Former QMJHL players charged with sexual abuse of a minor

Several members of the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) were charged with group sexual assault of a minor in 2016.

Two of the three defendants are former members of the Voltigeurs. Two of them pleaded guilty to assaulting a 15-year-old girl, while the third, Noah Corson, son of former NHL player Shayne Corson, has not yet entered a guilty plea and is scheduled to appear in court in June. Corson currently plays professional hockey for the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL.

According to a consistent statement of facts presented to the court, the victim did not know two of the men before the night of the assault. The group began their evening at a restaurant before returning to the victim’s home, where sexual acts began that escalated into a non-consensual gang assault. The assault was videotaped by one of the perpetrators on a cell phone, and according to the consistent statement of facts, the perpetrators knew the victim was crying.

According to a Radio-Canada article that broke the story, the victim did not know that two of the perpetrators were hockey players until she attended a Drummondville Voltigeurs game and saw their photos on the wall.

“I recognized them like that, otherwise I would never have known they were hockey players (…) I immediately started crying. I guess when I realized they were right there, that I had just cheered them on to victory … suddenly everything seemed to fit together,” she said.

Both the QMJHL and the Voltigeurs claimed to have had no knowledge of the allegations or of the sexual assault itself. The QMJHL released its own statement on the matter on Tuesday.

“Both the league and the Drummondville Voltigeurs organization were recently made aware of this incident, which is believed to have occurred in 2016,” the statement said. “The QMJHL and its teams will offer their full cooperation in any police investigation and throughout the legal process. Our first thoughts are with the alleged victim and we remain very sensitive to her situation. This explains why the league will continue to fulfill its important mission of raising awareness and educating its players about sexual misconduct and its consequences.”

The victim stated that she had suicidal thoughts after the incidents and sought psychological counseling, but is still struggling with the trauma of the attack.

“After those events, I developed a kind of social phobia. I went into a bar for the first time this fall and it was difficult. Even today, even when I go to a public place like a restaurant, I have to be able to see everyone in the room,” she told Radio-Canada. “I can’t have the impression that something can happen to me from behind. It was the same at school. (After the attack) I had to sit at the back of the class the whole time.”

The allegations come after Hockey Canada and the CHL have had to deal with numerous allegations of gang-related sexual violence by young hockey players in Canada, including allegations related to Canada’s 2003 and 2013 World Junior Championship teams.

This includes allegations of gang sexual violence against teams within the QMJHL. In 2015, members of the Gatineau Olympiques faced allegations of gang rape, followed by two Victoriaville Tigers being charged in 2021 with assault on a 17-year-old girl.

The news came to light the same day that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage resumed hearings into Hockey Canada’s handling of sexual assault allegations. At that hearing, Liberal MP Chris Bittle stated that the CHL, which includes the QMJHL and the Drummondville Voltigeurs, had “got away almost completely unscathed” in the process, despite its connection to the assaults and to hockey culture in Canada being undeniable.

Canada’s Minister of Sport, whom the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage would like to question again about measures to combat sexual violence in sport in Canada, also commented on the attack on Tuesday.

“The stories that have come out of junior hockey this morning are horrifying,” said Pascale St-Onge, Canada’s minister of sport. “There is a deep-rooted problem of toxic culture in hockey in this country and that must change. At all levels, leaders, coaches and parents must do more to prevent sexual abuse.”

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