Hockey Canada scandal: Call for change in Canadian sports

The current resignation of Hockey Canada’s board chair might be an indication of additional departures to come back, one lawyer says.

“I do hope that there is vital change not solely inside Hockey Canada however inside just about each sporting group in Canada, from federal ones right down to municipal ones,” Simona Jellinek, a sexual abuse and assault lawyer based mostly in Toronto, informed CTV Information Channel on Sunday.

Jellinek says if Canada needs to deal with sexual abuse in sports activities, in any respect ranges, sexual violence should be taken extra severely and at early sufficient phases, or the issue will solely proceed.

“The issue is, although, that we will not await scandals,” she mentioned.

“We won’t await folks to come back ahead, we will not await issues to have occurred after which react. Now we have to be proactive in defending our gamers, our spectators and everyone else who might be subjected to sexual violence by somebody who’s able of energy or who’s protected by those that are able of energy.”

On Saturday, Hockey Canada introduced that Michael Brind’Amour had stepped down as chair of the board for Hockey Canada.

He’s the primary senior chief to depart the group, which has come beneath heavy scrutiny over its dealing with of sexual assault allegations involving members of previous Canadian males’s junior hockey groups.

Hockey Canada additionally maintained a fund, financed by membership charges, to pay for uninsured liabilities, together with however not restricted to sexual abuse claims. The group has since mentioned it could not use the fund to settle claims of sexual assault.

The federal authorities froze its funding for Hockey Canada following revelations the group quietly settled a lawsuit with a girl who alleged members of the 2018 males’s junior crew sexually assaulted her after a Hockey Canada gala occasion in London, Ont., that 12 months.

Members of the 2003 junior crew are also beneath investigation for an alleged sexual assault in Nova Scotia.

In the meantime, former gamers and sufferer rights advocates have referred to as for senior leaders at Hockey Canada to step down.

On Aug. 4, Hockey Canada introduced former Supreme Court docket of Canada choose Thomas Cromwell will lead an unbiased assessment of the group’s governance.

“We’re beginning to see cracks within the fortress, and that is how the sunshine will get in,” Canada’s sports activities minister Pascale St-Onge mentioned Saturday in Niagara Falls, Ont., the place she met with provincial and territorial sports activities leaders on the eve of the Canada Games.

“Canadians have despatched a transparent message to Hockey Canada that actual management change is required and that is in any respect ranges inside the group.”

With information from CTV Information and The Canadian Press