The two guys came up from behind and put hockey socks over his head. They beat him until he collapsed. Afterwards, they taped his arms to a hockey stick, as if they were regarding to crucify him. They dragged him into the showers and pushed him under boiling water. They tied a shoelace between his penis and his ankle, forcing him to keep his leg up. And they left him there, all alone.
When he was no longer able to hold on, he lowered his leg and the skin on his penis tore. He was bleeding. He remained underwater for over an hour, until the tape softened enough to allow him to break free.
I read that horror story in a recent Ontario Superior Court judgment, and I thought of Guantánamo. I thought of tortured, humiliated and dehumanized prisoners of war in a lawless zone.
But no, it would have been fine here, in Canada. In the locker room of a junior hockey team. This is the testimony of a former player, who claims to have remained deeply traumatized by his experience.
But hey, that was just for fun, huh? Not enough to make a scandal out of it, it was part of the game…
In his decision, Judge Paul Perell rejects the class action request of three former players, for whom Canada’s junior leagues have turned a blind eye to all kinds of degrading initiations over the years.
The judgment nevertheless has the merit of exposing in all its ugliness, once once more, the toxic culture of the world of junior hockey in this country.
It was Martin Leclerc, sports columnist at Radio-Canada, who revealed on Monday the main lines of this 103-page judgment, rendered on February 3. His text shock warned us: it would not be easy to read.
And it was true. Testimonials from former players are atrocious. However, it was necessary to explain the details.
Otherwise, too many people would have had the reflex to say to themselves: well, these are only initiations. It’s part of our good old traditions. Better, it is a rite of passage, intended to make men of our children.
The reality is that if these “initiations” had taken place anywhere other than in a players’ locker room, they would have been punishable by several years in prison.
We are talking here regarding serious sexual assault, assault with injuries, armed assault, kidnapping, threats…
And we are talking regarding minor victims.
There is not a child, nor a parent in Canada, who has signed up for this. When a dad or a mom agrees to get up at 5 a.m. for training at the arena, it’s so that their child can flourish in sport. To learn the value of teamwork.
Not for him to be tortured by the other players, under the amused gaze of the staff of the team. And yet, too often, that seems to be exactly what is happening.
In the judgment, a former hockey player claims to have been undressed, tied to a table, then whipped. “Players were urinating on us and throwing things at us. The coach came in, saw what was happening and came out laughing. »
The hockey sticks inserted in the anus, the players crammed into the toilets of the bus… the adults knew what was going on. They mightn’t not know.
All of these abuses, Justice Perell wrote, were “encouraged, overlooked, condoned, covered up or cowardly and irresponsibly ignored” by Canada’s youth team personnel.
How might these abused players look their executioners in the eye following that? And their coaches? Those who knew but did nothing?
Those who came out of the locker room laughing?
Judge Perell refuses to authorize the class action, since the responsibility of the 60 junior teams in the country has not been established. He considers it fairer for each case to be treated individually. “This lawsuit is regarding egregious harm perpetrated on children, and the persons or entities at fault must be punished,” he wrote.
Indeed, these stories are too serious to stop there. And that is precisely why we must hear them all. To let nothing pass.
“The action of the plaintiffs presupposes that all the defendants share the same virulent culture of Canadian amateur hockey”, writes judge Perell. This, he emphasizes once more, has never been proven.
Still, it’s all starting to look a little, a lot like a systemic problem. On Monday, politicians from all walks of life were calling for a culture change in the world of junior hockey. Once once more.
Collective action or not, this has to change, and for good. Players – and the adults responsible for supervising them – must get it out of their heads once and for all that abuse of all kinds is part of the game. It is high time.
