The federal New Democratic Party said ragging the puck won't solve systemic problems at Hockey Canada and a wholesale change is needed to fix the toxic culture which includes failure to deal with sexual abuse and racism in the sport. “Thursday’s announcement by Hockey Canada is another attempt to delay the important and urgent work to deal with the toxic culture in this organization. While a former Supreme Court Justice is a credible appointment to conduct the review into Hockey Canada, this won’t be the first time the organization undergoes this process,” said NDP Heritage Critic Peter Julian.

By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada

OTTAWA – The federal New Democratic Party said ragging the puck won't solve systemic problems at Hockey Canada and a wholesale change is needed to fix the toxic culture which includes failure to deal with sexual abuse and racism in the sport.

“Thursday’s announcement by Hockey Canada is another attempt to delay the important and urgent work to deal with the toxic culture in this organization. While a former Supreme Court Justice is a credible appointment to conduct the review into Hockey Canada, this won’t be the first time the organization undergoes this process,” said NDP Heritage Critic Peter Julian.

“Recommendations came to the Hockey Canada board in the past on how to respond to sexual abuse and racism in the organization, but they failed to follow through. Their inaction in fixing these systemic problems cost them their credibility and Canadians' trust in Hockey Canada. It’s time for a leadership change to let others do the work they failed to do and restore confidence.

“Let’s not forget the responsibility of the federal government that allowed this crisis in sports to worsen. Hockey Canada’s appointment does not mean the federal government is off the hook. Just last week we learned that Sports Canada failed to act when they learned of the 2018 sexual abuse allegations involving Hockey Canada. That’s why the NDP is calling on all Ministers of Sports that were in office since the complaint came in to appear before the committee to get to the bottom of what happened. Canadian families deserve accountability,” Julian said.

Hockey Canada has been embroiled in scandal following history of sexual abuse and racism in the sport and their failure to act on continued abuse, leading to the federal government suspending their funding. It also came to light that Hockey Canada senior executives took thousands of dollars in bonuses for World Championship wins.

 “The disturbing allegations against the 2018 World Juniors team and the allegations from 2002-2003 have shed light on a toxic culture within Canadian sports. The Liberal government must take accountability for their role as funders of Hockey Canada whose culture has caused considerable harm to young women and young men,” Julian said

“While Hockey Canada settled the lawsuit for a group sexual assault out of court and implemented no changes, the Liberals continued to give the organization millions of dollars annually. It was also revealed in documents to our committee that Hockey Canada executives receive thousands of dollars in bonuses when their teams win World Championships. There is literally a financial incentive for executives to keep talented, high-performing players on the ice despite their potentially problematic personal conduct.” 

Julian said Canadian families are very disturbed to hear that their children's hockey fees have been used for a sexual assault settlement. The Liberal government must make sure that taxpayers’ money is never used again to settle sexual assault lawsuits and that these horrific incidents don’t happen again. People’s hard-earned money must not be funding a climate where abuse is rampant and perpetrators are protected. 

“It is the Minister’s job to know what is going on in her own government and to intervene in instances where they are funding abuse. Sadly, many Canadians have lost confidence in the ability of the Liberals, Sports Canada and Hockey Canada to be transparent about this culture where sexual violence and abuse occurs and to take meaningful steps to eliminate this behavior,” he said

“Today, I called for more hearings to occur so that the full extent of the allegations can be discovered. New Democrats will keep pushing the Liberals and Sports Canada to take responsibility and finally step up to protect women in and around Canadian sports. We’re also calling on the government to create an office of a sport ombudsman to provide oversight and accountability for Canadians.”

Julian said Canadians are horrified by the incidents of sexual assault and by what they’re hearing from Hockey Canadian. They are left with many questions about how this toxic culture is allowed to persist in our sports organizations and what the government is actually doing to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

“This past week, our committee heard from senior officials at Sports Canada and the Sports Minister who testified that the office of former Sports Minister Kristy Duncan was not informed in June 2018 about the specific case of sexual assault. But a week before the incident was reported, the Liberal government had issued a directive saying that, as of June 19, 2018, eligible sports organizations ‘must immediately disclose any incident of harassment, abuse or discrimination that could compromise the project or programming to the Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities.’

“The directive clearly states that the Minister must be informed. On behalf of all Canadian families who are deeply concerned, we want to know how is it that Minister St-Onge was not notified by her department given the directive that was already in place? And why didn’t her department notify former Minister Duncan when the policy change clearly came into force before the case was reported?

“We would also welcome the opportunity to hear from Minister Guilbeault; he was both the Minister of Heritage and Sports between the 2019 and 2021 elections. He was also supposed to be aware of the cases following the change in 2018,” Julian said

“The NDP is asking for these three Liberal ministers to come before the committee and explain why it seems that this important government directive about incidents of sexual assault wasn’t followed. Canadians expect the government to be transparent and accountable to them, especially when deeply disturbing incidents like this occur.”