Val d’Or hockey coach Yvanohé Bélisle should be disciplined and issue a public apology for screaming racist insults at young Cree hockey players after a recent game in Val d’Or, says Chief Abel Bosum.
Bélisle was irate because his Bantam CC team had just suffered its first loss of the season to a team from Chibougamau-Chapais, which included four Crees aged 14 and I5.
According to an account in the Sentinelle newspaper, he stormed over to the Chibougamau squad and started yelling at them: “Les christ de Cawich…Je vais aller m’en chercher des joueurs AA et on va les débâtir les ostis de Cawich.” (Translation: “F***ing savages… I’m going to go find some AA players and we will destroy the f***ing savages…”)
Bélisle has yet to be disciplined by the Bantam CC Hockey League, said Chief Bosum, the father of one of the boys present. He wrote a letter to Gerald MacDonald, president of the Bantam CC Hockey League, demanding action. If the league doesn’t suspend or fire Bélisle, the chief threatened to contact the Quebec Human Rights Commission and explore legal action.
Bosum also says Cree chiefs may consider moving the annual December hockey tournament out of Val d’Or.
“I am writing to you at this time with a great sense of outrage and frustration,” Bosum’s letter begins (see Letters, p. 6).
“I believe that there needs to be a clear message sent by the league that this type of behaviour is not tolerated by the league.”
Jerry Poirier, manager of the Chibougamau team, said he will also file a complaint with the league. The coach of Chibougamau’s team, Daniel Ménard, couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the insults. “In all this, we shouldn’t forget that these statements were addressed to youths of 14 and 15 years. I understand that for him the provincial final is important but I believe that as a volunteer we must respect the youth who come out to skate,” he said in a Sentinelle article.
