Hockey Canada has had its access to public funds frozen by the federal government, effective immediately, over its response to an alleged sexual assault and out-of-court settlement.
Earlier this week, a Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage hearing was held where Hockey Canada president Scott Smith and departing CEO Tom Renney testified before MPs about their actions around the sexual assault allegations.
The organization privately settled the lawsuit last month after a woman claimed she was assaulted by members of the Canadian 2018 gold-medal winning World Junior team after a Hockey Canada Foundation gala and golf event in London, ON.
The lawsuit, in which the 24-year-old woman was seeking $3.55 million in damages, was filed in Ontario Superior Court on April 20. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
The purpose of the hearing was to conclude whether or not Hockey Canada used public funds in its settlement.
“We were all expecting answers to all the questions, the many questions, that we have regarding how they handled the whole situation when they testified,” Minister for Sport Pascale St-Onge said in a press conference on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, we did not receive many answers. But we did learn a few things.”
St-Onge has stated Hockey Canada will regain access to funding only after it reveals instructions enclosed in an incomplete report by a third-party law firm hired to investigate the alleged incident four years ago.
Hockey Canada must also sign an agreement with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner, a new government agency that independently investigates abuse complaints and levy sanctions.
“With the story itself that’s completely horrible, and the whole management of this situation that is totally inappropriate, I’ve decided to suspend any future public funding until they meet two very simple, but important, conditions,” St-Onge said.
Later Wednesday, the House of Commons unanimously agreed to a motion by Bloc Quebecois MP Sebastien Lemire to conduct an independent investigation into how Hockey Canada dealt with the allegations.
“[The aim is] to figure out if this was an isolated event or if there are shortcomings with the way Hockey Canada handles complaints of sexual assault, sexual harassment and other types of misconduct,” Lemire said in French.
According to the organization’s numbers, six per cent of Hockey Canada’s annual budget—amounting to approximately $7.8 million—is made up of federal money.
St-Onge says “all options are still on the table,” in response to whether or not the government will request that Hockey Canada return any of its federal funding from the last four years.
Hockey Canada hired Toronto law firm Henein Hutchison LLP to handle its investigation. Smith and Renney told MPs that while players were present at the event in London and were “strongly encouraged” to participate, it was not mandatory.
Renney originally testified that between four and six of the 19 players in question spoke with investigators before Smith later stated the number was 12 or 13.
“The independent mechanism that they mandated to investigate … was unable to complete their investigation and not all players participated, which shows that their mechanism is not well-functioning,” St-Onge said.
In a previous statement, St-Onge said she only learned of the allegations and settlement two days before TSN broke the news late last month, after receiving a phone call from Renney. Hockey Canada said it notified Sport Canada of the situation in June 2018.
The allegations have not yet been proven in court. Hockey Canada claims the woman chose to not speak with police or its investigators. On Monday, Smith and Renney said the woman also chose not to identify the players.
Executives stated Hockey Canada is still unaware of the identities of the eight players in question.
According to Smith, London police told Hockey Canada its criminal investigation was closed as of February 2019. The independent investigation ended in September 2020, but Renney said the report shouldn’t be released due to incompleteness.
“There is not much more that we have to offer in terms of information along those lines,” he testified Monday.
St-Onge calls the whole thing “unacceptable.”
“Hockey Canada said they would not share with the committee the advice they received from the independent firm … or how they plan to respond,” St-Onge said Wednesday in a statement. “We also heard that the independent investigation was not completed, nor were the eight John Doe players identified.”
Some of the players in question went on to secure NHL contracts, which has led the league to conduct its own investigation.
Smith testified Hockey Canada has reported three sexual assault complaints in recent years, including the London incident, but wouldn’t disclose the other two in front of the committee.
“I cannot comment on the level of investigation,” said Smith, who added there has been one to two complaints of sexual misconduct each of the last five or six years.
St-Onge has expressed her frustration with how things have been handled.
“I cannot accept this standard as business as usual in our national sport organizations,” she said in her statement.
“And Canadians should not either.”
