MPs address Hockey Canada officials in Parliament: ‘It’s time for new leadership’

Multiple MPs charged that Hockey Canada executives should resign during a parliamentary hearing in Ottawa on Wednesday.

“Canadians have lost trust,” MP Kevin Waugh told current Hockey Canada president and CEO Scott Smith in the second day of hearings by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

Smith and other Hockey Canada officials were grilled by MPs about how the organization handled the allegations of sexual assault that followed a Hockey Canada Foundation fundraising gala in London, Ont., in 2018 — and the subsequent decision to settle a civil suit in the case when it was filed in spring 2022.

“I think it is time for new leadership,” said MP Peter Julian.

Smith asked for time to show the public the change and progress that Hockey Canada is committed to making — but said that if a review of the organization’s governance determines that he’s not the person for the job, he would accept that decision.

“I believe I’m the right person to get Hockey Canada to a better place,” Smith said. “I believe the board right now believes that I’m the person that can take us to an even better level for hockey and hopefully we can be a role model for sport at some point in time.”

Smith also confirmed that there are no plans to postpone or cancel the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton next month. He said Hockey Canada will be a full host and participant in the event, although he noted it will “probably look a bit different.”

Meanwhile, a source also confirmed Wednesday that the law firm Henein Hutchison, which was hired by Hockey Canada to conduct a third-party investigation into the alleged 2018 assault, issued 11 recommendations in their interim report. They include revisions to the code of conduct, mandatory trainings and increased security and supervision at future events.

Two of the recommendations, according to the report obtained by The Athletic, were also focused on preventing underage drinking and limiting Hockey Canada-sponsored alcohol at events.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Hockey Canada officials disclosed that the organization paid out a total of $7.6 million to settle nine sexual abuse claims using a fund that is partially fed by player registration fees, according to Hockey Canada’s chief financial officer Brian Cairo.

Most of that settlement money, $6.8 million, went towards settling claims related to Graham James, the disgraced coach who was convicted of sexually assaulting several of his players, Cairo said. The claims reach back to the late 1980s.

The undisclosed amount paid out in the recent settlement made in the 2018 sexual assault allegations is not included in the $7.6 million figure, Smith later told reporters.

Hockey Canada’s National Equity Fund, which was uncovered by the Globe and Mail last week, is partially funded by player registration fees and can be used by the organization to settle lawsuits, including allegations of sexual assault, without making an insurance claim.

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In total, 20 people have received settlement funds through the National Equity Fund, Cairo said, including the nine that involved alleged sexual abuse. In addition to the claims settled through the fund, Hockey Canada revealed that it has settled 12 additional claims of sexual abuse through insurance since 1996. Those claims were settled for a total of $1.3 million.

So far $287,000 from that fund has been paid to Henein Hutchison, the law firm hired by Hockey Canada to investigate the 2018 allegations, Cairo said.

MP Anthony Housefather, a former general counsel at a multinational company, drilled Hockey Canada officials about why the organization chose to settle the legal claim relating to the 2018 sexual assault allegations on behalf of parties purportedly unknown (the eight players who the complainant said sexually assaulted her are listed as John Doe defendants) and why that settlement was not made in consultation with additional parties to the claim.

Smith said that Hockey Canada entered into the settlement agreement with the complainant’s “best interests” in mind, though Housefather pushed back on that claim with a line of questions about why, if that was the case, the settlement included a confidentiality agreement that would have precluded the complainant from speaking about what happened to her publicly.

During the exchange, it was revealed that Hockey Canada recently amended the settlement agreement to allow the complainant to speak more frequently. Housefather indicated that the Committee just recently received that amended document.

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Glen McCurdie, Hockey Canada’s former vice president of insurance and risk management, said that sexual abuse settlements that have been paid out by the National Equity Fund typically include non-disclosure agreements.

Asked whether Hockey Canada is willing to release victims from non-disclosure agreements, Smith said the organization would honor their wishes, barring any legal reasons that would prevent Hockey Canada from doing so.

During the hearing, Smith acknowledged that Hockey Canada’s process in handling 2018 allegations was “not perfect” and that many of the measures recently put in place, including an action plan released earlier this week, should have been implemented previously.

“We own it and we will do better to deliver on our responsibilities to Canadians,” Smith said.

Hockey Canada officials also faced questions about new allegations of a group sexual assault in Halifax involving members of the 2003 Canadian World Junior Team. Halifax police have opened an investigation into the claims.

Multiple MPs also pointed out the homogeneity of Hockey Canada’s senior leadership team and the witnesses who appeared before the Committee on Wednesday. MP Lisa Hepfner and Waugh asked about efforts to diversify those in decision-making roles at the upper reaches of the investigation and MP Hedy Fry, chair of the heritage committee, also suggested that Hockey Canada’s leadership should more accurately reflect the Canadian populace and with an increased level of representation from women and marginalized communities.

Fry also indicated there could be future hearings in Parliament and Housefather said he’d like to see AIG, Hockey Canada’s insurer, answer questions about the nature in which the settlement was handled.

“There is a fundamental problem. There is a fundamentally toxic environment in a number of sports organizations. Sport Canada has had a hands-off role for years. Things need to change,” MP Peter Julian told The Athletic on Wednesday. “Ultimately, I think the victims need to be heard from and that’s why I believe we need to continue these hearings.”

After Wednesday’s session concluded, MP Sebastian Lemire reiterated calls for an overhaul of Hockey Canada leadership.

“They didn’t change my mind. They failed to protect the victim. They protected the culture of silence,”  Lemire told The Athletic. “They acted because they got pressure. So I’m not satisfied that they’re still in their post in that same function now.”

(Top photo: Jerome Miron / USA Today)