Hockey Canada says it will not collect participants’ fees for 2022-23 season

Hockey Canada says it will not charge a participant evaluation fee for the upcoming season.

Several provincial organizations had already withheld those fees – typically $3 per participant, including players, coaches, volunteers and officials – from Hockey Canada after an ongoing scandal had engulfed the national sport’s governing body for months.

Hockey Canada drew widespread criticism when it was revealed in May that it had paid an undisclosed settlement to a woman in London, Ontario after she claimed she was sexually assaulted by eight men, including members of the men 2018

Media and government investigations revealed that Hockey Canada had set up three funds to fund, among other things, sexual assault settlements. These funds were funded by the $3 participant fee.

Although the federal government and most of Hockey Canada’s largest corporate sponsors have cut funding for the national sports organization in the wake of these revelations, provincial authorities continue to pay dues to the governing body.

Ontario, for example, pays $25.46 per participant to Hockey Canada, but $2.97 of that money goes to the National Equity Fund, which was used to pay sexual misconduct settlements, including payouts related to the allegations from 2018.

With the first bills already being sent out, Hockey New Brunswick said it will issue a $3-per-competitor refund to its smaller hockey associations, as well as its junior and senior teams, in mid-February.

Aside from the ongoing investigation into the London incident, another police investigation is ongoing in Halifax into an alleged sexual assault by a group involving members of the 2003 men’s junior world team.

None of the allegations were proven in court.

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Hockey Canada executives have been required to testify before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on a number of occasions, as that department oversees federal funding for national sports organizations.

Scott Smith was ousted as President and CEO of Hockey Canada on Oct. 11, while the entire board resigned the same day after a particularly ugly parliamentary hearing the week before.

The board will remain in place until a new interim board is elected at the Hockey Canada AGM on December 17th.

Judge Thomas Cromwell has been tasked with a full governance review of Hockey Canada after it mishandled the group’s 2018 sexual assault allegations. Hockey Canada announced on October 15 that it is already implementing two recommendations from Cromwell’s interim report.

These recommendations include a commitment that an independent nominating committee will review and review all applications for positions on the Hockey Canada board of directors, including the chairman. No names will be added to the ballot without the approval of the committee.

The new board will also serve a one-year term as an interim council instead of the usual two years.

© 2022 The Canadian Press