Hockey Canada’s federal government restores funding to Hockey Canada

Author: Steve Keating

BRAMPTON, Ontario (Reuters) The Canadian government will restore funding to Hockey Canada after it met three conditions to make the sport safer, Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge said on Sunday ahead of the gold medal game at the women’s ice hockey world championship. to the United States and Canada.

Hockey Canada’s funding was frozen last year when the national governing body came under scrutiny for handling sex crime allegations.

The organization, which lost several corporate sponsors amid the scandal, has been in conflict since news broke last May of alleged gang-sexual assault by members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior Team and the subsequent out-of-court settlement. player registration fees.

The allegations against the unnamed players have not been proven in court.

Today marks an important milestone for Hockey Canada in our journey to earn and maintain the trust of Canadians, said Hockey Canada Chairman Hugh Fraser.

While I want to thank Minister St-Onge and the government for their trust and their continued efforts to prioritize safe sport in Canada, I also want to emphasize that we still have work to do to change our sport culture.

The three conditions required for the funding to be reinstated included full sign-off on Abuse-Free Sport and a commitment to update the government more frequently on work to change the toxic culture. Hockey Canada must also review and implement the recommendations of the independent governance review chaired by Thomas Cromwell.

The CBC reports that Hockey Canada received $7.7 million from Sport Canada in the 2022 fiscal year.

While federal funding is only a fraction of Hockey Canada’s revenue, I want to reiterate that our funding is not a blank cheque, St-Onge said in a letter to Fraser.

Hockey Canada also needs to address safe sport issues such as toxic behaviour, the downplaying of sexual violence and the culture of silence that has too often made headlines.

There is no reason why such situations continued to plague hockey or any other sport.

Fraser, a retired referee, was elected Hockey Canada’s new board chair in December along with eight new directors.

(Reporting by Steve Keating in Brampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)