, harder look at this incident – and here’s hoping the glare of public pressure forces police to do their very best to determine if what happened rises to the level of criminality – surely there must be a price paid for this kind of conduct beyond a quiet settlement of a civil suit and a press release.

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Hockey Canada has much to answer for in wake of civil suit over sexual assault

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