Canada’s world junior trial saw juries tossed, intense testimony. Here’s a recap
Five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team will wait weeks until their fate in their high-profile sexual assault trial is determined.
Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have been on trial since late April inside a London, Ont., courtroom – accused of engaging in non-consensual group sex with a then-20-year-old woman in June 2018.
All five men pleaded not guilty to sexual assault when the trial began on April 22; McLeod also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
The roller-coaster trial wrapped up Friday, and Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia will summon everyone back in July to deliver her ruling.
Here is what unfolded over the eight weeks the trial played out inside the courtroom.
Trial saw 2 juries tossed, marathon questioning of complainant
It initially started as a jury trial, but just a few days in, a mistrial was declared out of concern for a tainted jury after a juror accused Hillary Dudding, one of Formenton’s lawyers, of initiating conversation while in line for lunch.
Dudding denied this and said any contact with the juror was inadvertent.
The trial resumed the following week with a new jury, and they would go on to watch videos of the complainant, known as E.M., taken by McLeod, hear from then-teammate Taylor Raddysh about a group-chat screenshot he took capturing the “3 way” message by McLeod, and hear from E.M. herself.
The now-27-year-old woman, whose identity is protected under a standard publication ban, was subject to intense cross-examination during her nine days on the stand.
Court heard the team was in London for events marking its gold-medal performance at that year’s championship, and that the complainant was out with friends when they met at a downtown bar on June 18, 2018.
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After being with McLeod and his teammates at the bar, E.M. would go on to have consensual sex with McLeod in his room in the early morning hours of June 19. Court has heard that E.M., who testified she was drunk and not of clear mind, was in the washroom after she had sex with McLeod and came out to a group of men in the room allegedly invited by McLeod in the group chat.
It was then that the Crown alleges several sexual acts took place without E.M.’s consent.
Defence lawyers have suggested E.M. wasn’t as drunk as she has testified she was, wanted a “wild night” with the players and was “egging” them on to have sex with her, and accused her of having a “clear agenda” at the trial.
E.M. has pushed back against those claims and at points outright rejected them, saying she was coaxed into staying in the room and was disrespected and taken advantage of by the group, who she said “could see I was out of my mind.”
After E.M. finished her testimony, then-teammate Tyler Steenbergen took the stand as a Crown witness, but his testimony was halted just two days in.
Court received a note from a juror stating they believed Formenton’s lawyers, Dudding and Dan Brown, would “turn to each other and laugh as if they are discussing our appearance” when the jury was entering the room.
Carroccia said she was concerned this could impact some jurors’ ability to fairly decide the case and that it could have a chilling effect on the defence lawyers. Brown and Dudding called the juror’s note an “unfortunate misinterpretation” and said “the very idea of counsel making light of a juror is illogical and runs directly counter to our purpose and function.”
Carroccia would go on to dismiss that jury, and the trial would go on by judge alone.
Only 1 accused would testify, Crown witness scrutinized
Eventually, court would go on to hear from police officers involved in the initial case in 2018 – and the renewed case in 2022 – and other players from that year’s team.
Vegas Golden Knights forward Brett Howden came under intense questioning during his time on the stand, and at one point briefly broke down in tears.
He teared up as he described feeling scared and nervous after learning Hockey Canada had launched an investigation into the encounter and realizing he would have to explain the situation to his parents and his girlfriend, now his wife.
Howden was accused by the Crown of feigning memory loss on details that could be damaging to his friends – which Carroccia ruled was unfounded – and faced questions in a voir dire over a text conversation the Crown wanted to introduce as evidence due to his lack of memory.
That conversation, which Crown prosecutors described as “critical,” was not admitted as evidence after Carroccia ruled against it twice.
Only Hart would testify at the trial, while the other players’ lawyers cited evidence and police interviews that were already played in court as part of the reasons why their clients were opting not to testify.
Hart testified in part that E.M. was asking the players to have sex with her, and he chose to ask for oral sex because he did not want to have intercourse. He said it was “consensual” and brief because it was “weird.”
Hart would agree with Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham under cross-examination that he was “putting a lot of faith in your friend, Mr. McLeod, to set something up that was morally acceptable to you.”
During closing submissions, defence lawyers called the trial “historic” and repeatedly attacked E.M.’s credibility, saying she “created a lie” out of regret and embarrassment, and that throughout the night, her “communication of consent is overwhelming.”
Meanwhile, the Crown urged the judge to convict the men, with prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham arguing the men were “reckless” for engaging in group sex with E.M. and not seeking her affirmative consent.
Cunningham said E.M. is a credible witness because she was abundantly fair in the trial, clear and concise, not resentful and confirmatory. She argued many defence submissions on E.M.’s behaviour are based on assumptions about how someone in her situation would act.
Court will resume at on July 24, when Carroccia will deliver her ruling.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
A new poll by Leger has found that Quebec residents are the happiest in Canada.
The web survey of nearly 40,000 Canadians found that Quebecers rated their happiness at an average of 72.4 out of 100, which is well above the national average.
New Brunswick followed Quebec with an average of 70.2, while Manitoba and Prince Edward Island finished at the bottom of the list.
Mississauga, Ont. had the highest happiness rating of the 10 largest cities, while Toronto was lowest.
Montreal finished second in the category.
The survey found that 49 per cent of respondents said their happiness level was unchanged over the past year, while 23 per said they were happier and 28 per cent said they were less happy.
“These results reveal a population that is both resilient and tested, affected by everyday uncertainty and challenges,” Leger’s executive summary read. “Happiness, while holding its ground overall, shows signs of fragility.”
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The survey found that people in the 18-to-24 and 24-to-34-year-old categories were more likely to report improved feelings of well-being, even if their overall happiness score remained below the national average.
In contrast, people in the 35-to-44 and 45-to-54 age brackets were more likely to report their happiness had deteriorated.
“There is a sense of well-being emerging among younger age groups,” the summary read. “However, this also highlights the importance of supporting adults in mid-life, who are more vulnerable to the pressures of working life.”
Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador were the three provinces with happiness levels above the national average of 68.7. They were followed, in descending order, by Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and P.E.I. The territories were not included in the survey.
In the survey of the 10 largest cities, Mississauga and Montreal finished ahead of Hamilton, Calgary, Brampton, Ottawa, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto, in that order.
Women reported slightly higher happiness levels than men, at 69.4 versus 68.0.
Leger says the overall results confirm “a level of happiness that is relatively high but stagnant or even slightly down compared to the pre-pandemic period.”
To get the results, Leger surveyed 39,841 Canadians aged 18 and up between March 31 and April 13.
Online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Ontario Provincial Police are set to host a town hall in Quadeville, Ont., this evening to answer questions from residents about an attack on an eight-year-old child that was initially linked to an animal.
Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy in the case and he faces charges of attempted murder and sexual assault with a weapon.
Members of the small community 170 kilometres west of Ottawa say they were in shock after hearing about the arrest and hope to get clarity at today’s event in the town’s community centre.
Local resident Christine Hudder says she wants to know how police came up with the animal attack theory and why families were told for days to keep their children indoors.
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The victim was found with life-threatening injuries on June 24 after she was reported missing, and remains in hospital.
Police say they are planning to give as much information as possible to locals given that an investigation is still underway.
A Burlington, Ont., mother was unsettled to discover that an old photo of her children had been used in a fraudulent GoFundMe that attempted to elicit donations in connection the recent Texas floods.
Julie Cole told Global News that a friend had contacted her on social media to say that an old photo of her six children was being used in an attempt to collect ill-gotten gains.
“She reached out to me and she was like, ‘Hey, here’s a link to a GoFundMe. Sorry this has happened to you, but obviously a picture of your kids has been used without your consent and it’s being used for a GoFundMe to raise money, to help a family dealing with the Texas floods,’” she said.
Cole explained that the fake GoFundMe, which has since been removed by the company, was looking for donations to support a widowed mother of six kids in connection.
At least 120 people have died while more than 100 others remain unaccounted for as a result of the flooding, including 27 children and councilors from Camp Mystic.
“They were trying to raise $40,000 because of the three daughters had been victims of the Texas floods,” Cole said. “And the way it was presented felt very much like they were part of maybe that girl’s camp.”
Julie Cole told Global News that a friend had contacted her on social media to make that an old photo of her six children was being used in an attempt to collect ill-gotten gains.
Provided
Cole said once the listing was sent to her, she immediately contacted GoFundMe to get the fundraiser taken down.
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By Wednesday morning, the company had done so and in a statement to Global News, GoFundMe said that the fundraiser did not receive any donations and the account has been banned from creating any further fundraisers on the platform.
“GoFundMe has the most robust donor protection processes of any platform of our kind. We have round the clock trust and safety support, humans and technology making sure funds will get to where they are intended,” the statement offered.
After contacting the company, Cole said she shared the incident on her social media pages to raise awareness.
“So I did put it on my Facebook and I put it in my LinkedIn as like a heads-up learning experience kind of thing and there was a lot of outrage,” she said.
Cole also noted that while she is disappointed by the incident, she is well aware that her troubles are miniscule in comparison to those affected by the flooding.
“I do feel a little bit in myself that what I’m feeling is in no way comparable to what the actual families are feeling who have gone through the tragedies of the flooding,” she said.
The photo came from an old blog post she had written 16 years ago. Cole can date the picture as the baby in the photo is now getting ready to go for his driver’s test.
“I’m one of those, like, OG mommy bloggers from 20 years ago. So my kids have been on the internet. They have been sort of in the public eye,” she explained.
“And I know the risk is out there. And I think parents need to remember that, that their kids’ photos can be just screenshotted and used without consent. So there’s one lesson.
“I felt a little, well, very unsettled about it, particularly because of what it was being used for.”
In addition to being a parenting blogger, she also helped found Mabel’s Labels, which offers washable labels for kids clothing and other school items, in an effort to keep them out of the lost and found.
Julie Cole and her six kids in 2025.
Provided
Being a spokesperson for the company while raising six kids keeps her in the parenting sphere and she offered some other advice to parents about the images and social media.
“I think parents just have to be mindful and aware that once it’s out there, you know you’d like to think you’ll get consent or you’ll give consent if somebody asks or they want to use it, but people will just take it and they can just take,” she said.
“You have to be especially careful now with AI, because these photos can be altered.”
She also warned parents to check with their kids as they get older to see if they are OK with pics being posted and that people should be mindful of where they are sharing their donations.
“Another lesson out of this is people need to really be cautious and know where they’re putting their fundraising dollars,” Cole said.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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