{"id":102955,"date":"2025-07-29T20:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/102955\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T20:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:23:10","slug":"canadas-hockey-case-exposed-a-toxic-culture-yet-the-accuser-ended-up-on-trial-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/102955\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s hockey case exposed a toxic culture \u2013 yet the accuser ended up on trial | Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

The stunning conclusion to a pivotal sexual assault trial has left some observers in Canada shocked but unsurprised \u2013 not only by a judge who seemed to scrutinize the female accuser more harshly than the five ice hockey players who ultimately walked free<\/a>, but by yet another missed opportunity for a reckoning in the macho culture of a major professional sport.<\/p>\n

The blockbuster case seemed to crystallize any number of hot-button topics \u2013 the #MeToo movement, the nature of consent, the role of pornography, the impunity of men \u2013 in the most Canadian way possible: through hockey.<\/p>\n

The trial, which occurred over several weeks in May, saw five members of Canada\u2019s lionized World Juniors team \u2013 Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dub\u00e9, Carter Hart and Cal Foote \u2013 charged with sexual assault after an incident in a hotel room in London, Ontario, seven years ago.<\/p>\n

The complainant, identified as \u201cEM\u201d, who was 20 at the time, alleged that she left a bar with McLeod and had consensual sex with him \u2013 but had no idea he then texted other players asking them to join in a \u201cthree-way\u201d. In court, EM testified that she was drunk and intimidated by multiple large men entering the room, which she estimated at times to be as many as 11, some of whom were just there to eat and socialize.<\/p>\n

EM also said that although she engaged in group sex acts with some of them, they were as part of a \u201cporn star\u201d persona she adopted in order to placate the men in what she felt was a dangerous situation \u2013 and did not actually consent to any of the activity.<\/p>\n

The men, for their part, have claimed EM was sexually aggressive, begged them for sex and actively consented to all of it. McLeod also recorded two videos of EM after the group encounter had finished, in which she said she had consented to sexual activity. EM testified that while she didn\u2019t remember the videos being filmed, she recalled McLeod \u201chounding\u201d her to say she consented.<\/p>\n

In fact, EM testified over nine grueling days, seven of them under by cross-examination by five separate teams of lawyers, one for each accused. Only one of the men testified.<\/p>\n

So when Justice Maria Carroccia told a packed London courtroom last Thursday that she found the complainant to not be \u201ccredible nor reliable\u201d, it elicited gasps. As an example of these \u201cissues related to credibility\u201d, the judge said it was \u201ctelling\u201d that EM testified she weighed 120 pounds \u2013 despite records showing she was 138lb. EM had explained she was just sticking to what she had estimated previously. The judge interpreted it as mendacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe complainant, rather than answering the question truthfully, chose to repeat what she had said previously,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Carroccia also questioned how drunk EM could have been, as videos did not show \u201cany obvious signs of impairment, such as stumbling\u201d and suggested she \u201cinitiated touching\u201d with McLeod at the bar despite having initially said she did not.<\/p>\n

In the end, the judge determined that EM fully consented, and was essentially lying in court \u2013 a callous take that appeared to scrutinize the female complainant\u2019s claims far more harshly than the five men, according to Daphne Gilbert, a criminal law professor at the University of Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was extremely disappointed in the decision, and to me, it\u2019s the worst possible outcome for [the woman] and efforts to tackle sexual violence generally,\u201d Gilbert said, noting the judge\u2019s conclusion seemed an extreme one to reach based on EM\u2019s testimony, and appeared to indicate that she considered the complainant to be on trial, rather than the men.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t believe the complainant and only focused on what deficiencies she saw in the complainant, and doesn\u2019t speak about the men at all,\u201d said Gilbert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find that astonishing in a case like this,\u201d she said. \u201cShe just completely blamed EM, and in doing so, she invoked stereotypes.\u201d<\/p>\n

But few stereotypes may ultimately have proved as powerful as the one of Canada\u2019s mainly young, mainly white and mainly male hockey stars being infallible national symbols \u2013 a stereotype which the case at first threatened to explode. The entire sordid saga did not emerge into public view at all for many years: police dropped their initial police investigation in 2019 after seeing video that made them think EM was not as drunk as she had stated; EM then sued Hockey Canada in 2022, which conducted its own investigation and settled with her for an undisclosed amount. It was only when the settlement was leaked to the media that a public uproar saw police reopen the investigation, and lay charges in early 2024.<\/p>\n

But it also revealed the existence of a secret Hockey Canada fund, which the organization eventually admitted it had specifically created to pay settlements in sexual assault cases against players \u2013 apparently lifting the lid off a long-simmering culture of abuse and cover-ups extending far beyond the case at hand.<\/p>\n

Sponsors dropped Hockey Canada like flies. In 2022 the incident spilled over into parliament, with hockey executives called in for questioning about what they knew of the London case and whether hockey had a problematic culture of the kind that would require the existence of a secret fund to settle assault claims.<\/p>\n

The furore led to multiple reforms, including mandatory training for athletes and staff on sexual violence and consent. The players themselves were barred from the NHL, though many have since been playing in Russia\u2019s Kontinental Hockey League.<\/p>\n

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Now that the trial is over, the immediate discussion has turned to whether the NHL would readmit them. The league said in a statement that even though the men had been acquitted, and the allegations found not to be criminal, they were disturbing and \u201cthe behaviour at issue was unacceptable\u201d. It said it was conducting an analysis and \u201cdetermining next steps\u201d. Many observers think it\u2019s likely the players will be made eligible again. Sponsors, meanwhile, have quietly returned to Hockey Canada.<\/p>\n

It was a starkly different atmosphere from 2022, and evidence that the trial alone was probably never going to be enough to bring a true reckoning to hockey culture, said Taylor McKee, an assistant professor at Brock University in Ontario who specializes in hockey and masculinity.<\/p>\n

He said in order to address a culture of secrecy and lack of boundaries, Hockey Canada needed to turn a \u201cflamethrower\u201d toward the issue. If one person has behaved in a way that is compromising someone else\u2019s safety, including sexual assault, McKee advocates for punishing the entire team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of messaging I want to hear from Hockey Canada: a zero tolerance policy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But with cars passing the courthouse after the verdict honking in support of the players, and with the union for professional hockey players now advocating for the men\u2019s return, what appears more likely, at least for now, is for the story that threatened to shake the foundations of a sport being forgotten as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The stunning conclusion to a pivotal sexual assault trial has left some observers in Canada shocked but unsurprised…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":102956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-102955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114938393995212444","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}