Five players from the 2018 edition of Junior Team Canada will face trial. But they won't be the only ones from whom the population needs answers.
Several NHL teams will soon find themselves in a necessarily awkward situation.
Were they playing players suspected of knowingly participating in gang rape?
And if not in full knowledge of the facts, was it more likely willful blindness? Did the teams just not want to know? Which in my opinion would be even worse.
Among all players in the 2018 edition, 18 of the 22 said they had nothing to do with this serious matter. Either they said it publicly themselves or their agent did it.
But we see that ultimately five out of 22 are asked to surrender by the police.
If we do a simple calculation, there is at least one player who has categorically denied his involvement, but who is being asked by the police to answer for sexual harassment.
This leads me to ask myself a lot of questions.
Pursue the truth
If it turns out that these five players were indeed involved, what does that mean? Did your agent lie? Did the players lie to keep their jobs?
And if the player lied, did the agent apply a little pressure to find out the truth?
And have teams made the effort to see things more clearly?
Yes, the case was settled in secret and the victim was paid by Hockey Canada for her silence.
However, this is not a request for forgiveness. Suspected rapists are not acquitted.
And when you tell me that no one in the hockey world really knew the five players, I have a hard time believing you.
As an organization, as a company, as a symbol at the top of a sport, as a role model, teams must set an example. Not playing a player linked to a gang rape is a more basic duty.
What did these teams do?
When leaders say they didn't know anything and it wasn't their job to find out, they're either lying or they're bad leaders.
The NHL investigation
And the NHL, still conducting its famous endless investigation for 18 months… What's going on? What did the NHL know? Did she let players play on her rinks knowing they were linked to gang rape?
As a company, the NHL also has to answer several questions when sentencing players.
The league sought to clear its conscience by suspending a player – Shane Pinto of the Senators – for 41 games for non-hockey sports betting.
If the NHL had acted so forcefully, it would have acted more quickly and removed players linked to a horrific sex scandal.
In any reputable company, it would be impossible to retain an employee linked to a gang rape.
Yes, there is a presumption of innocence, but our courts (at least in Canada) allow employers to suspend employees pending investigation. The Supreme Court decided this in 2004.
Additionally, a company may suspend employees to protect its reputation. Legally it can be defended like this.
A self-respecting company would do this. The NHL is something different.
* Cabiakman vs. Ruling Industrial Alliance Life Insurance Company