Hockey Canada sexual assault trial 'reinvigorated' talk on complex issues of consent, sports culture

WARNING: This article includes graphic details of alleged sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.

Regardless of the outcome of the sexual assault trial for five former world junior hockey players, the issues it's raised — about hockey culture, consent and how the legal system handles such complaints — will be debated long after the judge hands down her decisions Thursday in London, Ont., suggest legal experts and advocates.

It's expected Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia will give lengthy reasons for her rulings after the eight-week trial that wrapped in mid-June. Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote and Michael McLeod have all pleaded not guilty. The case centres on a woman, known in court as E.M. due to a standard publication ban, who testified she was sexually assaulted over several hours in a London hotel in June 2018. 

The decisions will be "just one part of a much bigger story and saga around both the lives that are implicated in this particular case, but also how we deal with sexual assault in the criminal justice system, and how we deal with sexual assault in sport and in society in general," said Melanie Randall, a law professor at London's Western University. 

"The case is really important and significant because it throws into stark relief so many bigger issues." 

Carroccia will explain the legal reasoning for her verdict, something that wouldn't happen if jurors were deciding the outcome because jury deliberations are private in Canada, Randall said.

"I'm really glad it's a judge because we will hear her articulate a rationale for why she found what she did, and that's really, really important." 

Each of the five