One would have expected an alleged gang rape involving eight National Junior Team players to be a particularly traumatic event for Hockey Canada (HC). An event so worrying that the leaders of the federation would have moved heaven and earth to know the background of the story and to track all the steps ensuring this quest for truth.
However, last Monday, outgoing CEO Tom Renney and his successor Scott Smith (who has had a career at HC for decades) literally set fire to the powder during their appearance before the Heritage Standing Committee. They arrived ill-prepared, they lacked transparency and they provided explanations that were irreconcilable with the notions of leadership and common sense.
A 20-year-old woman alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight hockey players in June 2018 on the sidelines of a Hockey Canada Foundation gala held in London, Ont.
On one hand, HC executives commissioned an internal investigation from a Toronto law firm to shed light on the matter. But on the other hand, they did not oblige any of the players present in London to collaborate with the investigators. The investigation obviously failed. So they torpedoed their own approach.
What’s more, Renney and Smith didn’t even agree on the number of players who collaborated with the investigators. That said a lot about the interest they had taken in this dreadful affair.
For four long years, none of the alleged attackers has therefore been identified, worried or punished. And HC did not try to find out more. However, when the alleged victim filed a $3.55 million civil lawsuit last April against Hockey Canada, the three major Canadian junior hockey leagues and the eight alleged attackers, HC took full responsibility for the case by concluding quickly reach an amicable agreement with a confidentiality clause.
If Renney and Smith viewed this appearance in parliament as a visit to the dentist, the soft focus surrounding their handling of the case changed everything. The chosen ones have just tied them to the chair, and they are about to pull their teeth out one by one.
The next few months will be extremely difficult for Hockey Canada and for the leaders of Canadian major junior hockey.
Last Wednesday, 48 hours after Renney and Smith appeared, Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge announced that government funding for Hockey Canada was frozen.
To start receiving the approximately 7 million grants that are paid to it annually, HC will have to publish the investigation report that was submitted to it by the Toronto law firm about the alleged gang rape.
In the same breath, HC will no longer receive public funding until the federation joins the new Office of the Integrity Commissioner. This independent body has the power to investigate federations and impose sanctions on them when complaints are filed against them.
In addition, the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion by Bloc Québécois MP Sébastien Lemire, asking that an independent investigation be launched. This investigation will aim to shed light on how HC leaders handled the situation from the time they became aware of the gang rape allegations.
Parliament also wants to know how Hockey Canada deals with all sexual assault cases (one to two cases per year) that come to its attention. This last statistic particularly appealed to elected officials in Ottawa.
Parliamentary privilege makes it possible to order and compel the production of documents. And also to order the appearance of witnesses. One would therefore expect, for example, that the independent investigators would have access to all the emails, exchanges and documents that circulated at Hockey Canada relating to this alleged gang rape and the way in which it was taken to conclude an out-of-court settlement with the victim.
And on Thursday, the closed session surrounding the last meeting of the members of the Heritage Committee was lifted. We then learned that other appearances are scheduled for the middle of the summer, on July 26 and 27, to shed light on this case.
Much to their chagrin, Hockey Canada executives will have to appear again. But first, they will have to provide the committee with a copy of the non-disclosure agreement with the alleged victim as well as copies of communications between Hockey Canada and the junior teams as well as various documents covered by the professional secrecy of the lawyers of the federation.
The commissioners of the three Canadian major junior hockey leagues will also be subpoenaed to testify.
Last Monday, Hockey Canada officials testified that junior teams were told early in 2018 that their players could be involved in an alleged gang rape story. It will be interesting to see what steps team and league leaders have taken with their athletes in the wake of such troubling allegations.
The three commissioners may also be asked why they tabled a report at the end of 2020 that they themselves had commissioned and which revealed that bad behavior has become a cultural norm in junior hockey and that a law of silence prevents athletes from denouncing abuses.
The commissioners of the three Canadian major junior hockey leagues could perhaps also explain why the three credible authors of the report (Danièle Sauvageau, Sheldon Kennedy and the former premier of New Brunswick Camille Thériault) were refused permission to publicly comment on the findings of their research.
Among the subpoenaed witnesses is also Glenn McMurdie, who was Hockey Canada’s vice-president of insurance and risk management at the time of the alleged 2018 rape.
Mr. McMurdie, who worked for more than three decades at HC, will probably have to explain why, on his LinkedIn account, he claims to have developed particular expertise in complex insurance claims, including those relating to sexual abuse.
In short, it comes from everywhere. The bulk of the storm is coming.
The embarrassing questions are piling up and, extraordinarily, all the political parties represented in Ottawa seem to have decided to join hands to shed light on this alleged gang rape and to bring about a change of culture within Canadian hockey.
For these reasons, it is clear that Hockey Canada will not be able to get the toothpaste back in the tube. It would therefore be very surprising if the current management team survived this shocking episode.
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca