Jack Todd: Hockey Canada should publicly address issues in sexual assault case & More News Here

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This is meant to be hockey’s golden season.

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The NHL playoffs are winding right down to the convention finals. Team Canada is in Finland as of this writing, getting ready to play the host workforce for the gold medal.

Yet the sickening underbelly of the hockey institution is on show as soon as once more, as Hockey Canada has settled a sexual assault case involving one younger girl and eight former junior gamers, a few of them members of the 2018 World Junior workforce that received a gold medal.

The information broke late final week when a younger girl who alleged that she was sexually assaulted by eight Canadian Hockey League gamers agreed to drop a $3.55-million lawsuit in change for a settlement reached with Hockey Canada.

The girl’s appalling allegations have been detailed in court docket data filed in Ontario Superior Court in London, Ont., the town the place the alleged assault came about, on April 20.

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The alleged sufferer has refused to determine the gamers, who’re named in court docket paperwork solely as John Doe 1 by 8. Some have been members of the World Junior workforce that received the gold medal in January 2018, six months earlier than the celebratory gala in London that preceded the alleged assaults.

Many of these gamers have moved on to the NHL. The roster of that 2018 workforce is on the general public document — however to call any participant with out figuring out who was concerned tars all of them with the identical brush.

TSN reporter Rick Westhead quoted Robert Talach, the plaintiff’s lawyer, who confirmed that his consumer had agreed to the settlement however refused to say whether or not she had signed a non-disclosure settlement.

“The plaintiff is satisfied with the outcome and relieved that this difficult matter has been concluded,” Talach mentioned in an electronic mail to TSN. “She has nothing further to add and, consistent with her expressed wishes and behaviour throughout, requests that her privacy and desire not to be identified continues to be respected.”

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Given the dwelling hell that descends on any girl who alleges sexual assault, that’s comprehensible — however the allegations, as offered in the lawsuit, are horrific. The lawsuit states that the girl had been ingesting with gamers at a London bar and was already closely intoxicated when she went to a resort room with one participant. After that they had intercourse, he opened the door to seven different gamers, who allegedly slapped her, spat on her and assaulted her repeatedly as she was crying and prevented from leaving the room.

“The number of men and the fact that they had brought golf clubs to the room further intimidated the plaintiff,” the lawsuit mentioned.

The golf golf equipment are an odd and alarming element. Did the gamers occur to be wandering by the resort carrying golf golf equipment, or did they create them to the room particularly to frighten her?

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The lawsuit additionally alleges that the gamers directed her to say that she was sober whereas being video recorded and instructed her to take a bathe after the assaults, indicating they have been absolutely conscious of what they have been doing.

Hockey Canada spokeswoman Esther Madziya instructed TSN that Hockey Canada was deeply troubled by the allegations and knowledgeable native police authorities as quickly as they discovered of the allegations in 2018. Madziya mentioned the group additionally retained an unbiased agency to analyze and make suggestions on areas for enchancment, which Hockey Canada has been implementing.

“The person bringing the allegations forward chose not to speak with either 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.”

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That is Hockey Canada’s place — however it’s extremely unlikely to face.

A much more forceful assertion got here, surprisingly, from the NHL, which termed the allegations “both abhorrent and reprehensible” and promised to endeavour to find out the details and what motion, if any, could be applicable.

Another facet of the newest hockey scandal is monetary. Martin Leclerc identified in his column for Radio-Canada that Hockey Canada is funded, in half, by the federal authorities, with further funding from firms together with Tim Hortons, Nike, Telus and Esso.

You don’t settle a $3.55-million lawsuit with just a few payments and a few spare change from petty money, so who paid for the settlement? Did taxpayers foot the invoice, or did the sponsors ante up?

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Above all, what penalties will these younger males face? If the details are as acknowledged in the lawsuit, they’ve dedicated a severe crime — one much more severe than the deed that led Canadiens draft choose Logan Mailloux to interrupt his profession quickly.

Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney introduced his retirement on April 20 after eight years on the job, efficient July 1. His successor, present president Scott Smith, goes to have to carry a press convention to address these issues as early as attainable. Hockey Canada has a wonderful public-relations employees, however a two-paragraph assertion from a spokesperson shouldn’t be going to chop it.

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