Nearly ten months after suspending funding to Hockey Canada, federal sports minister Pascale St-Onge announced on Sunday that the organization splattered by gang rape allegations could once again receive public funds after meeting several conditions. .
She made the announcement in Brampton, Ont., ahead of the gold medal game at the 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship.
According to a press release issued by Hockey Canada to mark the occasion, this decision is explained by the fact that the organization has met the three conditions put forward by Ottawa in order to benefit from its support.
This means: becoming a signatory in good standing to the Sport Without Abuse program and the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, continuing to study and implement the recommendations of the Cromwell report and Commit to reporting to the Government of Canada on a more regular basis.
“Today marks an important milestone for Hockey Canada on its journey to regaining and maintaining the trust of Canadians,” said Hockey Canada Chairman of the Board, Hugh L. Fraser. , while specifying that there remains “work to be done to change the culture of our sport. »
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Federal Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge
Describing the leadership at Hockey Canada as “deficient, inappropriate, from another era,” Minister Pascale St-Onge suspended the allocation of federal funds to the organization on June 22.
The penalty had been announced two days after the testimony of senior leaders of the organization before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, following which the minister had criticized them for perpetuating the “culture of silence”.
Hockey Canada then denied having wanted to “hide” the allegations of gang rape against eight former players of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL).
In mid-October, the entire Hockey Canada Board of Directors and its CEO, Scott Smith, then announced that they were stepping down to “make way for a new slate of directors”, in the wake of the criticized handling of this case of sexual assault allegations involving junior players.