The day after Hockey Canada’s funding freeze by the federal government, the national hockey federation indicated that it had understood the message.
Posted at 1:07 p.m.
Splattered by an alleged gang rape scandal, Hockey Canada has been struggling to get its head above water since its hearing before the parliamentary heritage committee.
Thus, the Minister of Sports Pascale St-Onge announced Wednesday that the organization would no longer be able to benefit from federal funds, until further notice. The minister spoke of “deficient, inappropriate, outdated leadership” to explain her government’s decision.
On Thursday, 24 hours later, Hockey Canada responded by saying that it intends to work in the right direction to regain the confidence of the Ministry: “We are deeply involved and we are working actively to forge a sports culture in which everyone must feel included and safe and of which all Canadians can be proud. »
The federation also specified that “as leaders, we must do better and we are motivated to do so. Over the next few days and months, Canadians can expect good work from us. »
The disgruntled government
At the table of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last Monday, no elected official was satisfied with the explanations offered by the senior executives of Hockey Canada.
Among other things, they jumped when they learned that the organization had signed the check for the amicable agreement on behalf of the eight former players of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) whose identity is not known.
They were shocked to learn that no athlete had been forced to participate in the investigation into these events dating back to the spring of 2018, but also that other cases of alleged sexual misconduct by players have occurred in the last five or six years.
On this subject, Mr.me St-Onge expressed this: “I cannot accept that this is the norm in our national sports organizations, nor should Canadians. »
As TSN network first reported, an out-of-court settlement came weeks after the alleged victim filed a $3.55 million lawsuit against eight ex-CHL players, the league and HockeyCanada.
– With the participation of Mélanie Marquis