Thursday, July 28, 2022

21 victims. $8.9M in compensation. Hockey Canada reveals its history of settling sexual misconduct claims

Hockey Canada has been under fire since news broke that members of the 2018 world junior team were accused of a group sexual assault.


By Kieran Leavitt
Edmonton Bureau
Wed., July 27, 2022

Millions of dollars have flowed from Hockey Canada to more than 20 victims of sexual misconduct going back to 1989, it emerged Wednesday, as the curtain was at least partly pulled back on how the organization — now under a cloud of suspicion and scandal — has systemically dealt with allegations against its members.

Hockey Canada has settled 21 sexual misconduct claims, paying out $8.9 million in compensation, executives with the organization revealed before a committee of MPs in Ottawa.

The admission to the standing committee on Canadian heritage was accompanied by calls from some of those MPs for Hockey Canada president Scott Smith’s resignation, even as he sat before them.

Smith told the committee that should the board of Hockey Canada or the governance review launched recently recommend it, he would step aside.

“Canadians have been clear, they expect those representing our national sport to do better,” Smith said.

“We own it.”

Smith was flanked by some of the sport’s most powerful men and longtime stewards, including the heads of the country’s prominent junior hockey leagues, as the nation’s hockey giant — known for bringing championship hockey teams to fans all over the world — was raked over the coals for three hours Wednesday for what has been widely condemned as a systemic failure in addressing allegations of sexual assault.



Some MPs on the all-party committee expressed disgust at the sexual assault allegations that have been revealed and said that Canadians have lost confidence in the organization. Some noted the lack of diversity among the group before them and said it was time to place women, people of colour and Indigenous leaders into positions of power within the sport’s dominant structures.

Smith said at several points he believes he is the right person to take on the challenge at hand.

The total number of cases and dollar figures around sexual misconduct settlements emerged gradually at the hearing. Of the total paid out, $6.8 million was for incidents related to Graham James, the former Canadian junior hockey coach who was convicted of sexually abusing players. Nine victims have been paid from Hockey Canada’s controversial equity fund, the existence of which has been revealed in recent weeks. (There have been 20 payouts from that fund in total since 1989, with nine being for sexual assaults.)

The national equity fund has been partly funded by membership fees paid for by parents entering their kids into the sport. Since news of the fund broke, Hockey Canada has pledged to stop using it for settling sexual assault claims and released an action plan to start to “eliminate toxic behaviour” in the sport.

Brian Cairo, the chief financial officer for Hockey Canada, told the committee that in addition to the nine settlements from the equity fund, 12 settlements have been done through Hockey Canada’s insurance. Those claims totalled $1.3 million over the years, he said.

That’s a total of 21 cases of sexual misconduct settlements. The nine cases settled using the equity fund came between 1989 and 2021; while the 12 settled through insurance happened between 1996 and 2022, the committee was told.

Sheldon Kennedy told the Star on Wednesday that Hockey Canada paid him a cash settlement after he publicly accused former junior hockey coach Graham James of sexual assault.

“Yeah, absolutely,” he said. “I sued Hockey Canada after (police) charged Graham James and he went to jail. There was a settlement made.”

Kennedy, a former junior hockey star, played in the NHL for parts of eight seasons, including stints with the Detroit Red Wings and the Calgary Flames. In 1996, he revealed that James, his former coach, had repeatedly sexually assaulted him when he was a member of the Swift Current Broncos in the Western Hockey League.

“That was the first case that came forward,” he said.

Kennedy said that he doesn’t know whether Hockey Canada paid his settlement out of the so-called National Equity Fund. “I had no idea how they were paying it out,” he said.

Asked if he had signed a nondisclosure agreement as part of his settlement, Kennedy, who was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2014 for his advocacy, replied: “I signed something, but I mean, obviously I haven’t been following it very well if I did.”

Former NHL star Theoren Fleury, who revealed in 2009 that he too had been sexually abused by James as a teen, said it was “nobody’s business” whether he had received a settlement from the equity fund.

“There’s bigger problems with Hockey Canada than people getting settlements,” he said. “I talked to these guys until I was blue in the face and told them that this is exactly what’s going to happen if they’re not proactive.”

The Hockey Canada president told the committee Wednesday that any victims who have signed nondisclosure agreements but who may want to speak out about their experiences could be allowed to.

“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,” he said.

Hockey Canada has been under fire since news broke in May that members of the 2018 world junior team were accused of a group sexual assault after a gala event in London, Ont. Police did not lay charges, but the woman at the centre of the allegations sued Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and several players this spring.

Hockey Canada swiftly settled the case for an undisclosed amount and MPs on the committee are now probing how it dealt with the allegations and the lawsuit. Meanwhile, London police have reopened their investigation into the incident.

Hockey Canada receives cash from the federal government, representing about six per cent of its overall funding, and saw that money suspended in the wake of revelations about the lawsuit settlement. The organization has also watched as corporate sponsors have fled amid the fallout.

Cairo, in response to questions Wednesday, said that Hockey Canada didn’t go through insurance with respect to the 2018 allegations and instead opted to use the national equity fund to pay the settlement.

“The right thing to do was to deal with the woman, the young woman, and, secondly, it was right for the organization,” he said.

“We didn’t know all the details of the night, but we did believe harm was caused.”

The decision to settle came after discussions involving the young woman’s and the organization’s lawyers. The board of directors at Hockey Canada voted to allow the maximum payout amount, the committee heard.

“We advised all players after we settled with the young woman,” Smith said during questioning. “We made the decision to settle on behalf of Hockey Canada and the other named defendants, and we did so in the best interest of the young woman, in protecting her privacy, and also her benefit going forward.”

Reports further emerged last week of separate allegations about another group sexual assault involving members of the 2003 world junior team. Halifax police have said they opened an investigation into that incident as well.

Most of the hearing Wednesday dealt with the 2018 incident and didn’t significantly address the 2003 allegations, although some on the committee expressed some interest in hearing more testimony from the Hockey Canada officials in the future.

Smith did say that officials became aware of a rumour circulating about something “bad” happening involving members of the 2003 team about two weeks before becoming aware of the details through contact with the media. A TSN reporter contacted the organization with details last week and the allegations were revealed publicly soon thereafter in a Hockey Canada news release.

Smith said that the organization could have done better in how it responded to the allegations in 2018, which were subject of an independent investigation that didn’t make participation by players mandatory. Now that the probe has been relaunched, player participation is mandatory.

Committee members told Smith their confidence in his ability to lead cultural change at Hockey Canada was low, given his many years with the organization and the decades of abuse that have plagued the sport.

“What we’ve seen is a complete erosion in the public trust,” NDP MP Peter Julian told Smith during the hearing Wednesday.

Julian also said it’s “time for new leadership.”

Others echoed the call for resignations.

“There’s times that good people have to step aside because the public has lost confidence in them, and I’m afraid this might be one of these times,” Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said at the close of the hearing.

The testimony Wednesday came a day after it emerged that the federal agency in charge of Canadian sports policies knew early on about sexual assault allegations against members of the 2018 world junior team.

On Tuesday, Michel Ruest, a senior director at Sport Canada, told MPs on the House of Commons heritage committee that his organization was made aware of the London allegations, but did not follow up with the national governing body or tell the minister’s office.

Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge told MPs that “procedures absolutely need to be improved so that there can be better monitoring of the cases that are signalled to Sport Canada,” a branch of the federal Department of Canadian Heritage.


With files from Richard Warnica and The Canadian Press

Kieran Leavitt is an Edmonton-based political reporter for the Toronto Star. Follow him on Twitter: @kieranleavitt

Tweets 

  1. Smith says that if a victim comes forward wanting to speak and there's no legal issues around it, they would be prepared to wave a signed NDA.

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  2. Cairo says that, in addition to the 9 settlements from the equity fund, 12 settlements have been done through Hockey Canada's insurance. Those total $1.3 million in addition to the $7.6 million from the equity fund. 21 cases of sexual misconduct settlements in total.

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  3. Since 2018, there have been 4 incidents reported to the federal government. 2 - from 2018 and 2003 - involve sexual assault allegations. The two others are related to a different case involving one family and a father's conduct at arenas, says Smith. Not sexual misconduct.

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  4. A Bloc MP said that in June during HCs first appearance, people pointed out that Smith seemed to "trivialize" the allegations. He says that wasn't his intent. One incident is one too many, Smith says.

    “We’ve used money to support families,” he says, not to maintain HC's image.

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  5. Tim Louis, Liberal MP, asks why not use insurance to settle claim from 2018?

    Smith: There were some questions about coverage and they thought it could take months or years to figure that out. Made decision to use the national equity fund in “best interests of the young woman.”

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  6. Karen Vecchio, CPC MP, asks: Why did HC decide to cease the investigation? Why not continue asking questions of these 2018 players and start changing the culture?

    Smith: “I don’t believe that we swept it under the rug.” The investigation is back on today, he says.

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  7. Cairo says that women's hockey has received more money from Hockey Canada than men's over the last 4 years. Men's ~$17 million, Women's ~$20 million, says CFO.

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  8. Smith is asked about the homogeny of the group there today. Do you think it would help Hockey Canada if it had some women in leadership positions? Two directors on the board are women, says Smith. Other women leaders there as well, he says.

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  9. Smith says they stand by the decision to do so.

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  10. Housefather says that not all the facts were known by HC before the settlement was made. Why not use the lawsuit to depose the plaintiff?

    Smith says "We made the decision to settle in the best interests of the young woman and to respect her privacy."

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  11. Liberal MP Anthony Housefather says some John Doe players weren't contacted about HC decision to settle the 2018 allegations within a few weeks of getting the statement of claim

    Smith says we “did so in the best interest of the young woman” when the settlement decision was made.

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  12. How many sexual assault victims have received payments from national equity fund?

    9, says Cairo. There have been a total of 20 people paid out from that fund, including the 9, he says.

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  13. Two weeks before the details emerged last week, Hockey Canada had heard a rumour about "something bad" happening in 2003 in Halifax and they brought in an independent investigator. The details weren't known until HC was contacted about 2003 allegations by the media, says Smith.

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  14. NDP MP Peter Julian: “The Canadian public has lost confidence in Hockey Canada,” he says. This hearing is a “last opportunity” to establish some credibility, he says.

    Smith says he wasn't aware of the 2003 allegations that emerged last week before they came to light recently.

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  15. Lemire says it seems like money can buy anything at Hockey Canada and says Smith should resign.

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  16. Lemire: “Would you allow your daughter to take part in Hockey Canada events?”

    Smith: I do believe that the current situation is troubling, he says. “I do think that there certainly is an opportunity to put young girls in the game and deliver a safe environment.”

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  17. Lemire: Without public outrage and if the media hadn’t played the role it played, would people be doing anything in Hockey Canada?

    Smith: We launched a safe sport department. “Yes there’s been lots of work that’s been done in the last 6 weeks,” he says, but safety is priority.

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  18. What are you apologizing for exactly? asks Bloc MP Sebastien Lemire. Smith says in 2018 “we should have done more” and things could have been done “quicker.”

    Hockey Canada apologizes for that, says Smith.

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  19. But he believes he has the confidence of the organization to take on this issue. He's responding to an MP who pointed out that Smith has been with Hockey Canadian for some 30 years. What's changed now? Why is he to be trusted to take it on now? sked the Liberal MP.

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