Hockey Canada bigwigs will once more be grilled with questions during parliamentary hearings today and tomorrow. In an attempt to find possible solutions following allegations of collective sexual assault, the organization is presenting an action plan to combat toxic behaviour.
• Read also: The culture of silence in hockey
• Read also: Hockey Canada: another group sexual assault allegedly occurred in 2003
The reputation of the organization has been tarnished in recent weeks following shocking revelations that would involve players from Canadian teams who played at the world junior championship in 2003 and 2018.
Hockey Canada’s plan is built around six key pillars. Among the elements that stand out, there will be the obligation to respect the code of conduct and to participate in any investigation, under penalty of being excluded for life from Hockey Canada activities.
A system for monitoring and reporting complaints of abuse will also be put in place.
“Our message to Canadians is this: We are committed to taking strong action and making the changes necessary to enable us to be an organization that lives up to your expectations and to restore your trust in us.” we read in the plan.
Women’s team raise their hands
In order to implement its action plan, Hockey Canada promises to form a “special committee of independent experts” by September 15.
A few hours following the announcement of the action plan, the national women’s team issued a press release to react by directly asking Hockey Canada to be involved in the process.
“We are encouraged by the action plan you announced earlier, but it is, as you acknowledge in your statement, only one step towards addressing toxic behaviors. There is still a lot of work to be done and actions to be taken to fully address the underlying issues to ensure that a new Hockey Canada emerges from this crisis. »
“It is important to have women at the table as this process evolves, and we ask that you include representatives from our group so that we can be informed and involved,” the team said.
Players dissociate
It was in May that Hockey Canada found itself in a difficult position when TSN revealed that the organization had come to an amicable agreement of $ 3.55 million with the victim of the collective sexual assault.
The incident is said to have occurred in 2018 in London.
The eight players involved remained anonymous under the agreement, and in the independent investigation conducted for Hockey Canada, the players were not required to cooperate.
Since then, several players from the 2018 vintage have publicly distanced themselves from the allegations, including Cale Makar, Victor Mete, Conor Timmins, Jonah Gadjovich, Cal Foote, Dante Fabbro, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Taylor Raddysh and Sam Steel and Dillon Dubé.
Last Friday, Hockey Canada announced that an investigation was also underway into similar allegations for an incident dating back to the 2003 world junior championship in Halifax.
THE ACTION PLAN IN BRIEF…
- Reporting and tracking system to address all cases of abuse, mistreatment or harassment with Hockey Canada reporting annually.
- Improved training for players, coaches, staff and volunteers on masculinity, consent and toxic behaviors.
- Comprehensive review of all training programs by an independent specialist.
- Implementation of advanced character verification for all high performance programs.
- Loss of privilege to participate in Hockey Canada programs for violation of Code of Conduct or refusal to cooperate in an investigation.