Hockey Canada loses big time funding from Hockey Québec, Tim Hortons and Scotiabank amid sexual misconduct scandal

Hockey Canada is going to have to start making changes to its policies quickly or it appears the organization will lose all of its funding. Just this week, Hockey Québec said it did not have confidence in Hockey Canada’s ability to “act effectively to change the culture of hockey with the structure in place”, resulting in the removal of funding to Hockey Canada.

Back in June, it was revealed a sexual assault case was settled between Hockey Canada and an anonymous young woman who was assaulted by several members of the junior national team. Rather than Hockey Canada requiring the athletes to cooperate in the investigation, they allowed the players to make that choice resulting in very few appearing before authorities for questioning.

Although Hockey Canada has claimed changes will be made within the organization, such changes have not yet been put into place to ensure confidence the climate will be changing. Hockey Québec chose to pull funding when it was revealed player registration cash was being put towards a fund “for matters including, but not limited to sexual abuse.” It had also been revealed that a separate National Equity Fund was being used to settle sexual misconduct claims.

Claude Fortin, the chair of the Board of Directors at Hockey Québec, said they are unhappy with the progress made thus far regarding the action plan Hockey Canada claimed to have put in place to safeguard athletes and victims in sexual abuse cases.

“We sent a series of questions to Hockey Canada, some of which were not answered,” Fortin told Radio Canada. “We asked to do things that we thought were fair and smart. We are not necessarily satisfied with the way they are proceeding with the implementation of the action plan.”

In addition to Hockey Québec pulling their funding, Tim Hortons and Scotiabank have also removed themselves. The two companies were major sponsors of Hockey Canada, but have decided to pull the plug. Originally the two companies suspended their sponsorship, but both have now withdrawn from sponsorship for the 2022-2023 season entirely.

A statement from the Canadian coffee giant said, “We’ve communicated to Hockey Canada on many occasions that the organization needs to take strong and definitive action before it can regain the faith and trust of Canadians. We’re deeply disappointed in the lack of progress that Hockey Canada has made to date. We continue to fund Canada’s women’s and Para hockey teams, as well as youth hockey.”

Hockey Canada’s interim chair Andrea Skinner has continued to defend the organization saying, “Toxic behavior exists throughout society. Suggesting that toxic behavior is somehow a specific hockey problem, or to scapegoat hockey as a centerpiece for toxic culture is, in my opinion, counterproductive to finding solutions, and risks overlooking the change that needs to be made more broadly, to prevent and address toxic behavior, particularly against women.”

While Skinner feels the leadership in Hockey Canada does not require a change and the organization has an “excellent reputation,” many others across Canada, including the Prime Minister, disagree.

“It boggles the mind that Hockey Canada is continuing to dig in its heels,” Justin Trudeau said. “Parents across the country are losing faith or have lost faith in Hockey Canada. Certainly, politicians here in Ottawa have lost faith in Hockey Canada.”

Board of Directors elections will take place next month. Canadian Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge has urged regional bodies to put pressure on Hockey Canada in order to push through a change of leadership and next month will determine if the level of pressure was high enough to truly see changes in the Hockey Canada organization.