Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Federal Minister of Sports Pascale St-Onge and all the opposition parties fired red balls at the administration of Hockey Canada after its leaders passed through Parliament on Monday to testify on a gang rape investigation.
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Trudeau hinted during question period on Tuesday that the organization’s funding could be reviewed, after triggering a financial audit.
“We wanted to get to the bottom of it, and all options are being considered to determine next steps. This behavior is unacceptable, ”launched the Prime Minister in the House.
“Hockey Canada must take steps to put an end to the culture of silence, to make participation in surveys mandatory for players,” said Minister St-Onge in the morning.
The organization has been unable to lift the lid on the identities of the eight men involved in a 2018 gang rape at a Hockey Canada event, despite a 26-month internal investigation, officials said. leaders in committee, arousing the opprobrium of elected officials.
“I find this extremely disturbing and it shows that the culture of silence is well established in this sport and there must be more action on the part of Hockey Canada in this regard,” added Minister St-Onge.
She said that the government would look at “all options” to “strengthen funding agreements with sports organizations, to ensure that there is more accountability in the sports system and to ensure that leaders put in place provisions and measures to prevent the culture of silence”.
A slew of Conservative MPs, including former hockey coach Richard Martel, opined that “Hockey Canada must put victims first.”
“Hockey Canada is a huge organization with a huge responsibility. It is an emblem of our culture. The protection of our athletes cannot come before the safety of others. It is not a Canadian value nor that of Hockey Canada officials who testified yesterday,” they said in a statement.
The Bloc spokesperson for Sports Sébastien Lemire also rose up against the leaders of the organization.
“What we saw yesterday was a kind of lack of compassion on the part of Hockey Canada, a real concern to manage their image and maintain a kind of culture of silence or camouflage around players who are alleged in this scandalous story”, declared the deputy in an interview with QUB radio on Tuesday morning.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com