Five ice hockey players have reportedly been told to surrender to police in Canada over allegations of sexual assault.
The Toronto-based Globe and Mail said the unnamed players have been given an undisclosed deadline to surrender to police in London, Ontario. In May 2022, it was reported that Hockey Canada paid an undisclosed settlement to a woman who alleged in a lawsuit she was sexually assaulted by eight players, including members of the country’s world junior team after a 2018 gala. Earlier in 2022, Hockey Canada executives told a parliamentary committee that the organization had secretly paid nearly C$9m (US$6.7m) to 21 complainants of sexual misconduct. No one has ever been criminally charged over the 2018 assault allegations.
Media reports later revealed that young players across the country had unknowingly funded the payments through their registration fees to Hockey Canada. According to reporting by the Globe and Mail, Hockey Canada also failed to disclose to parliament the existence of a second secret fund to pay for legal efforts to fend off sexual assault claims.
In October 2022, the CEO of Hockey Canada and its entire board of directors resigned over how the governing body failed to address allegations of sexual assault.
Hockey Canada later commissioned a report into into its handling of the 2018 allegations. Police read the document before reportedly ordering the players to surrender this week.
Canadian sport has been plagued by reports of abuse in a number of sports beyond hockey, including gymnastics, soccer and water polo.
“Abuse is a dirty hidden secret in sports and what people are seeing is the tip of the iceberg,” Kirsty Duncan, the former deputy leader of government in Canada’s House of Commons, told the Guardian last year.
“The problem of sexual assault, abuse, and harassment in sport is multifaceted and deep rooted. It is about the assault, abuse, and harassment of athletes by coaches and trainers and their support staff.”
