London Police Services’ Chief Thai Truong opened the much-anticipated news conference on the high-profile inquiry into allegations of sexual assault involving Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team with an apology to the victim and her family about the length of time that has passed.
“I want to extend on behalf of the London Police Service my sincerest apology to the victim and her family for the amount of time that it has taken to reach this point," Truong told the news conference.
"As a police officer working in this space for many years, I can tell you that this is a difficult, difficult situation for all victims and survivors of sexual violence,” he said.
After the conference concluded, more questions remained unanswered than answered.
Five players – Dillon Dubé of the Calgary Flames, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils, Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers and former NHLer Alex Formenton were charged last month with sexual assault in an incident that allegedly took place in the city in June 2018. A court document shows McLeod is facing an additional charge of sexual assault for “being a party to the offence.”
Dube was captain of the 2018 team and is a former Cochrane, Alberta resident. He was born in Golden, BC, and moved to Cochrane where he played minor hockey.
London Police initially closed their investigation without charges months after the incident but reopened it years later in 2022. A police application for a search warrant filed in 2022 said there were grounds to believe a woman was sexually assaulted by five players on the junior team.
The chief and Det-Sgt Katherine Dann repeatedly cited ongoing legal proceedings as the reason why they could not answer many of the questions, such as why it has taken six years to lay charges, and why they abandoned the investigation, only to reopen it later.
“I know there are questions regarding the initial investigations and the findings of the 2022 (police investigation) review,” Truong said.
“As the chief of police , while I am committed to transparency and accountability, I must ensure I don’t compromise the judicial process. There is a time to disclose those answers. That time is not now.”
Truong was asked whether the initial investigation met London police standards. He declined to discuss it. He was then asked whether this case could shake the faith that women suffering abuse have in police.
“We as a police service are doing our best. We will continue to do our best to make sure we become better and better every day. This (community trust in police) is a widespread problem. We know we can’t make our community safe without our community partners,” Truong said.
Asked whether London police failed the complainant, Truong said answering that would “truly compromise the ongoing prosecution. These are questions you want to know and I think you deserve to know. I can’t answer that. I will answer that at the appropriate time.”
Truong rejected any suggestion the investigation has been affected in any way by the fact that there were high profile hockey players involved.
“This is an investigation where there’s a victim of sexual assault. There’s a widespread prevalence of violence against women worldwide. And one complex thing we need to address is us, as a society. The sexualization of young women in our society is contributing . . . how we portray young women and girls on TV, in music videos, how we write about them, magazine shoots – all that contributes to sexual violence and the normalization of what we’re seeing. I’m not a hockey player, I don’t know nothing about hockey. This is a sexual assault investigation.”
Dann, who is with the LPS sexual assault and child abuse unit, read a statement from the lawyer for the complainant:
“She remains committed to see this process through. We simply ask that media and others respect her privacy and her dignity as this matter proceeds through the court process.”
Dann said they were first alerted by a person “related” to the victim one day after the alleged sexual assault in June 2018. Police had a statement within days, but the investigation was closed in February 2019 without charges.
Earlier in the day, a brief hearing was held in a London court, with lawyers appearing on behalf of the five players. April 30 was set as their next court date. None of the players appeared in the video link.
The lawyers have said their clients will defend themselves against the allegations, and all five are expected to plead not guilty. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
At the Friday news conference ahead of the NHL all-star festivities in Toronto, commissioner Gary Bettman addressed the charges.
In May 2022 the league launched its own investigation, independent of the police.
They were in the process of determining how to analyze and act on its findings when news of the impending charges broke last month, Bettman said.
“All of the NHL players who appear to be subject of indictment are no longer with their teams, so at this stage, the most responsible and prudent thing for us to do is await the conclusion of the judicial proceedings, at which point we will respond as appropriate,” he said.
Hockey Canada also investigated parallel to the police and NHL probes. They have not issued a statement on the charges.
A woman known as E.M. filed a $3.55-million lawsuit against Hockey Canada in connection to the alleged incident. It was settled in May 2022 for an undisclosed amount.
When the lawsuit story was broken by TSN, it was also learned that Hockey Canada was using money from minor hockey fees to build up a fund to cover uninsured legal liabilities — including other assault lawsuits.
The national uproar resulted in sponsors leaving Hockey Canada, and the resignation of the CEO and the board.
