Without denying that abuse may have been committed when they played for the Voltigeurs de Drummondville in the mid-1990s, former players of the organization claim to have never had knowledge of the physical and sexual abuse described in a request for class action filed this Wednesday morning.
Carl Latulippe, who played for the Saguenéens de Chicoutimi and the Voltigeurs de Drummondville in 1994-1995, is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against the QMJHL, its 18 teams and the Canadian Hockey League. The action seeks to find redress for “all hockey players who suffered abuse while underage and playing” in the QMJHL from 1969 to the present.
Latulippe’s story with the Saguenéens was first reported in La Presse a few weeks ago. The 45-year-old hockey player described the toxic climate he experienced in the fall of 1994. According to him, recruits suffered physical and sexual violence imposed by certain club veterans. He left Chicoutimi during the season and joined the Voltigeurs.
In Drummondville, we can read in the request for collective action, he found a similar dynamic. Recruits “slathered themselves in shampoo before showering so their skin was slippery and veterans couldn’t grab them in the showers and assault them,” Latulippe said. In particular, he would have witnessed a shocking scene during which “a teammate was grabbed by a veteran who inserted a hanger into his anus, resulting in his tearing”.
The 1994-1995 edition of the Voltigeurs included some well-known names in the hockey world. In particular those of Daniel Brière and Denis Gauthier.
Denis Gauthier, now a television analyst, was part of the Voltigeurs coaching staff from 2010 to 2015 and remained with the club until 2021 in a consulting role. He too claims to have “never been aware” of the alleged facts. “I saw nothing, suffered nothing, did nothing like that,” he said during a brief phone conversation. He is sorry, however, that such an “atrocious” situation took place “under [his] nose”.
In the development of the first report on Carl Latulippe, La Presse had been made aware of the allegations concerning the Voltigeurs, but had not been able to verify the facts at this time. Their presence in a court document, however, makes them public.
A former player had nevertheless confirmed at that time some of the less severe elements mentioned in the appeal. In particular, an initiation activity during which rookie players were forced, under the influence of alcohol, to “pass a mixture of food from mouth to mouth, without swallowing, until the last rookie, who was to ultimately swallow it all.” This person also confirmed that rookie players had been locked naked in a bus toilet, a common practice in Canadian junior hockey in the 90s.
The QMJHL has not yet reacted to the filing of the class action request.
In Quebec, Isabelle Charest, Minister responsible for Sport, Recreation and the Outdoors, refrained “from supporting or not supporting a class action”.
As in the past, she encouraged “people to complain and take the remedies, the right remedies, to get justice.” “Now it’s filed and we’ll see how it goes,” she added. Going through the justice system is the right way when you have allegations of sexual abuse or emotional abuse and everything. These are the good courts, indeed. »