Former Hockey Canada president and CEO Bob Nicholson said he was ‘sorry’ for not drafting a code of conduct regarding how the national sport federation should handle sexual assault allegations while he was in office.
Nicholson, who appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa on Tuesday, said he is satisfied with the federation’s handling of the allegations during his reign, from 1998 to 2014.
He added, however, that these encounters should never have happened in front of a camera in a hurry.
Hockey Canada has been in turmoil for several months after the organization was splashed with sexual assault allegations involving members of the 2018 Canada Junior Team. None of those allegations have yet been proven in court.
Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of strategy, operations and brand, Pat McLaughlin, has sworn that the organization has paid $1.6 million to Canadian crisis management firm Navigator since last July to deal with the numerous scandals that shook Hockey Canada, resulted in the suspension of federal government funding and the cancellation of numerous corporate sponsorship deals.
McLaughlin said no public funds were used to pay Navigator.
McLaughlin added that the termination of numerous sponsorship deals resulted in a nearly $24 million shortfall in funding for the organization.
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