Hockey Canada at committee: MPs push for answers amid sexual assault allegations – National

Two high-profile allegations of group sexual assault have rocked the world of Canadian hockey — and now, Parliamentarians have the chance to push Hockey Canada figureheads for solutions.

The Home of Commons heritage committee is assembly on Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET and Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET this week. World Information will carry each conferences dwell.

On Tuesday, members of Parliament may have the possibility to grill Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge concerning the high-profile sexual assault allegations.

Then, on Wednesday, the committee will query management from Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League and the Ligue de Hockey Junior Majeur du Québec.

“There must be an actual reckoning with the form of behaviour that we noticed from that group and the willful blindness to one thing that different organizations have been confronted with, struggled with, however made good choices round, versus what Hockey Canada has been doing,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated, talking to reporters on Thursday.

How did we get right here and what’s the committee hoping to realize? Right here’s what it’s worthwhile to know.

A girl alleged that at a gala occasion in London, Ont. in 2018, eight unnamed gamers from Canada’s 2018 world junior staff assaulted her whereas she was intoxicated.

The allegation burst into the highlight when, in Might, TSN first reported that Hockey Canada had quietly settled a lawsuit with the girl.

The backlash was swift. By late June, MPs had convened a parliamentary committee to grill Hockey Canada officers and St-Onge concerning the settlement.

Not lengthy after the committee convened on June 20, Hockey Canada misplaced company sponsorships and federal funding was frozen.

World Information reached out to the brokers for all gamers who had been on the roster on the time of the alleged incident. A number of gamers have since launched public statements denying their involvement. Learn the total record of responses from the staff right here.

Final week, reviews surfaced that Hockey Canada maintained a fund that drew on membership charges to pay for uninsured liabilities — together with sexual abuse claims.  This data was included in a July 2021 affidavit sworn by Glen McCurdie, who was then Hockey Canada’s vice-president of insurance coverage and danger administration, as a part of a lawsuit launched by an injured participant in Ontario.

Final Tuesday, Hockey Canada stated they might not use this fund for sexual abuse claims.

Then, on Friday, one other allegation emerged. Hockey Canada and RisePEI police each confirmed they’re investigating an “alleged group sexual assault” that they are saying concerned members of the 2002-03 world junior hockey championship staff.

The day earlier than the committee was set to fulfill, Hockey Canada launched its plan to fight any “poisonous” behaviour within the sport. The plan consists of the implementation by the top of September of a centralized monitoring and reporting system for abuse complaints. 

Hockey Canada additionally stated it can implement enhanced screening for high-performance gamers and can mandate that breaching the group’s code of conduct or refusing to take part in an investigation might lead to a lifetime ban.

MPs had been clear about what they’re hoping to listen to throughout committee this week: transparency, and accountability.

“I’m hoping to see better transparency from Hockey Canada. They’ve breeched the belief of Canadians as a corporation we count on to guard kids,” stated Chris Bittle, a Liberal MP who sits on the heritage committee, in a press release despatched to World Information on Monday.

“Although at this time’s assertion from Hockey Canada is a optimistic step, we want better assurances and have to see motion if there may be any hope to regain the belief that has been misplaced,” he added in reference to the group’s motion plan revealed Monday.

The final time Hockey Canada appeared earlier than the heritage committee final month, MPs had been left unhappy with the responses they obtained — as one politician advised the executives to their face.

In the course of the June 20 committee assembly, Parliamentarians realized that Hockey Canada didn’t make participation in its investigations obligatory, didn’t know the identities of the gamers are the centre of the scandal, and paid the settlement with no full image of what occurred.

“This incident from June 2018 will likely be talked about in lots of properties on this nation: Ought to I enroll my daughter or my son into Hockey Canada packages? I’m unsure of the reply right here at this time,” Conservative MP Kevin Waugh stated throughout the assembly.

“I haven’t actually gotten from any of your reassurances that Hockey Canada has modified in its harassment, bullying and abuse insurance policies.”

Nonetheless, MPs are holding on to hope that this week will present a recent alternative for the solutions they didn’t get from the group final month.

“Hockey Canada has a possibility to be totally clear and totally accountable,” stated NDP MP Peter Julian in an interview with World Information final week.

“That is actually their final probability…I hope that they step up as a result of up to now I’ve been profoundly upset, as most Canadians have been, with their lack of motion, their secrecy, their lack of transparency and their lack of accountability.”

— with recordsdata from World Information’ Eric Stober, The Canadian Press