CALGARY –
Hockey Canada says it will not collect a participant evaluation fee for the upcoming season.
Several provincial organizations had already withheld these charges — usually $3 per participant — from Hockey Canada within the wake of an ongoing scandal that has embroiled the nationwide sports activities physique for months.
Hockey Canada drew widespread criticism when it was revealed in May that it had paid an undisclosed settlement to a lady in London, Ont., after she alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight males, together with members of the 2018 males’s world junior group.
Media and authorities investigations discovered that Hockey Canada had established three funds to pay for, amongst different issues, sexual assault settlements. Those funds have been financed by the $3 participant charges.
Although the federal authorities and most of Hockey Canada’s largest company sponsors have lower their funding to the nationwide sports activities group within the wake of these revelations, provincial our bodies will nonetheless pay dues to the umbrella affiliation.
Ontario, for instance, pays $25.46 per participant to Hockey Canada, however $2.97 of that cash goes to the National Equity Fund, which had been used to pay sexual misconduct settlements together with the payout associated to the 2018 allegations.
A second police investigation can also be underway in Halifax over an alleged group sexual assault involving members of the 2003 males’s world junior group.
None of the allegations have been confirmed in court docket.
Hockey Canada executives have needed to testify earlier than parliament’s Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage a number of occasions, as that division oversees federal funding for nationwide sports activities organizations.
Scott Smith was ousted as Hockey Canada’s president and CEO and its total board of administrators resigned on Oct. 11 after a very ugly parliamentary listening to the week earlier than.
The board will stay in place till a brand new interim board is elected at Hockey Canada’s annual basic assembly on Dec. 17.
Justice Thomas Cromwell has been tasked with a full governance assessment of Hockey Canada after its mishandling of the 2018 group sexual assault allegations. Hockey Canada mentioned on Oct. 15 that it’s already implementing two suggestions from Cromwell’s interim report.
Those suggestions embrace a dedication to have an impartial nominating committee assessment and vet all functions for Hockey Canada’s board of administrators positions, together with the chair. No names will be added to the voting poll with out the committee’s approval.
Also, the brand new board of administrators will serve a one-year time period as a transition board slightly than the usual two years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Oct. 25, 2022.