No decision yet on hazing charges: police

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This article was published 28/10/2011 (5445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — There’s no denying the hazing in a Neepawa hockey dressing room was humiliating and degrading.

But is subjecting rookies to the indignity of lewd initiations a sexual assault?

For the moment, the RCMP will only say the incident involving the Neepawa Natives junior hockey team that dates back to September is under investigation.

But a University of Manitoba criminal law professor says even if the Mounties lay charges, getting a conviction might be a longshot.

“The issue that troubles me — to be quite honest about this — is that there’s a whole issue of consent here,’’ David Deutscher said.

“Because it seems that although there were actions of the other players … are reprehensible just from a moral perspective, there’s a question of whether or not they’re criminal because it seems that the victim in this case was consenting to the participation in it. The only thing that I can say is, at least in my perspective, if it was a criminal offence I think it’d be very difficult to prove.”

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League investigation found the incident was one designed to “humiliate, demean, degrade and disgrace” the rookies in suspending 16 players, an assistant coach and the head coach/general manager. The team was also fined $5,000.

Sandra Kirby, a University of Winnipeg sport scientist and former Olympic rower, said the investigation by the MJHL was “very quick, and quick to take action.”

“That’s encouraging. What is not encouraging is how widespread it is in the team,” Kirby said.

Kirby said the incident was an “intentional, degrading, embarrassing, endangering activity,” though it was up to the RCMP to determine if it was criminal.

RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish didn’t say when police anticipate making a decision about whether charges will be laid.

“Investigations take time. We will take as long as it takes to complete the investigation,” Karpish said.

Meanwhile, Manitoba politicians weighed in on the hazing issue Thursday. Opposition Leader Hugh McFadyen called it “totally unacceptable,” while Sport Minister Eric Robinson said the Neepawa incident was “regrettable and unfortunate.”

Asked if hazing should be deemed a separate criminal act as it is in many U.S. states, Robinson said: “I think that we’ll have to seriously look at that.”

He said an investigation into the Neepawa incident is likely “to reveal some things that perhaps all of us as Manitobans will learn from.”

Meanwhile, sources told the Sun late Thursday night that Natives assistant coach Brad Biggers had resigned.

The parents of one of the boys who was hazed says Biggers was in the room when it happened, a charge Biggers denies.

» Winnipeg Free Press