Rachel Doerrie publicizes her discrimination allegations against Emilie Castonguay and Canucks

Nov 28, 2022 - 2:19 PM

One of the greatest mysteries surrounding the Canucks this season has some more clarity.

Prior to the beginning of the Canucks 2022-23 campaign, promising new hire Rachel Doerrie was mysteriously dismissed by the team just eight months into her tenure.

What made the dismissal even more interesting was that Doerrie was given a promotion to the coaching staff as “analyst and assistant to the video coach” one month before her employment ended.

Well, the saga entered another chapter over the weekend.

Doerrie released a Twitter post on Sunday which included her Complaint Report to the BC Human Rights Tribunal.

The report talks about how her relationship with Canucks assistant GM Emilie Castonguay took a turn for the worst after she received her promotion in August.

Castonguay was reportedly “cold” towards her from that point on, and conflict arose when The Province’s Patrick Johnston wrote an article about Doerrie’s promotion, which she reshared on Instagram.

Doerrie didn’t think there was anything wrong with resharing the article, citing the fact that Mike Yeo did something very similar within days of Doerrie being interrogated by Castonguay for doing so.

Then, after Doerrie said her only communication with Johnston was a simple text back after Johnston texted her about the nice things Boudreau said about her, Doerrie alleges that Castonguay responded to her by saying “you’re not important enough to be cared about” and “no one in the media is your friend.”

Castonguay also allegedly said “I don’t know if you have what it takes to do the job mentally.”

Doerrie cited this as being highly inappropriate, especially due to her PTSD, anxiety and depression, which the Canucks were already aware of.

Castonguay allegedly continued to ignore Doerrie, which made her feel isolated at training camp, leading to multiple panic attacks and cardiac episodes (she also has an underlying heart condition).

Then, on September 27th, a few hours after she went to the Canucks HR department with her complaints against Castonguay, Doerrie had her employment terminated by Patrik Allvin. In her report, she said the Canucks reasoning for terminating her employment was because she spoke to the media about her promotion.

Both Castonguay and the Canucks organization released statements after Doerrie’s allegations became public.

Here’s what Castonguay released.

“I take a lot of pride in my work with the Vancouver Canucks, being a good leader, a person of high moral character, and always respecting and putting my co-workers first. These allegations by Ms. Doerrie are absolutely not true and her allegations of what I said to her are false and inaccurate. At no time was Ms. Doerrie treated differently due to gender, a mental disability, or a physical condition. As this is a legal matter, I will not make any further comments and will respect the process.”

And the Canucks organization.

“We strongly disagree with the allegations brought forth by Ms. Doerrie. Our organization provided Ms. Doerrie with all the necessary resources, support and opportunities to succeed in her role. We acted in good faith and abided by our contractual obligations, both during and after Ms. Doerrie’s employment with the organization. As this is a legal matter, we will respond accordingly at the proper time.”

The drama drop comes at a time when the Canucks are arguably playing their best hockey of the season. They just won three in a row for the first time this season, which included a victory over the defending Stanley Cup champs, a thrashing of Vegas, and an overtime win on the second of back-to-backs against San Jose.