{"id":25662,"date":"2025-07-26T14:28:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25662\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T14:28:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:28:51","slug":"at-the-bars-lining-londons-streets-the-hockey-canada-verdict-hits-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25662\/","title":{"rendered":"At the bars lining London\u2019s streets, the Hockey Canada verdict hits close to home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Twenty-six-year-old criminology student Lana Allan outside a bar on Richmond Street in London, Ont., a few hundred metres from the courthouse where the Hockey Canada verdict was read on Thursday.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

A few hours after the verdict was handed down in the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada\u2019s world junior hockey team, a thunderstorm swept over London, Ont., soaking the streets and filling the darkening sky with bolts of lighting. But in the bar district a few blocks from the courthouse, the party continued. Groups of young men and young women trooped back and forth along Richmond Street, laughing, chatting and vaping as they went from bar to bar between bursts of rain.<\/p>\n

Many had just learned that a judge had found the players not guilty<\/a>, and the news was starting to sink in. The whole affair began on this strip at a place called Jack\u2019s, where one of the players met the complainant in the case and took her back to a nearby hotel. What went on in that hotel room became the focus of a national conversation, raising questions about power dynamics, hockey culture and what constitutes sexual consent. <\/p>\n

The key legal issues at the heart of the Hockey Canada verdict<\/a><\/p>\n

Opinion: #MeToo changed our culture, but it couldn\u2019t change our courts<\/a><\/p>\n

The acquittals ended the legal drama, at least for now, but the debate about those delicate issues goes on. To get a sense of how it is playing out, The Globe and Mail spent a few hours on the strip asking people what they thought.<\/p>\n

Some were dismayed by the verdict. \u201cAs a female it is very stressful to know that \u2013 whatever the truth is, whatever the verdict is \u2013 females don\u2019t really have a voice any more,\u201d said Nicole Fazekas, 31, who works in sales for an insurance company. Despite what the judge said, she believed the complainant, who was known at the trial only as E.M.<\/p>\n

Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said near the start of her judgment that, \u201cI do not find the evidence of E.M. to be either credible or reliable.\u201d She declared Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dub\u00e9 and Cal Foote not guilty of sexual assault. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A thunderstorm hits London the night after the verdict.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Standing in the entryway of Joe Kool\u2019s, opposite Victoria Park, Ms. Fazekas said she thought it took far too long for the case to come to trial, leaving recollections hazy. (The events in question happened in 2018 after a Hockey Canada gala.) The result of the trial left her feeling nervous about dating, she added, given the unsettled questions about consent.<\/p>\n

Standing next to her, dressed in sequined boots for a night out, 31-year-old Brooke Davis, who works in marketing, had a different opinion. The way she understood it, E.M. had \u201cevery opportunity\u201d to leave the hotel room but decided to stay. She said that many young women are drawn to hockey players, especially at the high levels of the game, and that E.M. appeared to be one of them. <\/p>\n

\u201cI could see exactly why she did it. She found out what they did and who they did it for and she made her mark.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case did a disservice to women who \u201cactually go through domestic violence or abuse,\u201d she said, because now they may be seen as crying wolf.<\/p>\n

Passing by a few minutes later, Lana Allan, 26, a criminology student, agreed that \u201ca lot of girls lie about sexual assault, so that makes it very difficult for people to believe it when it actually happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, she said that in genuine cases of assault some victims decide not to come forward because \u201cusually you just get more hate for that\u201d and most celebrities and sports figures accused of sexual assault escape punishment anyway.<\/p>\n

A little farther down the strip, realtor Sallie McFarlane, 64, was sitting on a bar stool having a drink with a friend. She understood that the judge had to go by the law and deliver the verdict, but she also understood the position E.M. found herself in on the night in question and believed her account of what happened. \u201cI don\u2019t think consent was given,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Sallie McFarlane, 64, says she believes E.M.’s account of what happened.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Across the street, Perry Wall, 29, a mechanical engineer and a member of a Christian group, was approaching passersby and handing them a list of quotations from the Bible. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a tragedy what happened,\u201d he said, explaining that the case showed that hockey coaches and other leaders have failed to teach players how to conduct themselves properly off the ice. Whether what the five men did that night was criminal or not, they should have known better and exercised more common sense, Mr. Wall said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThings like, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s a naked girl in our room. Let\u2019s not all take advantage of it.\u2019 Doesn\u2019t matter if she was willing or not. Like, that\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he spoke, a strong wind kicked up and big rain drops started to fall on the London streets again.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Perry Wall on Richmond Street. ‘I think it\u2019s a tragedy what happened,’ he said.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Twenty-six-year-old criminology student Lana Allan outside a bar on Richmond Street in London,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-25662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}