Witnesses Michel Ruest, Senior Program Manager, Sport Canada Branch of Canadian Heritage, and Isabelle Mondou, Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage, appear before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa on July 26. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Hockey Canada told Ottawa in 2018 about sexual assault allegations involving members of that year’s Canadian junior world team, but did not follow up with the organization about the complaint for four years, according to federal officials.
Until last spring, Sport Canada had thought a police investigation into the alleged assault in London, Ont., was continuing, according to Isabelle Mondou, deputy minister at the Department of Canadian Heritage, which oversees Sport Canada. He said it wasn’t until May, when Hockey Canada reached out to inform Sport Canada that the allegations were about to become public, that the government became aware that the London Police Service had concluded his investigation, without charge, in early 2019.
The revelation came Tuesday during high-profile public testimony before the Canadian Heritage parliamentary committee, which is examining Hockey Canada’s handling of sexual assault allegations. While the conduct of hockey’s national governing body had been the focus of hearings that took place in June, it was Ottawa that was under the microscope on Tuesday.
In addition to the 2018 allegations, which are now the subject of a reopened police investigation, authorities in Halifax are investigating an alleged sexual assault involving members of the country’s 2003 world junior team.
The federal government froze its funding to Hockey Canada after it was revealed to the media that the organization had settled a $3.55 million lawsuit on behalf of eight Canadian Hockey League players accused of sexual assault a woman after a Hockey Canada fundraising gala in London in June. , 2018. The players are not named in the lawsuit and have not been publicly identified, nor has the amount of the settlement been disclosed.
Although several Sport Canada officials were aware in 2018 that London police were investigating the allegations, the matter was not brought to the attention of then-minister Kirsty Duncan. Sport Canada senior director Michel Ruest, who was among those who learned about the alleged incident four years ago, told the committee that he believes transition documents to subsequent ministers did not include information about the allegations.
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In her second appearance before the committee, Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge told MPs that the federal branch needs to do a better job of following up on complaints of sexual assault and abuse in sport. He also said the government is considering measures to strengthen its monitoring of national sports organisations, which are subject to federal funding arrangements.
Asked by Bloc Québécois MP Sébastien Lemire if she was satisfied with how Sport Canada handled the 2018 allegations, Ms. St-Onge said there is room for improvement. “When I say that everyone within sport and Canada needs to rethink the way they do things, I think that includes Sport Canada as well,” he said.
Sheldon Kennedy, a sexual abuse survivor and former National Hockey League player, called for the immediate resignation of Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith, along with his management team and board of directors.
“The same people with a new plan expecting different results is the definition of insanity,” he wrote in a statement posted on social media. “It’s enough”.
Ms. St-Onge stopped short of saying Hockey Canada’s executives and directors should resign, but questioned whether the people leading the organization are fit to bring about the culture change they’ve promised in recent days.
Conservative backbencher John Nater, who sent Halifax police information he had recently received about the alleged 2003 assault, took the minister to task and asked if the same standard of thinking applies to government
“The person on his right heard about the allegations four years ago,” he said, referring to Mr. Ruest. “[He] he did not inform the minister’s office and did not follow up. You’ve mentioned that you’re not sure the current leadership of Hockey Canada are the right individuals to continue, but I ask you, do you think the person sitting next to you is the right person to lead change within Sport Canada?”
Ms. St-Onge responded that Sport Canada is not a regulatory body with powers to investigate, noting that the branch has taken steps to improve the culture of the sport. For example, it recently created the federal Office of the Commissioner for Sports Integrity, whose mandate is to deal with serious complaints of abuse and mistreatment in sports.
Mr. Nater said no one was suggesting that Sport Canada should investigate the allegations; rather, it should at least monitor the status of serious complaints to ensure they are dealt with properly.
“[Sport Canada officials] he made a note on a piece of paper and nothing more happened to it — it was put in a filing cabinet somewhere,” he said. “They made a note and then did nothing.”
Committee members also asked about Hockey Canada’s use of a special multi-billion dollar fund, fueled by player registration fees, to settle claims of alleged sexual assault. The background was detailed in a recent Globe and Mail investigation.
Mr. Ruest said the government was aware of the National Equity Fund, but did not know it was being used to pay settlements in sexual assault claims. Hockey Canada has said it will no longer use the fund for this purpose.
Hockey Canada used the health care fund for the lawsuits, according to the documents
Tuesday’s hearings focused on Sport Canada, but the day began with testimony from Danielle Robitaille, a partner at the law firm Henein Hutchison, who was retained by Hockey Canada to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations of 2018. Hockey Canada announced earlier this month that it would reopen that investigation, after work was initially halted in 2020 because the woman was unwilling to speak with the lead investigator.
The opening statement of Ms. Robitaille provided details about what happened after the gala held on June 18, 2018. He said he spoke with Glen McCurdie, who retired as Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of insurance and risk management in December, about the morning of June 19, 2018. He said he advised him that Hockey Canada should contact the police immediately. Mr. Smith, the CEO of Hockey Canada, told the committee last month that the organization contacted police in London around 6 p.m. that day.
Ms. Robitaille said that of the 19 players who attended the gala, 10 participated in initial interviews; seven said they would not participate until the police investigation was concluded; and two declined. He clarified that he now understands that the latter two only intended to suspend their participation until the end of the police investigation, not an outright declination.
This time, he said, if the players do not cooperate with the investigation, they will receive a lifetime ban from Hockey Canada programs. This ban, he added, will be made public.
Ms. Robitaille declined to answer a series of questions from MPs, including whether she knew the identities of the eight players involved in the alleged incident, citing instructions from Hockey Canada not to waive attorney-client privilege.
She assured the committee that she is “laser focused” on deciphering what happened in London four years ago. “We still don’t know what happened or what didn’t happen,” he said. “The purpose of the investigation is to discover the truth.”
On Wednesday, Hockey Canada representatives will return for a second round of testimony, including Mr. Smith, former CEO Tom Renney and Hockey Canada Foundation President Dave Andrews. Mr. McCurdie will testify for the first time. The witness list also includes representatives from leagues under the Hockey Canada umbrella.
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