Halifax goalie, 16, says he's again faced racial slurs, this time at P.E.I. tournament

A 16-year-old Halifax hockey player who was called the N-word on the ice three years ago says he has again been subjected to racial slurs, this time during a recent tournament in Charlottetown.

Mark Connors, who is Black and a goalie with the Halifax Hawks U18 AA team, said the N-word was directed at him again during the first game he played in the Falcons Early Bird Tournament, which was held Nov. 18-21.

"Some of the younger kids in the stands were calling me a racial slur, one guy said Halifax has a n----r for a goalie," said Connors. "In the third period they kept on talking, saying n--, n--, n--."

Connors said some of his teammates and coaches heard the comments that were coming from the stands.

From there the weekend got even worse.

Other teams in the tournament were staying at the same hotel as the Hawks. Connors said players from a team in P.E.I. started hurling more racial abuse when Connors and a teammate walked back to their rooms after checking out the hotel gym.

"When I walked by them they said, 'You shouldn't be playing hockey, this is a white man's sport.'"

Connors said he did his best to stay calm and did not engage. The incident was reported to hotel staff who then called Charlottetown police, who dealt with what they say was a noise complaint.

Hockey PEI, the governing body for organized hockey on the island, has launched an investigation.

"This process will be thorough and may take some time due to the complex nature," Connor Cameron, executive director of Hockey PEI, said in an email to CBC. "We have no further comment until the investigation has been completed."

Part of that investigation will be a Zoom meeting Connors and his family will have late next week with Robert MacMillan, Hockey PEI's suspension co-ordinator.

The two incidents on the same weekend has Connors and his family very upset. They come 3½ years after Connors's father, Wayne Connors, spoke publicly about how his son had been called a racial slur at a peewee hockey game.

Near the end of the 2017-18 hockey season, an opposing player called Mark Connors, then 12 years old, the N-word after Connors stopped him on a breakaway. That player was suspended for 45 games, which he began serving at the start of the next minor hockey season.

Wayne Connors wrote a letter to Cameron outlining what happened with his son at the Charlottetown tournament and the disappointment they are now feeling after facing racist remarks for a second time.