During the 2021-22 season, a Black hockey player on a U15 AAA team in Gatineau, Quebec, was allegedly forced to the ground by a teammate who pressed their knee on the player’s neck.
The Black player was only released after repeating the final words of George Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis police in 2020.
The locker room incident was detailed in a Hockey Quebec investigation report obtained by Le Droit’s @justinemercier.
The report documented at least 14 instances of “racist gestures and remarks” by six players and criticized both the hockey organization and the team’s head coach, who continues to coach minor hockey.
The report noted two Black players have since left the team.
Rick Westhead@rwesthead
ledroit.com/sports/2023/10…
The independent report produced on behalf of Hockey Quebec by’avocat Jules Bernier, which spans 33 pages, is, speaks among other things of’a lack of’ equity between the sanctions imposed on the perpetrators and the consequences suffered by the victims .
The document contains a list of the behaviors of six players who were victims of two racialized teenagers during the 2021-2022 season. They evolved at the time within the’Intrepid of the’Outaouais, in the category M15 AAA.
They left this team headed by the’non-profit organization Midget AAA Gatineau Inc. after these events.
Justine Mercier, The Law
Without journalism, the public would never know about this case.
Most local and provincial sports organizations across Canada still refuse to provide transparency about officials, coaches and athletes who are reprimanded or sanctioned for misconduct and failures in leadership.
Rick Westhead is senior correspondent for TSN and a contributor to CTV National News and W5. An award-winning investigative journalist with twenty-five years of experience,
For the link go HERE
Source: Rickwesthead@rwesthead X (formerly Twitter)
Post Script
If you are appalled by this story, have a conversation with people you know, let them know you are bothered with the actions and lack of justice for the victims, and ask them to do the same.
