Black teen filing human rights complaint against Hockey Quebec after being called racial slur

A Black teenager from Île-Perrot and his family are taking action against Hockey Quebec for what they say is a failure to address racism on and off the ice.

The family is filing a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission against the governing body for ice hockey in the province after the teen was allegedly subjected to racial slurs. 

The junior hockey player, Aiden Chase, and his mother, Laurie Philipps, made the announcement alongside the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) on Sunday.

The complaint stems from an incident in December during a game in the Lac St. Louis league, when 16-year-old Chase, who plays with the L'Île-Perrot Midget A U18 team, was allegedly called the N-word by a player on the opposing team from Valleyfield.

A brawl ensued on the ice.

L'Île-Perrot's assistant coach, James McCaig, said he was shoved by the opposing team's coach while trying to break up the fight. He called the police who arrived shortly after to get statements from both teams.

The Valleyfield Braves coach is now facing assault charges.

According to CRARR, the Valleyfield player was given an eight-game suspension, which was later downgraded to five following his appeal at a disciplinary hearing in January.

At the hearing, a parent allegedly repeated the N-word, and Philipps says the committee did not speak out against the use of the racial slur — an allegation Hockey Quebec refutes, saying one of its directors stepped in to mute the microphone of the parent who used the word.

Hockey Quebec says it apologized for the incident.

Chase isn't satisfied with how the situation was handled. He thinks Hockey Quebec isn't "equipped" to properly deal with racist behaviour, and after seeing how the