Another report after the trials is the Winnipeg Free Press

Opinion

First he apologized. But sometimes you need to heal at the bottom of the road.

This week, London police chief Tai Chiong apologized to a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted for taking almost five years to bring charges against five members of the 2018 world junior hockey team.

The woman contacted the London police in 2018. An investigation was launched, but in 2019 police decided not to press charges. Ultimately, the woman, known only as EM in court documents, is suing Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and eight members of the world junior team. News reports in 2022 revealed the complaint and the out-of-court settlement sparked a new criminal investigation.

Last month, five members of that team — Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube and Alex Formenton — were finally indicted. While the decision to reinvestigate is a positive step, there are concerns about the original decision to drop the matter.

Truong and the police team reinvestigating the case could not discuss that part of the story. Citing the ongoing investigation and prosecution, Truong and Detective Sgt. Catherine Danne, the lead investigator and head of London's police sexual assault unit, could only say that her team had “explored investigative possibilities” in 2018, which were not fully covered.

“I can confirm that some of this evidence did not exist when the investigation was completed in 2019,” Dunn said.

Everyone is choosing their words carefully, and for a reason. No one wants to compromise a criminal prosecution and there can be professional consequences for the police involved in the original investigation. But what little the police are saying now says a lot about what happened.

When you combine Dann's comments about the new “investigative opportunities” to find evidence that is not “available” in 2019, you begin to see an emerging picture of an unfinished original investigation. It's too much for the players to give up, and the alleged victim may rely on their word.

It's not a surprising finding: It's well known that police don't do the best job of investigating sexual assault, especially in cases involving celebrities and where the case is treated as one person's word for another.