Minister Isabelle Charest will not require Gilles Courteau’s presence during next week’s three new days of Parliament’s Committee on Degrading Initiations into the World of Ice Hockey, despite the omissions that ultimately cost him his job.
• Also read: ‘They stole everything from me’: Disturbing testimony from a former QMJHL player
• Also read: Junior Hockey Initiations: “It’s Really ‘Tough’ From What We’ve Heard”
“It is important for us to hear the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the league’s statements. This is not the trial of an individual. So I will let the Quebec Major Junior League decide who is the right person to answer the commission,” commented the minister in charge of sport in the aisles of the National Assembly.
When former QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau was called to account before parliamentarians last February, he asserted that none of his county’s teams were implicated in allegations of brutal initiations in three Canadian junior hockey leagues.
However, those remarks turned out to be false and Mr Courteau resigned a few days later when even Premier Legault had expressed that he would come to clarify his remarks.
Rather, it is the league’s interim commissioner, Martin Lavallée, and its future commissioner, who will take office later this year, Mario Cecchini, who will testify for the QMJHL.
No injuries either
Ms Charest also does not feel there is a need to invite initiation victims, such as former LHMJQ player Stephen Quirk, who recently testified about the abuse he suffered at Le Devoir. “The aim of this commission is to see what mechanisms are put in place to ensure that such situations do not happen,” explained Minister Charest, specifying that it is the members of the commission and not themselves who invite the witnesses to appear.
“I’m not convinced that the victims’ testimonies and details of how it happened in the past are that relevant,” added Isabelle Charest. We’ve heard about it, we’ve seen evidence of it.
Alongside the QMJHL, the parliamentary committee will hear Advisor and Speaker Danielle Sauvageau and former New Brunswick Premier Camille Thériault, co-authors of a report for the Canadian Hockey League commissioned in the wake of class action lawsuits denounced by young players.
The parliamentarians will also summon the following witnesses:
- The National Institute for Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ)
- Sylvie Parent, Professor at the Institute of Physical Education at Université Laval and regular researcher at CRIPCAS
- Michel Dorais, Full Professor, Faculty of Social Work and Criminology at Laval University
- Dany Bernard, Sports Psychologist
- Complaints Officer for the Protection of Integrity in Sport and/or the Directorate for the Promotion of Safe Sport (MEQ)
- Félix-Antoine Michaud, lawyer at Triviüm and specialist in labor law
- Sports’ help
Solidarity MP Vincent Marissal welcomed Wednesday morning’s approval of the CAQ to continue the work of the parliamentary commission on youth hockey.
“With everything we’ve heard over the past few weeks, it was unthinkable to pull the plug without getting to the bottom of this story. The real work has only just begun,” he responded in a written statement to the media.
– With the agency QMI
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