Front Burner - Hockey Canada’s sexual assault crisis deepens

Episode Date: July 28, 2022

Hockey Canada has settled 21 sexual assault claims. For nine of those cases, it used a fund that draws in part from players' registration fees, paying out $7.6 million dollars. The scope of Hockey Canada's settlements was just one revelation from parliamentary committee hearings this week, where MPs probed the organization's handling of an alleged group sexual assault in 2018 involving national junior players. Today The Athletic's Dan Robson, a hockey writer who has reported extensively on this issue, joins Front Burner to discuss why Hockey Canada's promise to change is being met with skepticism.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Jonathan Mopsyi filling in for Jimmy Poisson. Hockey Canada should not underestimate the work ahead. The organization's board and management leaders have a moral responsibility to reflect on the role they should play in what comes next. This is Federal Minister of Sport, Pascal Saint-Onge, on Tuesday delivering a warning to Hockey Canada officials.

There's no more room for mistakes. Canadians expect Hockey Canada to behave differently and it requires leadership capable of doing so. Hockey Canada, the whole country is watching. The minister was one of over a dozen witnesses who appeared at parliamentary committee hearings this week, as MPs tried to figure out who knew what and when about sexual assault allegations against world junior players. I strongly believe there needs to be new leadership within Hockey Canada. Will you do that? Will you step down for new leadership to take over?

I believe I said in my opening statement that I'm prepared to take on this responsibility for change within our game. Three weeks ago, we told you about allegations involving the gold medal team from 2018. A woman said some of its players were among eight who sexually assaulted her in a London hotel. And this year, after we learned Hockey Canada stepped in to settle her lawsuit out of court,

the organization had its federal funding frozen while big sponsors pulled away. And already the domino effect has begun. Tim Hortons has now suspended its funding to the national organization, joining Scotiabank, TELUS and Canadian Tire in urgently seeking... Since then, the questions about Hockey Canada's handling of assault claims have only gotten more complicated. Police are investigating a second set of allegations against world junior players. There's confirmation of a fund that was used to settle sexual assault claims. And yesterday, we learned that Hockey Canada has settled 21 cases.

To walk us through it all, the athletic senior enterprise writer Dan Robson is here with me. He's been analyzing the long history of sexual assault claims in hockey. And full disclosure, he's also the husband of our host, Jamie Poisson, which is why I'm hosting today, you know, to keep everything kosher. to keep everything kosher. Hey, Dan, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. So since we covered Hockey Canada on the show about three weeks ago,

Halifax police are now investigating another separate set of allegations surrounding World Junior players, this time dating back to 2003. So before we get into this week's hearings, can you tell me, how did we learn about those 2003 allegations? Yeah, this story emerged late last week through reporting from TSN's Rick Westhead. Rick's reporting revealed that through multiple people that he spoke to, there is a video that shows an alleged group sexual assault on a woman in Halifax in 2003 by members of the then Canadian World Junior Hockey Team at the World Junior Championships that year. And the description of the video, you know, it's quite graphic and very difficult to read. But essentially, the woman in the assault is unresponsive. And there are about half a dozen people involved in the attack. And so these very serious allegations came forward. We've since had members of that World Journal team come forward with statements saying they will cooperate fully with police and,

you know, we're not involved in this horrific event that's alleged to have occurred. But it really underscored what is happening here, what we're dealing with. I mean, this is an allegation from 15 years before the 2018 allegation of a group sexual assault. And then previous reporting that we've done at The Athletic, you know, has looked back at past group sexual assaults that have come forward in junior hockey at all levels, not just at the not the world junior level, but at all levels. And so it really brings into question the the pervasive nature of these kinds of things at that level of hockey. Now, I should just add here that CBC hasn't independently confirmed TSN's reporting, but Rick Westhead says he spoke to three sources who corroborated the video of the incident, and Hockey Canada says they only learned about these allegations last week and that they contacted Halifax police.

Now, let's get back to the 2018 allegations involving the world junior players in London, Ontario. What more have you learned about that night? Well, me and my colleague, Katie Strang, actually went out to London. So we spent a couple of days learning about the gala and golf tournament that happened that week. And we learned at that time, and something that Hockey Canada has since corroborated, that alcohol was served to underage players on that team, that there was sort of a spirited feeling in that place. There was drinking going on at one bar that led to another bar. And we spoke with people who interacted with players on the team who alleged some, you know, pretty aggressive behavior towards them. In one case, a woman was sexually harassed. In another case, there was just sort of an awkward exchange

at a bar in which one of the players attempted to have a girl there kiss his friends and to have them come back to their hotel with them. And so, you know, London is this sort of hockey mecca, for lack of a better term. It's a place where at this time you had the, you know, the best of the best, the world junior players that just won gold, a gold medal being celebrated here that June. And so there was real environments of a feeling of sort of, you know, these were the kings of the town for that evening. You know, these were the kings of the town for that evening. And your colleague, Katie Strang, she told us how London police closed that investigation in the following February, in February 2019, and didn't lay any charges. But now London police have reopened their investigation, right? Yeah, last week they announced that they would reopen the investigation.

They did a review on what had happened at that time. And shortly after that review was launched, they announced that they were going to this week's hearings was the existence of this quote-unquote national equity fund at Hockey Canada. What is this fund and what was it used for? Yeah, this was uncovered through some excellent reporting by Grant Robertson at the Globe and Mail, looking back at former legal documents that Hockey Canada had been involved in in several cases in the past. And basically, the National Equity Fund is a fund that can be used by Hockey Canada to cover claims against it that would not be covered by insurance or which they would not want to bring forward before their insurance provider. And that includes claims of sexual assault. they would not want to bring forward before their insurance provider. And that includes claims of sexual assault. And so this fund, it was uncovered, is also partially funded by player registration fees. So, you know, anybody who plays in an organization that's part of Hockey Canada that pays fees

for being a part of that, some of that money has gone to build up this fund over the years. And I was following just some of the hearings today, and I think we have a bit more information about some of the payouts that have been made from this fund, right? Yeah, today it was revealed through the parliamentary hearing that the fund has been used nine times to deal with sexual assault. How many settlements have been paid out from the National Equity Fund? Thank you, Madam Chair. Out of the National Equity Fund, nine settlement payments have been made, totaling $7.6 million. So the total dollar figure was $7.6 million paid out of that fund? Is that correct?

$7.6, yes, dating back to 1989. And that fund is generated by kids' registration fees, correct? Among other things. We have insurance from investments as well. Now, the majority of that, we were told, went to settlements related to the Grand James case, went to settlements related to the Graham James case, the horrific story of a disgraced coach who is convicted of sexually assaulting his former junior hockey players. 6.8 million of it went to that, but $7.6 million since the 90s, essentially, has been paid out through this fund without any oversight from Hockey Canada's insurance providers. And what's the status of this fund now? Is it still being used to pay out settlements?

Well, since the revelation of the fund, since people actually learned that it existed and parents across the country said, oh my goodness, I can't believe some of the money I was paying went towards this fund, Hockey Canada has announced that it will no longer use the National Equity Fund to cover any settlements that involve sexual abuse cases. Okay, so that kind of brings us up to this week's parliamentary committee hearings. On Tuesday, we heard from lawyer Danielle Robitaille. My name is Danielle Robitaille. I am a partner at the law firm Hennon Hutchison. In the days after the alleged 2018 incident, Hockey Canada hired her firm to investigate, but it didn't force players to cooperate with their investigation. So what did Robitaille reveal about how her original investigation went? So back in June of 2018, when Heinen Hutchison, Robitaille's firm, was hired by Hockey Canada to look into these allegations,

was hired by Hockey Canada to look into these allegations. Ten of the 19 players that were at the gala and golf event in London participated and were willing to sit down and speak with her, but nine indicated that they would not. They were not compelled to in any capacity. Hockey Canada had no structure to say, well, you need to participate in this investigation. So nine of them said that because the London Police Service had opened an investigation, they would wait until after that investigation was closed or after they had done their interviews in that regard. And they were going to they did not cooperate at that time with the third party investigation that Hockey Canada had launched. And I also know that Robitaille said that after they found out that they couldn't interview the complainant,

they didn't really pursue the interviews with those nine players anyway. Yeah, she said that it was a matter of due process. Based on the facts collected in the summer of 2018, we concluded that the remaining player interviews should not be conducted until we received the complainant's statement. Despite efforts to encourage the complainant to participate, she declined to provide her account to us at that time. Accordingly, we felt compelled to classify the investigation as closed without prejudice. So because the complainant had not cooperated and said she wouldn't speak with Hockey Canada's investigation into it,

she felt that she wasn't in the position to be able to interview the players. They no longer pursued the players who had said they would not be involved in the investigation at that time. longer pursued the players who had said they would not be involved in the investigation at that time. But Hockey Canada has now asked the law firm to reopen the investigation. On July 9th, 2022, the complainant advised that she was prepared to participate. We then received instructions to reopen our investigation. We now have the benefit of the complainant's detailed version of events. And I am now in a position to interview the remaining players.

So what will be different about it this time? Basically, now they've announced that if players do not participate, they will be banned for life from any Hockey Canada-related events. So that includes playing, but also down the road, it includes coaching or training or being from any Hockey Canada related events. So that includes playing, but also down the road includes coaching or training or being involved with Hockey Canada in any capacity, wearing the Canadian sort of flag on their chest. They will no longer be allowed to be a part of it. So, you know, it puts some real teeth finally behind the request that all players be involved.

And it's something moving forward through an update in their policies as they've tried to make a shift here and to show that they're making a change that, you know, carrying forward that all sort of investigations into situations like this will require participation or you'll lose the right to represent Canada in the hockey program. opens then free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix.

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really revolved around Hockey Canada and the major junior hockey leagues in the country. But we found out on Tuesday that Sport Canada, which is a branch of the federal government, itself actually knew about the 2018 allegations. Tell me a bit more about that. Yeah, that was one of the important revelations. It was revealed that just in the weeks following the allegations coming forward after this golf and gala fundraising event in London, Hockey Canada did indeed disclose to Sport Canada that there was an allegation of sexual assault that had emerged from that event. But nothing came of it. So we learned that the sport minister at the time was never notified. And no one within the department saw fit to notify the minister or the minister's office

of these major allegations from one of the largest national sports organizations. No one thought it was necessary to notify the minister or the minister's office. At that time, we did the verifications to find out whether the competent authorities had been informed. And subsequent to disclosing this, Sport Canada never followed up with Hockey Canada again. And so things carried forward, funding continued to be given. When Hockey Canada is being given millions of dollars, you were personally aware and didn't flag this in the process that there were these major allegations within Sport Canada?

It's a level of risk that we take into consideration when we're doing the funding. But, you know, the processes were being followed. There was an investigation underway. Basically, it was just business as usual without any sort of repercussion, any sort of check. It was sort of just a reporting into the ether that nothing happened. Now, Hockey Canada officials, they first appeared before this committee back in June, but they returned yesterday. So compare for me, if you can, how was their approach at yesterday's hearing and how was it different from their first appearance back in June? armed with information. I think there was some protection of information that was sort of claimed, but at the same time, they actually had some answers. That first hearing back in late June was,

you know, it was just sort of widely panned. I mean, a lot of questions that were asked went kind of unanswered and the former CEO, Tom Rennie, and the current president and now CEO, Scott Smith, you know, differed on certain pieces of information that were quite, you know, that you would think would be quite important. And they came with information this time, such as, you know, the amount of settlements that they have had related to sexual abuse claims in the past. While I think MPs were still left unsatisfied. I think this time around, they appeared that that they realized how serious this was. And CEO Scott Smith had said that they were acting in the woman's best interest when they settled her lawsuit over the 2018 allegations. We made the decision to settle in the best interest

of the young woman and to respect her privacy. And we did not want to subject her to further discussion or debate that we have now seen through the media in the last 10 to 12 days. We made that decision at the time. Why would he say that? Well, from his perspective that he shared, you know, he and Hockey Canada wanted to keep the alleged victim's privacy at the forefront. And so they wanted to make sure that by settling quickly there, they said that they wouldn't have to go through any sort of process that would potentially name that victim.

potentially name that victim. Now, it's important to note at the same time that the settlement also came with an NDA agreement that she signed, meaning that she was not able to discuss the alleged incidents. You know, it was revealed this week at these hearings that with many of the cases that were settled through the National Equity Fund in the past, NDAs are often involved. And questions about that, questions about whether they would release previous people who had been involved in these settlements from those NDAs. Smith said yesterday that if they desired that and they were able to, they would do that. I think we've got some advice in the last month about just the evolution of minutes of settlement or NDAs. Victims that will come forward first and foremost, we want to make sure that they have the confidence in our independent investigation.

And we will continue to work to document their wishes. And if they wish to eliminate those, unless there is a legal reason not to that I'm not aware of, I'm not sure why we wouldn't. Our priority is to support the victims. So as you mentioned, Dan, the MPs really hammered Hockey Canada and league officials yesterday for, among other things, a lack of diversity in their leadership there were a lot of white men at the head of that organization I'm wondering a couple people remarked at the homogeny of the group at the end of this table do you think it would help hockey Canada to have some women in leadership positions within the organization positions within the organization? I definitely do. Our current board of directors has two women. Our senior leadership team, there are five. Other MPs straight up called for Smith to resign. So how does he justify staying on as CEO of Hockey Canada? Well, several MPs yesterday were quite direct in saying that, you know,

there is no trust in Hockey Canada amongst Canadians anymore. They've lost that trust and that there needs to be new leadership. There needs to be, as you said, diversity. Smith said, you know, he believes that he is the right person for the job. He believes that Hockey Canada has come forward with an action plan to make sure that its players are more aware, have better education, that at all levels, there's more accountability and more transparency. And so, you know, he said that he believes that they can carry on the way they are. Now, there is a review of Hockey Canada's governance that is ongoing right now. He said he would listen to the recommendations that come out of that

and abide by what the board of Hockey Canada requests of him. But he was quite firm pushing back against this idea that there needs to be a fundamental leadership change at the top of Hockey Canada tried to get ahead of this by releasing what they called an action plan on Monday. The goal of this plan is to, quote, shatter the code of silence and eliminate toxic behavior in and around Canada's game. So what are the steps they outline in this so-called action plan? Well, the action plan, you know, has a lot of the things I think that most people would expect. They're adopting a universal code of conduct, having a comprehensive tracking and reporting

system for complaints, with results being publicly published by Hockey Canada. New training for players and coaches in areas of consent and toxic behaviors. You know, they're doing a character screening for high performance players. So they're going to do more than just look at whether you're a good player on the ice, but also what's your conduct. And also signing on to the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, which is a new office that will have oversight for all the complaints, allegations, and other concerns. In this sense, they kind of cede oversight.

They cede how these things are dealt with to scrutiny by the Sport Integrity Commissioners. The plan, Dan, was immediately criticized and actually led to former NHL player and victims rights advocate Sheldon Kennedy to call for Hockey Canada's leadership to resign. So why was the reaction so negative to the action plan? I mean, it was enormous. I mean, Sheldon Kennedy, if you think of voices for victims of sexual abuse in this country has, you know, he is after the horror and unbelievable, unimaginable situation he endured through Graham James, who you mentioned earlier, the disgraced coach. working as an advocate for sexual assault victims and an educator trying to get organizations to take these situations seriously to train and educate in a real meaningful way. And he's been involved with Hockey Canada quite closely and in hockey at all levels of the game. And so

this was sort of a statement, I think, probably from the greatest authority that within hockey that we have right now speaking about this calling for change. And so it hit hard. I mean, it was something that, you know, Smith was asked about by by press during the hearing that day. And, you know, he something he acknowledged is, well, he disagrees with him, like it affected him. And, you know, the the action plan that that hockey Canada is going forward. I mean, it was met with great cynicism. Um, and, and I, and I think that's hockey has earned that cynicism. You know, it's, it's only so much, there's only so much that saying, um, we're going to change and, and, you know, here's how, here's the programs we're going to do. Here's what we're going to do can, can really do to regain the trust that's been eroded here.

And that frankly hasn't just been eroded here. It's been eroded over years of the reality of toxic, you know, toxic insular culture that exists at the highest levels of hockey. And anyone who's been paying attention has seen that. And so now, you know, even though those calls are as loud as they've ever been, hockey Canada and hockey in this country is sort of facing its, you know, its biggest moment, I think, of, you know, really looking inward and figuring out how it exists, why it exists, what its obligations are, and who it represents. you know dan with with all the controversy surrounding hockey canada you know you like you like you laid out there's this like veritable crisis in confidence about the

institution where does it go now now? What's stopping federal politicians from stripping it, from overhauling it? What is the future of this organization that is so central to the country in so many ways? Well, that's such a good question because it's not really answerable at this moment. What happens to Hockey Canada? I mean, Hockey Canada operates at arm's length from the government i mean it gets funding um which has since been paused but that's why you know they're able to be you know hauled before parliament and ask these very important questions but you know hockey canada uh you know itself has a great deal of money and has a real stranglehold

on on the governance of the game um you know, from the lowest levels and the grassroots levels, the highest levels from across this country. And so, you know, I think it remains to be seen what will happen, for example, if there will be a demand for leadership change and how that will look and how reporting structures will operate. And, you know, within this, Hockey Canada's biggest corporate partners have backed away from it. So, you know, companies like Tim Hortons and Canadian Tire and Scotiabank, I mean, brands that have really tried to tie their own identity in marketing to this, you know, the beautiful hockey dream and the beautiful game, they've all backed away. And that's significant because they've lost, you know, key partners, key funding partners, you know, and they're demanding real change. So Hockey Canada is being hit from all sides here. And so what that looks like in the future, how hockey looks from the top down in the future is going, I think, to change. And there's going to be some sort of structural change within it, something that's going to challenge the status quo. That's the hope. And I think that's what a

lot of people are hoping right now. But, you know, it remains to be seen sort of, you know, where we are come this fall and leading into next year. Dan, thanks so much for joining us today and walking us through the different facets of this really, really troubling but important controversy. Oh, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. That's all for today's program.

Thanks for listening. Jamie will be back in the host seat tomorrow. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.