Member of Parliament calls for government to further investigate Hockey Canada

A member of Parliament has questioned Canada's sports minister on when and what the government knew about an alleged sexual assault at a 2018 Hockey Canada event.

Hockey Canada was called on the carpet recently by the Canadian government, and subsequently lost some corporate sponsorship, over its handling of an alleged sexual assault in London, Ont., the night following its 2018 gala event.

Hockey Canada executives told a government standing committee last month that it notified Sport Canada about the allegations back in 2018, New Democrat MP Peter Julian pointed out in a letter sent Tuesday to Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge.

"Was that information passed on to the Minister of Sport?" Julian asked in the letter. "If not, why not? If the Minister was informed, why didn't the Minister at the time act on that information?

"Parents who have kids in hockey have the right to know why Hockey Canada handled this case in such an irresponsible manner and how the government reacted.

As first reported by TSN, Hockey Canada recently settled a lawsuit filed by the woman, now 24, who alleged that she was repeatedly raped by eight unnamed junior hockey players who were members of Canada's under-20 men's hockey team that year.

Those allegations were not proven in court.

Upcoming hearings with standing committee

Hockey Canada executives appeared before a Canadian Heritage Standing Committee in Ottawa on June 20.

Julian was among the MPs who questioned Hockey Canada president Scott Smith and outgoing chief executive officer Tom Renney that day. The committee scheduled more hearings for July 26-27.

St-Onge's office referred Tuesday to comments and actions the minister made after the June hearing.

Another condition is Hockey Canada becoming a signatory to the new office of the sports integrity commissioner.

St-Onge also ordered a financial audit of Hockey Canada to review expenditures reported to Sport Canada. That audit was to be conducted between June 27 and July 7.

When St-Onge was named sports minister last October, she became the third person to oversee that portfolio since 2018.

Kirsty Duncan was sports minister from January 2018 until November 2019. Sport then fell under the Heritage umbrella and Minister Steven Guilbeault until St-Onge's appointment.

Julian, who represents New Westminster-Burnaby, B.C., contends there were too many questions left unanswered in the June 20 hearing in Ottawa. He demanded further investigation by St-Onge.

"Canadians are shocked to hear about this situation, and they want to see action to prevent this from happening again," he wrote.