Canadian Heritage Committee on Dec. 3rd, 2013

[Katie Weatherston]

My case is actually really sad. It has been life changing. I've suffered from severe depression. I still can't exercise to this day. I've had headaches for almost five years straight.

I don't think people know how serious it is, because you look like a functioning human being. It's pretty tough when you're a tough hockey player, and here you are with depression and a bunch of other things going on in your personal life and you can't play your sport anymore.

Going back to the camp in September 2006, I got hit from behind and went headfirst into the boards. I kept playing, and between periods—this is in 2006, which is not that long ago—I approached a Team Canada doctor and I said to her, “I got hit pretty hard; I just want to make sure I'm okay.” One of my teammates said to get the doctor to look at me.

She did her concussion tests, put me back in the game, and I got two more hits to the head. I got second-impact syndrome, third-impact syndrome, and that changed the rest of my life, basically. I went home and I ended up in the hospital the next day. Often your symptoms will not come out for a few days; your worst symptoms come out two days later.

In my mind, when you see a head impact like that, it should be automatic removal from the game. I like this whole darkroom concept.

If you get hit again, you are in real trouble. I don't think people understand that. I run hockey camps with kids, so I'm on the ice all the time with little kids. They're falling back and hitting their heads, and you have to remove them. They're not going to know until the next day.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Have the other levels of the game adopted that method, or not?

[Robert Zamuner]

For example, in Oakville, they have now implemented impact testing. I believe they did that three years ago. That's a baseline. If a child is injured, it's one of the tools that the doctor, or whoever is treating that athlete, can use.

I think it's also a culture thing and we have to change that. If during a game on January 27 on a Thursday night, a kid has bumped his head or something like that, who cares if he plays for the rest of the game? If they're hurt, take them off the ice. It's not going to hurt their career if they miss the rest of the game.

I think it's changing. I really do. I think the awareness is there. They moved the hitting age this past year up to bantam—that's when they introduce it—and I'm sure that's going to be looked at again in house league. House league is the base. You're always going to have your elite programs and your rep programs, where it's a bit of a different animal, but the house league is where you build the base and you have your adult non-contact leagues. That's what we need to foster. We need to grow that.

We don't want kids, when they're 15 years old or 16 years old, leaving the game of hockey. We want them to stay in hockey.

I think we have to concentrate on that house league and build the base of it. It's recreational. It's someone being active, and it's a great social thing too. We have to be very careful with that.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Robert, in your association, you help your members prepare for retirement and to have a good healthy career.

Would you mind sharing your candid view on the practice of having enforcers on hockey teams? I read that some enforcers regret the way they spent their career. They were known as the tough guy, and they suffer for it later in life, in retirement.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

A quick answer on that, please.

[Robert Zamuner]

Okay.

Again, I think with this concussion working group, it's constantly looking at different ways of making the game safer.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

We're going to move to Ms. Mathyssen for seven minutes.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you very much.

It's truly an honour, a treat, to meet you today.

I thank you for being so candid about the issue of aggressive playing and violence in hockey.

In regard to that, we hear a great deal of debate at the professional level. Does the leadership of hockey at that professional level need to step back? Have we forgotten about the beauty of the game?

I've heard former NHL players, professional players, talk about the fact that when they grew up, they were on the pond and nobody came at them from behind. There was respect on the ice.

In terms of that leadership, do we have to get away from “rock'em sock'em” hockey?

[Robert Zamuner]

It's a different conversation when you're talking about house league hockey or rep hockey than it is when you're talking about the NHL game and the professional game. We have to be careful not to blend them together. I can't make the argument that the young kids don't try to emulate the professionals. I understand that. But they're adults, and I think it's a different conversation.

When it comes to youth hockey, I think that's where we really have to focus on all those issues you brought up. I think I can speak for Hockey Canada on what I see. I have two young children who are in the system, and I think Hockey Canada does a great job. I think it's always something they have to get better at. You can't be satisfied with it. We're much more aware of concussions now. The hitting has been eliminated under the bantam age. As I said before, maybe that's something that Hockey Canada or all the stakeholders would look at again to see if it's something they want to raise again.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you.

Katie, when you began you talked about the funding difference between the men's and women's team. I wonder if you could expand on that. Exactly how different is it?

[Katie Weatherston]

We don't know what Hockey Canada gives them, because most of them are NHL players so they're making a pretty good salary. We very well could be paid more than they are by Hockey Canada; I'm not sure. I just know that in my experience and from talking to some of the other girls, it was more like they'd go out for fine steaks, and we'd be going to Kelsey's. You know what I mean? It was more about things like that.

I guess it comes with the territory. They bring in more money than we do. We do realize that as well.

Female hockey players are always going to be a little bitter, because we put in the same amount of effort, the same amount of hard work, and we don't get the funding. We don't really even have a professional women's hockey league here. Playing after university was very tough for me. There's nowhere to play. You only look forward to those seven weeks of the year when you're with your team, and it's often red-white games in which you're getting your best competition, 40 people at a training camp, Team Canada versus Team Canada or U.S. We're in a tougher situation, and obviously most girls also have to have jobs back home.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

You talked about the need for another hockey centre. I was listening to a CBC program on Saturday or Sunday. I love the CBC. They're very good about the Canadian reality. The discussion was in regard to the cost to families of getting those boys and girls to the rink, along with the ice time and the equipment. For a lot of families that was a significant deterrent, as was the travelling, just having to travel around the province or even internationally. The comment from those who were discussing this was that we need more public arenas, and that hockey has become so privatized that private investors are reaping incredible profits from arenas.

Would you concur? Do we need more government and community investment in arenas and in facilities, so that kids can actually get out there without beggaring their families?

[Katie Weatherston]

Yes. In every city I know, ice is scarce. I know that a lot of organizations for females are saying, “You know, we started later than the boys did, and we're having a hard time securing more ice. It's not fair.” We definitely could use more arenas for just our youth and grassroots programs.

I'm also talking about national sports centres. We need more national sports centres across Canada. An athlete said to me this morning, “Katie, having to travel just to go and train, or having to move away from home is a really big sacrifice when you're not really making any money.” It would keep the costs down for the national sports associations too.

Having a centre right here in Ottawa where all different disciplines could train and you'd be with other Canadian athletes would motivate you to do better. You're going to learn from other athletes, not just those in one sport. It brings community to us as Canadian athletes. Then we also have the junior kids training with us. I think that needs to be a really big focus. I know it's easier said than done.

There are also other little things, such as health benefits. That's a huge one. I have a private health benefit plan right now that's terrible, but that was the only option there was for me. When we played on Team Canada, we also had food cards, so teaming up with a place like Metro or Superstore.... I think there are a few simple things that could be done, which are just a few phone calls away. I think in Canada we're a very proud country and we really support our athletes as a whole, so I wonder when we are going to take that next step and everyone is going to get on board and help these athletes who aren't making much money, who have to raise funds themselves, and who are not getting many sponsorship deals.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Does it jeopardize the future of the game, particularly with regard to girls, to not have that support?

[Katie Weatherston]

I don't know whether it jeopardizes the sport. It just makes life damned hard. That's the bottom line. We're working. We're training. There is no wasted time. I was at school and working at a job. I was playing hockey and going to an Ivy League school. I was also going away to Team Canada training camps. You have to learn good time management, I guess.

For sure, you will see our careers.... Also on the length of one's career, there have been a few girls on my hockey team who have retired early due to injuries. You will see the length of careers also extend. People are drained going to work and going to train. It's not the ideal situation.

We do need to put more money into our junior national team programs, because those are the kids who are really suffering. If you're one of the top female athletes in the world, you're going to get those private sponsorship deals, but it's the ones who are just below that level or just about to make it there who are really scraping by and having a hard time getting that funding.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you.

Mr. Dion, you have the floor for seven minutes.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you so much for being with us, both of you.

How aware are you of the preparation for Sochi? Is there something you would like to point out to this committee, or as much as you understand it, is everything well done, and let's go for Sochi?

[Katie Weatherston]

Every year we're getting better and better. I don't know as much about what's going on in Sochi because I've been removed from the sport for five years. Definitely, having the Olympics in Canada—look at our showing, the motivation of being in our home country and never winning a gold medal on home soil, just how much better we've done every year.... Based on our medal count, if you look at how much better we're getting, especially in the Winter Olympics, we're going to be looking really good in Sochi. Our winter programs seem to be moving in a good direction.

I don't know if you want to add something.

[Robert Zamuner]

Our members are extremely excited. We have members on all eight teams, and it's going to be an amazing experience. I went to Sochi about 12 months ago, and it's a fascinating place. The village is going to be tremendous, and it's going to be a wonderful event. Obviously the Russians on home soil are going to be tough to beat.

We have been part of making sure that the medical facilities are there. We have doctors there this week, actually as we speak, checking all the facilities out.

It's going to be an exciting event, that's for sure.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

On the relationship between the NHL and the national teams, is it optimal or do you have suggestions to improve it?

[Robert Zamuner]

I can't speak for the NHL teams, but I can speak for the players. Obviously, the Olympics is something very dear to their hearts, and we have members from many different countries. International hockey is something that's on the top of their list. We know that for the growth of sport, hockey in particular, we need other countries to develop their programs so that we have more than seven or eight countries that have a chance for gold.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Okay, there is no uncertainty between the NHL and the Olympic teams.

[Robert Zamuner]

I don't know if I understand your question, Mr. Dion. I apologize.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

We are always afraid that one day the NHL will say, “We don't want to interrupt our calendar. We want to keep our players.” There seem to be some difficulties there, but maybe I'm wrong, and that would be good news.

[Robert Zamuner]

Again, I'm not in on those conversations. Those are league conversations with the 30 owners.