Evidence of meeting #38 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was players.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you.
We are going to run out of time, so I'm going to have to eliminate the second Conservative and Liberal turns in this round. I will go to the Bloc Québécois for two and a half minutes. I don't know who that will be.
Will that be Ms. Larouche or will it be Mr. Lemire?
5:45 p.m.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
I will take the floor, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Madam Chair, on a point of order, there is a Liberal round following the Conservative round, before the Bloc's, that we've skipped over.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I'm so sorry, Anthony. Thank you. Yes.
Who is that going to be? Is it Mr. van Koeverden?
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Adam van Koeverden Liberal Milton, ON
Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Could you give me a one-minute to 90-second warning? I'd like to share my time with Anthony Housefather.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Adam van Koeverden Liberal Milton, ON
Thank you.
Very quickly, Hockey Canada recommended or encouraged players to participate in the process, but who deemed them not required to?
5:45 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
I believe they made that choice on their own—either with their representative or on their own—but Hockey Canada strongly encouraged them to participate in the investigation.
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Adam van Koeverden Liberal Milton, ON
Sport Canada was notified. I acknowledge that. Were any other funding partners, sponsors or broadcast partners notified around the same time frame?
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Adam van Koeverden Liberal Milton, ON
Thank you.
This isn't surprising anybody. Hockey is part of our collective Canadian identity in this country, and we have a lot to reconcile as a nation, but this is another chapter in our development as a country. You mentioned that this has created a lot of room to think.
Do you believe this is also an urge to act and change some of those culture challenges we're confronted with, as Canadians who love hockey?
5:50 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
As you know, Mr. Renney finishes in 10 days and then I'll take over. I would tell you that even prior to the announcement of our transition, it has been part of our mandate to make sure that we improve the culture in the game. We want to make sure not only that every Canadian knows that hockey is a safe environment for them, but that it is something they can be proud of.
I'm not sure that we will ever have an end to or a finish line in that effort. It's a constant effort for us, and we're driven to making the change that all Canadians desire. It's a constant effort for us, and it's something that we're driven to making sure we can deliver for you and every Canadian to be proud of.
5:50 p.m.
Liberal
Adam van Koeverden Liberal Milton, ON
I agree. Those types of journeys don't have finish lines. That's a path to development to which we all have to commit.
Does Canadian hockey have a culture of toxic masculinity that needs to be addressed?
5:50 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
I believe when we sit and discuss the topic that we're talking about today, we certainly have an issue. How widespread that issue is, I'm not sure, but I'm also not sure that is really what you're asking.
If we have issues like this in the game, even if they're limited in scope or limited in number, it's an issue that's important to you, me and every Canadian, and it's something we need to eliminate from the game.
5:50 p.m.
Liberal
5:50 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Thank you so much, Adam.
Gentlemen, you mentioned that you had no new evidence today that would allow you to change what happened in 2018 or 2019, when your investigator came back to you and said they couldn't do anything further. Did you know everything that was in the statement of claim that came from the alleged victim, which you found out on May 3 when you received the claim?
5:50 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
No, we did not, and I believe I mentioned earlier that there are things in the statement of claim that we can clearly outline as not being accurate.
5:50 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Okay, but you have new information. For example, did you previously have the birth dates? In the statement of claim, did you have the year that all of the alleged perpetrators were born?
Did you have that information before?
5:50 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
You have new information to take back to your third party law firm, Henein Hutchison, don't you? You can say, “We have new information that would perhaps enable us to identify some of the alleged perpetrators.”
5:50 p.m.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
That may be something we can take away from this proceeding and discuss with Henein Hutchison. I will tell you that our approach, and the approach and the advice we had up until September 2020—not 2019, but September 2020—was that Henein Hutchison conducted their investigation. We were waiting on the—
5:50 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
I understand. I have very limited time. I know there's new information, and I suggest you go back to Henein Hutchison and try that again.
Did you change the contracts that you entered into with players to join the national team as soon as 2018 happened and you realized that people weren't co-operating with the investigation? Did you change the contracts to require people joining the national team to co-operate with investigations?