(Photo credit The Globe and Mail) Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), the umbrella organization comprised of the country’s three major junior leagues, continue to face legal issues on multiple, interconnected fronts related to player conduct, Hockey Canada oversight of player conduct at IIHF events, and the CHL’s relationship to its own players. As the London, Ontario police’s reexamination of an alleged 2018 group sexual assault of a young woman committed by members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior team continues, Hockey Canada also faces potential liability stemming from an incident that allegedly took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, during the 2002-03 World Juniors. Rick Westhead of TSN reported on October 4, 2023 that Halifax police continue to investigate sexual assault allegations related to the 2003 World Junior team.[1] Halifax police began their investigation in July of 2022 after Conservative MP John Nater told TSN that he planned to ask Hockey Canada about allegations that more than six players on the team were recorded sexually assaulting a non-responsive woman during the tournament.[2] At the time, Nater told TSN that he had spoken with a source who said they had seen a six-to-seven minute video of the alleged incident in spring 2003. The source, who indicated they worked in hockey, along with several other corroborating sources contacted by TSN, did not want to come forward publicly for fear of reprisal in the hockey world.[3] According to the sources, including the owner of the video camera used to film the incident, the video shows multiple players taking turns assaulting a non-responsive woman lying on a pool table.[4] Westhead reported that “two of the three sources told TSN they were interviewed by Halifax police in late 2022.”[5]
There is no indication as to whether Halifax authorities were aware, in any manner, of the alleged incident when it occurred. An important question is whether Hockey Canada officials or coaches were aware of the alleged incident at the time or at any time prior to July, 2022. Based on Conservative MP John Nater’s threat to confront Hockey Canada about the incident, it is at least possible that Hockey Canada was aware of the alleged incident. Hockey Canada’s involvement in the alleged incident is being investigated, at Hockey Canada’s behest, by an investigator with the SportSafe Investigations Group.[6] Halifax police called for anyone with information to come forward at the beginning of the investigation – it is still unclear if the alleged victim has been successfully contacted.[7]
In July 2022, several players from the 2002-03 World Junior team came forward to deny knowledge of the alleged incident and to offer support for a full investigation. One, former NHL player Jordan Tootoo, wrote in a statement that, given the extent of his issues with alcohol at the time, he could not “recall knowing or hearing about the incident” while playing at the World Juniors.[8] In his 2015 book detailing his career and struggles with addition, Tootoo described how players at the World Juniors would pick up girls after practice.”[It] wasn’t just one-on-one action. A few of the guys would get a couple of girls after practice and head into one of the rooms. Enough said.”[9]
Whether Hockey Canada was contemporaneously aware of the alleged incident at the 2002-03 World Juniors remains an open question. If Hockey Canada was aware, it seems at least possible that some money from one, or both, of the funds Hockey Canada maintained to settled uninsured liabilities went towards managing the incident.
The Canadian Hockey League’s duty towards players, and attendant liabilities, are the focus of two related issues facing the CHL, and by extension, Hockey Canada, as we head into the NHL season. In relation to the alleged incident in Halifax, an NHL spokesperson told CBC News in October of 2022 that, “at this point, we are monitoring the 2003 investigation opened by the authorities in Halifax.”[10] Much like with the 2018 alleged incident in London, it seems as though the NHL cannot take any action until police criminal investigations are complete. If the NHL took actions against former or current players prior to a completed police investigation, it seems likely the NHL Players Association would have grounds to demand the NHL reinstate players and might have grounds to sue the NHL. Only one member of the 2003-03 World Junior team is still playing in the NHL – goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
The CHL has been a beneficiary of Hockey Canada’s “slush” funds in the past. Now, perhaps somewhat in response to what is seemingly increased scrutiny of that set-up, lawyers for the CHL and its leagues and teams stated in court proceedings on September 27, 2023 that if they are required to pay money to survivors in the connection with the abuse and hazing lawsuit brought by former players, the CHL may pursue legal claims against former players who were perpetrators.[11] While this would be a normal procedure in any insurance case under the joint and several liability framework provided for under provincial Negligence Acts, the possibility that going after former players for a proportion of any amount owed might also implicate current and former coaches and team executives as jointly liable as well complicates the matter. The CHL may be afraid to go after former players for reasons of optics and to prevent scrutiny coming back on the CHL for lack of league control. While players implicated in abusing teammates generally tended to be older, either nineteen or twenty, and in leadership positions there is a high likelihood that many perpetrators were under eighteen and/or were themselves abused or hazed while underage.
The availability of Hockey Canada funds to the CHL is at the core of an effort by several plaintiffs to reject the $30 million settlement reached with the CHL in a minimum-wage lawsuit.[12] On September 27, 2023, Superior Court of Quebec Justice Chantal Corriveau agreed to give Stephanie Lisa Roberts, a lawyer for Thomas Gobeil and Lukas Walter, former QMJHL players who are class representatives in the minimum wage class-action lawsuit in Quebec, three weeks to present evidence demonstrating that the settlement in the case should be rejected in light of the revelations about CHL access to Hockey Canada funds.[13] Roberts will have to flesh out the argument that the settlement should be revisited in light of potential additional funds. Depending on how the contracts between Hockey Canada and the CHL are written, it is possible that the CHL could use funds to settle this lawsuit. The contents of contracts between Hockey Canada and the CHL have never been made public.[14] Making the contractual obligations between Hockey Canada and the CHL public could be a major incentive for the CHL to willingly increase the settlement amount if Quebec courts allow for revisiting the settlement. According to sources familiar with the current settlement, individual teams will each pay around $25,000 and the CHL and its insurer will pay the balance. The plaintiffs seem be alleging that some of the funds available to cover the balance were slated to come from Hockey Canada.
Class action member Brandon Hynes, a former QMJHL player for three teams between 2008 and 2013, wrote in a September 26th letter in support of revisiting the settlement, “The QMJHL and the CHL have never acted in good faith . . . this deal, if accepted, will send a message that it is okay not to follow the law if you have enough money and influence.”[15] For some observers, that message, to a large extent, has already been sent. Many CHL teams voiced concerns that if forced to pay players minimum wage they would go out of business or be forced to leave provinces that allowed major junior players to be covered by minimum wage laws. Subsequently, all provinces and states with CHL teams have changed laws to exempt CHL players from minimum-wage laws. The CHL affords players a tremendous opportunity to develop both on and off the ice while earning increasingly comprehensive education packages, but past incidents continue to undermine the positive direction of the CHL.
[1] https://www.tsn.ca/hockey-canada/halifax-police-continue-investigation-into-sexual-assault-allegations-on-2003-world-junior-team-1.2016482
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/names-have-to-be-named-in-2003-world-juniors-sexual-assault-allegations-activist-says-1.6698611
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] https://x.com/rwesthead/status/1707124963025563967?s=20
[12] https://www.tsn.ca/judge-allows-players-to-make-case-for-rejecting-30m-settlement-in-chl-minimum-wage-lawsuit-1.2014174
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
Leave a Reply