One year after the sexual assault case against the five Canadian World Juniors hockey players resulted in an acquittal, the recent arrest of three Toronto Police Service officers surfaces one of the troubling issues raised in that case: the sexual degradation of women as a shared, male bonding experience.
On May 21 and 22, Vancouver Rape Relief will intervene in two appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada that raise an important issue for sexual assault survivors whose cases go before the criminal courts.
Rape Relief is intervening to argue that men who do not bother to consider whether their sexual partners are consenting (or whether they are over the age of consent) are at fault and should be held accountable.
We believe you, and we are here with you. If you call us for support, we will follow your lead. If you want someone to talk to or strategize with, or want to know what options are available to you, please give us a call at 604 872 8212.
If you would like someone to come with you to the hospital, you can ask a friend, family member, or an advocate (like us!). If you have any questions about rape kits or want someone to come with you to the hospital, please call our crisis line 604 872 8212.
It’s not just Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Callan Foote. Many men in hockey, men in sports, men in general, commit sexual violence against women with impunity.
Hockey Canada has settled 21 sexual assault “allegations” since 1989. And these are just the cases that have been brought to and settled by Hockey Canada. Who knows how many rapes/sexual assaults male hockey players have actually committed against women with no recourse or justice for the women.
These brutal attacks illustrate the absolute disregard for women’s humanity inherent in sexual violence. With cases spanning decades, it has become clear that the existing structures governing men’s hockey in Canada both protected perpetrators from meaningful accountability and failed to curb further sexual violence from occurring.
