Victor Mete wants everyone to know he had no involvement in the alleged assault that launched a lawsuit against Hockey Canada, which ended in a settlement. Mete was part of Team Canada for the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships that started in December of 2017, but in a statement released on his Twitter account he insists he was not part of the celebration of the gold medal where the alleged sexual assault took place. He adds that he's deeply troubled by the incident and is willing to speak with whomever is conducting the investigation. Here's his statement in full:
Hockey Canada has lost pretty much all of its major sponsors for the 2022 World Junior taking place in Edmonton in August. Major names like Scotiabank, Tim Horton's, Canadian Tire, Telus and others.
A few months ago, Hockey Canada announced that it had settled a lawsuit with an unnamed plaintiff after she filed court documents stating he was assaulted by eight people at a Hockey Canada Foundation Gala in June of 2018. Those papers said all of the assaulters were members of the CHL "including but not limited to members of the Canada U20 Men's Junior Hockey Team." No names were mentioned in the suit and Hockey Canada didn't release any at the time. Since then, the criticism for the organization's decision to settle the suit without even investigating who was allegedly involved has reached a detrimental level. Besides sponsors dropping out and redirecting funds, politicians have called Hockey Canada officials before a parliamentary committee to get more answers. HC is partially funded by the Government of Canada.
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Meanwhile, MP Kevin Waugh, who has been highly critical of Hockey Canada, tells TSN's Rick Westhead that since the testimony 10 days ago by the organization's officials, "he's been contacted by 3 people who haven't shared their stories before now who say they were sexually assaulted in connection with hockey."
"No doubt there will be more," said Waugh.
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