The player crossed the central ice logo in a match against the Russian team on January 2, 2008 at the John Labatt Center in London, Ontario. Claus Andersen / Getty Images
Tim Hortons suspends support for the IIHF Junior World Championships and plans to reevaluate its sponsorship of Hockey Canada as the organization faces a growing backlash from corporate partners over its payment to resolve complaints that eight players of the Canadian Hockey League assaulted a young woman in 2018 after a Canada Hockey gala.
The Toronto-based fast food chain, owned by Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International Inc., announced Wednesday that it will not appear as a sponsor of the Junior World Championship tournament, which is scheduled to be held in Edmonton in August. The move makes Tim Hortons the latest high-profile sponsor to respond to news that Hockey Canada paid an undisclosed sum last month to resolve the allegations. On Tuesday, the Bank of Nova Scotia said it would “stop” its sponsorship of Hockey Canada, and Canadian Tire and Telus also withdrew their support for the World Junior event.
“We are suspending support for the upcoming Men’s Junior World Championships as we await details from Hockey Canada on how they intend to take strong and definitive action following the deeply troubling allegations related to a Hockey Canada Foundation event in 2018,” said Tim Hortons . spokesman Michael Oliveira wrote in a statement on Wednesday. “Hockey Canada has announced that it is committed to changing the culture of hockey to make it safer and more inclusive for everyone, on and off the ice. We have firmly stated that we believe Canadians are urgently looking for specific details of Hockey Canada. on how it intends to do so. We will re-evaluate our sponsorship agreement when we have all the information we need to consider our options. “
Tim Hortons has been a sponsor of Hockey Canada since 2018 and expanded the partnership in 2019 to become the organization’s fourth “main marketing partner,” along with Nike, Telus, TSN and RDS. and Esso’s parent company, Imperial Oil Canada.
Nike and TSN / RDS spokespersons did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
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For now, the World Junior event is the only aspect of Tim Hortons ’sponsorship that has changed; The company’s involvement with the organization also includes the role of sponsoring the Centennial Cup – the annual Canadian Junior Hockey League championship – held this year in May, as well as participating in international events such as the World Juniors and the World Women’s IIHF. Under-18 Championship. The company’s basic Timbits hockey program is not affected either.
Mr. Oliveira did not answer a question about whether Tim Hortons intends to redirect funds that would have been used in junior marketing to other causes.
In a lawsuit filed in April, a woman claimed $ 3.55 million in damages from Hockey Canada, the CHL and anonymous players alleging that she was repeatedly assaulted in a hotel room after the 2018 event in London, Ont.
Earlier this month, Federal Minister of Sports Pascale St-Onge ordered a forensic audit to make sure Hockey Canada did not use any public funds to pay for the out-of-court settlement.
Hockey Canada President Scott Smith and CEO Tom Renney were summoned to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last week and said players who attended the 2018 event were not required to participate. in an independent investigation into the alleged sexual assault. The commission has scheduled new hearings for the end of July.
The Canadian government froze federal funding for Hockey Canada last week, saying it would restore funding if the organization joins the newly created Office of the Commissioner of Sports Integrity, which was recently created to deal with multiple complaints of abuse and mistreatment in sport.
Corporate support accounts for a much larger amount of Hockey Canada’s revenue than government funding: 43 percent came from business development and partnerships last year, according to Hockey Canada’s annual report, while l government assistance totaled only 6 percent of the organization’s revenue.
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