Hockey toxic secrecy

Hockey toxic secrecy:

 This week, Canadian hockey fans are filled with anticipation and optimism as the new NHL season begins. Two recent examples of the delight that professional sports may bring are Connor McDavid's hat trick in Edmonton and the Habs' thrilling victory over the Leafs last night in Montreal. Boys and girls are returning to the rink and reconciling with their teammates around the nation as this is happening. Back is hockey. It also feels good.

However, this week has also tragically shown the darker side of the nation's favourite sport. Hockey Canada finally gave in to months of pressure from sponsors, lawmakers, and the general public on Tuesday when it announced that CEO Scott Smith and the entire board of directors will go. The national governing body's handling of a young woman's $3.5 million lawsuit alleging a group sexual assault involving members of Canada's world junior championship team generated heated calls for it to be overhauled. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed last week the nation's displeasure with the organization's leadership in these words: "Canadians will have no choice but to look for another structure to run our national winter sport if these people continue to be deluded enough to believe there is a pathway forward for them to continue running Hockey Canada."

Hockey Canada's use of a secret reserve fund, funded in part by child registration fees, to settle that lawsuit and others where Hockey Canada either couldn't or wouldn't get its insurance provider to cover the payments to claimants is the main cause of Canadians' outrage. Hockey Canada has paid $8.9 million to 21 complainants since 1989, excluding the lawsuit related to the alleged group sexual assault in 2018, which was resolved this year for an undisclosed sum. Three-quarters of that money was associated with the Graham James case, in which the former junior hockey coach is charged with assaulting players on his teams. Officials from Hockey Canada informed a parliamentary committee that those purchases cost $7.6 million from the so-called National Equity Fund.

The retired judge recommends that the whole board of directors resign at the conclusion of their current term, in mid-December, and issues a warning that public confidence in Hockey Canada and its leadership group has "sunk to dangerously low levels." Given the timing, it appears that this advice is what led to the board and CEO Smith's resignation announcement on Tuesday, but Cromwell also points out a number of issues with how the National Equity Fund was run that still need to be fixed.

Hockey toxic secrecy:

Following these findings, Hockey Canada hired Thomas Cromwell, a former justice of the Supreme Court, to examine its governance procedures and use of the National Equity Fund. Even though Cromwell's full evaluation isn't due until the end of the month, Hockey Canada released an interim report to the public today after CBC News published an article summarising its principal conclusions last night.

The retired judge recommends that the whole board of directors resign at the conclusion of their current term, in mid-December, and issues a warning that public confidence in Hockey Canada and its leadership group has "sunk to dangerously low levels." Given the timing, it appears that this advice is what led to the board and CEO Smith's resignation announcement on Tuesday, but Cromwell also points out a number of issues with how the National Equity Fund was run that still need to be fixed.

Accepting the Cromwell report, Hockey Canada promises to "regain the trust of Canadians."

Although many of us may find the idea of a somewhat secret fund for lawsuit settlements repugnant, Cromwell maintains that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it. Actually, he writes that keeping a fund to "handle uninsured and underinsured obligations is not only sensible... the failure to do so would be a severe error."

Hockey toxic secrecy:

According to Cromwell, the issue is how Hockey Canada managed the fund. First of all, it never informed players or their parents that a percentage of their registration money was designated for the National Equity Fund, much less how much specifically (he discovered that $13.65 of the $20.80 insurance cost players are required to pay each year went there). Additionally, there were no rules or guidelines in place to control how the money was spent. Additionally, Cromwell found six instances since 1999 where Hockey Canada failed to inform its members in a formal, verifiable manner when new settlements, lawsuits, or judgments may cost more than $500,000. Hockey Canada is supposed to notify such instances to its members.

Secrecy is the underlying theme here. That's what initially incited political outcry from hockey parents and caused all those business sponsors to turn tail. Now, Cromwell is dissecting that lack of openness in a more methodical, chilly manner, itemising and outlining the precise nature of the shoddy behaviour in some of Hockey Canada's procedures.

To give everyone time to review Cromwell's full report after it is presented, the election for a new board of directors has been postponed one month, to December 17. Hockey Canada's decision to share the preliminary report today and its commitment to enacting Cromwell's suggestions about the fund "as soon as feasible" are encouraging indications that the group is interested in restoring its standing and recovering the public's trust.But that's a relatively low standard, and there will need to be a lot more improvements before Hockey Canada truly emerges from the shadows.