The National Parole Board, which administers pardons in Canada, told the Herald that, while convictions are public, pardons are governed by privacy legislation. Thus there is no public record of Eagleson's pardon. However, Canadian sources have told the Herald that Eagleson was granted his pardon within months of becoming eligible in 2005, five years following the end of his sentence. The pardon was approved by the Governor General.

In addition, a biography provided by Eagleson for a 2007 online auction of memorabilia confirms the pardon, saying the disgraced hockey official received the pardon in 2005. This keeps his criminal record separate and apart from other criminal records. It may not be disclosed without permission from the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness.

The news that Eagleson -- who was disbarred and forced to resign from the Hockey Hall of Fame as a result of his guilty pleas -- has quietly had his criminal record set aside has infuriated many of those who spent years exposing his criminal activity as the executive director of the NHL Players Association, international hockey promoter for Hockey Canada and agent to hundreds of NHL stars.

What can one say? It leaves one speechless! Full pardon for this mega-crook?

I spent considerable time with Sue Foster and her partner, Hall of Famer Carl Brewer. I know something of their very real pain and the enormous sacrifices they underwent to get justice – a justice delayed at every turn by the coterie of crooks that ran and maintained our national game.

In my years watching and reporting on goings-on in this country I’ve never seen a worse shame on the cosseted, Order of Canada sharing, gutless all-at-the-public- trough bunch that run this country than this.

I don’t know many of the players in this drama but I do know of the courageous Sue and her deceased partner. Justice denied, justice delayed, partial justice finally achieved becoming, in the end, justice mocked.

We should all be ashamed.