(Toronto) Hockey Canada confirmed in a news release Tuesday that it maintains a “national equity fund” which covers a “broad range of expenditures related to safety, wellness and equity initiatives in our organization “.
Posted yesterday at 10:04 p.m.
The national sports body has been at the center of controversy since an alleged sexual assault case arose at a 2018 gala in London, Ont., involving eight unidentified players — including team members. Junior Championship that year — and an out-of-court settlement broke out in May.
The Canadian Press questioned Hockey Canada by email Monday about an affidavit filed in an Ontario court suggesting it had a reserve fund to cover uninsured liabilities, including sexual abuse claims.
This information is included in a July 2021 affidavit signed by Glen McCurdie, who was then vice-president of insurance and risk management at Hockey Canada, in a lawsuit brought by an injured player in Ontario.
The fund is also used to pay the organization’s insurance premiums and to cover any claims not covered by insurance policies, including those related to physical injury, harassment and sexual misconduct. the federation in a press release.
Hockey Canada added that the fund was “established in a manner consistent with reserve funds maintained by other major national organizations. »
Called to comment on this new twist in the file, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deemed the behavior of Hockey Canada officials unacceptable.
“It’s hard for everyone in Canada to believe and trust someone at Hockey Canada,” sighed Mr. Trudeau when asked about it as part of the announcement of the extension of the Protection Plan. of the oceans on Bowen Island in British Columbia.
What we learned today is completely unacceptable, and that is why we froze funding to Hockey Canada a few weeks ago.
Justin Trudeau
Scott Smith, president and CEO of Hockey Canada, and outgoing CEO Tom Renney had to explain themselves to parliamentarians on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last month about the alleged assault and the provenance of the settlement fund.
McCurdie, who retired in December, did not attend the proceedings due to the death of his father, but was called by the committee for an upcoming round of meetings due to begin next Tuesday.
The organization released a carefully crafted open letter on Thursday containing a number of promises, including a commitment to reopen an independent investigation into the alleged assault and a full governance review.
new revelations
The daily The Globe and Mail also reveals in its Tuesday edition that the day after the meeting in a hotel room which led to the lawsuit for sexual assault, a player of the Canadian junior hockey team exchanged text messages with the alleged victim .
The player would have asked her if she had gone to the police.
The woman allegedly said that she told her mother about it, and that she then called the police against her wishes.
“You said you had fun,” the player reportedly wrote.
“I was really drunk, I didn’t feel well at all afterwards. But I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble,” she reportedly replied.
“I agreed to go with you, all the others after I didn’t expect it. I just felt like I was being laughed at and taken advantage of,” she allegedly continued.
The exchange of text messages was introduced to the Globe and Mail by the lawyers of the seven anonymous members of the Canadian team. Lawyers also showed the newspaper two video clips recorded that night which they say show that the sexual encounter was consensual and that the complainant was not fearful, intimidated or intoxicated, as she would have been. affirmed.
The alleged victim’s attorney declined to comment, citing ongoing investigations. In her statement, filed in April 2022, she alleged that she was ordered to state that she was sober during the videotaping.
Lawyers for the players claimed to have provided the text messages and videos shown to the Globe and Mail to London police in 2018. The police investigation ended without charge in February 2019, lawyers said, after the lead detective said he did not have reasonable grounds to believe an assault sex had been committed. London police declined to comment on details of the investigation.