Teenager says racial taunts made him feel unwelcome in hockey: ‘Like I shouldn’t be there’

It was the first time it had ever happened to David Godwin – on or off the ice.

The 14-year-old youth hockey player from Gatineau, Que., was playing for his team in the Bantam BB league when a racial slur was directed at him.

Then it happened again, and again.

The series of racial taunts by players from an opposing team stunned the Gatineau teenager. He never expected race to factor into how other players saw him.

“On the ice, they’d call me an African animal, or that as well, the N-word,” said Godwin.

“It was a weird feeling. Like I shouldn’t be there. Like I should change, or I shouldn’t be able to play.”

Godwin says the first incident was in November 2021. He says it started happening while playing against a team from a neighbouring league

Once it happened during post-game handshakes. Some of Godwin’s teammates heard the comments and backed him up when reporting what happened.

Shortly before Christmas, it happened again.

“I got an email saying it’s unacceptable, something will be done, they’re going to do something,” said Vicky Deselliers, Godwin’s mother. “But nothing ever gets done. Big words, no action.”

The last time it happened was during a game last month. Godwin checked the player who taunted him from behind, sending him into the boards. The other player was injured, and Godwin was suspended for the hit.

“The third time, I just, I couldn’t anymore,” said the teen. “So I just reacted without thinking and injured the guy.”

Godwin’s mom couldn’t understand why her son reacted that way, until she talked to him.

“His lips were shaking,” Deselliers recounted. “His eyes were watering. And that’s when he said, ‘he told me skate faster, you N-word.’ And it breaks my heart. Because he looked like the bad one, because people were cursing him out for something he was complaining before.”

Deselliers and Godwin didn’t protest the suspension, but they wanted to know what would happen about the racist taunting.

“I was told nothing can be done,” said the boy’s mother. “A ref has to hear it. Kids are not stupid. They will not say that beside a ref. If we can’t listen to a kid’s word… It’s not like he’s been complaining every season. It’s the first time, in how many years? Always against the same team.”

Both junior hockey leagues involved say they’ve interviewed both teams over what happened, but it’s not clear what comes next.

CityNews reached out to the president of Hockey Aylmer – the league for which Godwin plays – asking about the incidents and fighting racism in junior hockey. A request for comment was not returned.

Godwin says he’s trying to use the negative incidents as a form of motivation.

“It actually made me want to push even more, just to show them I can be a good hockey player even though I’m Black, even though I’m different to their eyes,” he said. “I just hope the next generation and next players that are going to go through stuff like this, I just hope they won’t have to go through all of this, because nobody should have to feel ashamed for their skin colour or whoever they are.”

—With files from Xiaoli Li