Minor hockey player says racial abuse has tarnished his season

A Black minor hockey player in Gatineau, Que., says he has been the target of repeated racial taunts and intimidation on the ice throughout this past season.

David Godwin, 14, plays for Les Voiliers d'Aylmer at the Bantam BB level. He said players from one opposing team have targeted him with the N-word slur while he was on the ice.

On one occasion, Godwin said he was compared to African jungle animals.

"It kept on going for the whole year," he said.

The alleged incidents all took place in games between Godwin's team in the Association hockey mineur d'Aylmer (AHMA) and a team from the neighbouring Association de hockey mineur La Lièvre de Gatineau (AHMLG).

CBC is not naming the opposing team or players due to an ongoing internal investigation by the association.

The two teams met six times this season for league games under the umbrella of Hockey Outaouais. That organization recently noted a sharp increase in discriminatory behaviour since the league returned to play following its most recent COVID-19 shutdown.

Godwin's mother Vicky Deselliers said her son told her about the first time he was called N-word on the drive home after the game.

"I can't even explain the look on his face," she said. "He was not sad … he was just shocked."

Then in early March, on what he said was the third occasion he had a racist taunt on the ice, Godwin retaliated.

A smartphone video of the incident obtained by CBC shows Godwin hitting an opposing player from behind. The player falls and collides with the boards. The words spoken by the players on the ice are not audible in the video.

Godwin said he was ejected from the game and suspended from his team's next game.

Deselliers said when she went to meet her son after the incident, his lips