Gatineau minor hockey player speaks out about racist incidents
A young Gatineau, Que. minor hockey player is speaking out about several alleged incidents of racism and discrimination on the ice.
The troubling circumstance caused the teen pain, but also empowerment as he hopes to prevent this from happening to others.
“Stuff like that shouldn’t belong in a sport, or life in general,” said David Godwin, a 14-year-old hockey player.
Godwin says the incidents made him feel unworthy.
“I felt I shouldn’t have my place there. I shouldn’t play the sport because of what they were saying,” he said, adding that he is speaking up about what happened because it's the right thing to do.
“People were calling me the 'n-word' and calling me an African animal,” he said. “They were trying to get in my head and trying to discriminate me because of my colour.”
He says the incidents involved a player on another team while he was playing minor hockey for Aylmer, Que.
“It’s a lot of pressure, but I want to speak up to myself so the next person that is going to have to go through this, they know what to do,” he said.
Vicky Desellieres, David’s mom, says the first alleged incident happened in November while facing a team within the Association of Minor Hockey in Gatineau.
“The second and the third time I made a written complaint,” she said. “The second time there was a kid on David’s team, another player, that heard them calling David a ‘chacal.’”
She said it’s a French word for an African animal.
While Desellieres doesn’t want to publicly identify the team or player involved, she says she wrote an email to the coach and provided the information, but nothing was done.
“After complaining and nothing getting done, even when he had a witness and nothing got done,” she said.
Desellieres says he got fed up with nothing happening so he checked the player involved on the ice.
“I don’t think its the right thing that he did and he felt badly, but he was complaining and nothing got done,” she said. “Nobody hears the racist comments and in the end, he looked like the bad guy that day."
Desellieres said her son was suspended for the check and was advised to leave the rink by the back door to avoid running into the player and his family after the game.
Both hockey associations say all the players on both teams have been spoken to about the incident, but the person responsible hasn’t been identified.
“We now have the name of the players who may have told that kind of comment and we will meet again with these players,” said Vincent Britt-Guy, the president of the Association of Minor Hockey La Lievre de Gatineau President.
“In order for us to give the player the five-game suspension for the comments, we really need to identify who did that, but this isn’t the case in this situation,” said Claudine Bourgeois of Hockey Outaouais.
Meanwhile Hockey Quebec says it’s requested a report of the events.
"Any discriminatory incident or comment that affects the integrity of a person must be reported and denounced," Hockey Quebec said in a statement. "Under no circumstances will such discriminatory actions or comments be tolerated, whether on or off the ice. We invite any person involved or witnessing such a situation to file a complaint."
After speaking up about what happened, Godwin is trying to refocus on his love for the game.
“I really like hockey. I train for it everyday and it’s my favourite sport,” he said.
The 14-year-old hopes to one day play professionally and says he realizes now that he deserves to be on the ice no matter what.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.