Hockey Canada scrutiny ‘probably helped’ police probe: ex-federal minister

Former Canadian sport minister Pascale St-Onge says she believes the national scrutiny about Hockey Canada over how it handled the allegations of sexual assault against members of the 2018 World Junior team may have helped advance the police investigation.

“After everything that’s known around how Hockey Canada conducted itself around sexual violence cases involving their players, I think it brought the whole situation to the forefront and probably helped get the police investigation moving,” St-Onge said on her way into a caucus meeting in Ottawa Thursday morning.

St-Onge, who is now heritage minister, declined further comment due to the allegations of that 2018 sexual assault still being investigated by the London Police Service.

News of the event first broke in May 2022 after TSN reported Hockey Canada had settled a civil lawsuit with the complainant. That report trigged a series of events, which included renewed investigations, as well as intense scrutiny focused on Hockey Canada that eventually led the entire board and leadership team to resign.

In a statement on the social media site X, Wednesday, Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough posted that there is a safe sport crisis in Canada.

I am aware of the recent developments regarding the London police investigation involving members of the 2018 World Junior hockey team.

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— Carla Qualtrough (@CQualtro) <a href=«https://twitter.com/CQualtro/status/1750244502260924577?ref_src=» https:>January 24, 2024

“The reckoning that we are seeing in hockey and across the sport system is the result of brave survivors coming forward to share their lived experiences,” Qualtrough wrote. “There is a safe sport crisis in our country. As Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, my main priority