Canadian MP demands government further investigate Hockey Canada

OTTAWA — 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.

"Canadians deserve to know what their government is doing concretely for a real culture change in the face of sexual misconduct and assault at Hockey Canada and in other sports organizations across the country."

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.

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