Evidence of meeting #40 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 investigation.
A video is available from Parliament.
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Your department was aware of the allegations. How is it that you found out about the allegations from Tom Renney two days before the story broke?
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
I believe the Sport Canada officials explained some of that to you earlier.
I shared this when I last appeared before the committee, but I will again read you the information that was given to Sport Canada in 2018.
It's as follows: “On June 19, Hockey Canada held a golf and gala for their national junior men's hockey team. Alleged sexual assault happened after the golf portion of the event. Involves member of the national junior—”
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Sorry to cut you off, Minister.
I don't really need you to read all that. I was simply surprised to learn that your department didn't inform you. Since your department was aware of the alleged sexual assault of June 18, 2018 and since the department knew that the sport was in need of a culture change, why does the department still have no program to address the situation?
July 26th, 2022 / 1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
To say that the department has no program to address the situation is not true.
Before this government, my predecessors had taken action. In particular, Kristie Duncan worked with partners to develop a new code of conduct in 2018, and sport organizations can now rely on that code.
The newly created Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner will also have the support of the code in conducting sport environment assessments and reviewing athletes' complaints regarding violence and abuse.
Those are measures our government has taken since 2018, but there is still work to do.
I have already announced that I will be conducting a full review of the funding regime in the next year. That will involve raising the threshold when it comes to funding criteria. Organizations will have to have better governance practices, show transparency and sign on to the program administered by the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner.
It's an ongoing process that we, as a government, undertook in 2018.
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Has your department followed up on the implementation of the code of conduct at all? As far as I know, Hockey Canada has always received its funding, even after the department was made aware of certain events in 2018.
You say that the code of conduct Ms. Duncan introduced is more stringent, but was there any follow-up? What we know is that Hockey Canada has always gotten its funding up to now.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Sport Canada is not a regulator and doesn't have investigative authority. Our relationship with the sport organizations is, first and foremost, a financial one. We have contribution agreements with them, and we distribute public funds to them. Under those contribution agreements, we set out certain conditions.
Sport Canada has neither the mandate nor the power to investigate cases that are brought to its attention. It does, however, ensure that the organizations have independent mechanisms to investigate allegations.
Something I would say about the complaint mechanisms put in place by the federations is that athletes don't consider them to be independent enough, because the federations are the ones paying these independent organizations and agencies.
That is why our government created the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner. In the most recent budget, $16 million in funding was earmarked for the office, to create a truly independent mechanism where athletes could turn to report abuse, and to ensure investigations, sanctions and recommendations were overseen by the office.
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Culture change has been a hot topic in recent years. You, in particular, know that, given how much it comes up in discussions about hockey.
How do you explain that the Prime Minister didn't make that one of your mandate letter commitments?
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Ensuring safety in sport is one of my mandate letter commitments. With all of the allegations and accounts I have heard since becoming minister, I have worked day in and day out to make sport safer, to listen to athletes, to make sure they are heard, to meet with every stakeholder across Canada's sport system, to be at the forefront of the issue and to bring in new measures.
That is also why I announced that our government would be reviewing the entire funding regime, as I already said. The idea is to raise the bar that sport federations have to meet. I want to make sure that the health and safety of athletes is our overriding concern, informing everything we do.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
We are talking about culture change at Hockey Canada.
Do you think Sport Canada is also in need of a culture change? First of all, Sport Canada officials never informed you of the situation, and second of all, no one there really did anything about it.
For all intents and purposes, this was a failure on Sport Canada's part.
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
I have heard so many stories since becoming minister that I feel Canada's sport system is in crisis, and I believe stakeholders across the board have to make the necessary changes to support the health and safety of athletes. That includes Sport Canada and the work it does, not to mention how it does that work.
We will be focusing on strengthening Sport Canada's evaluation capacity to make sure sport federations meet the requirements we set out for them. We will also be working with experts. On June 12, I announced a series of measures, including the creation of an athlete advisory committee at Sport Canada. This will make it possible for Sport Canada to obtain advice from athletes and to understand their realities. The advice of experts will help us identify the best way to evaluate compliance.
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you, Minister. We have run out of time for this questioner, so if you can hold that thought and expand on it in the next question....
The second questioner is the Liberals' Lisa Hepfner.
Lisa, you have six minutes.
1:15 p.m.
Conservative
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Through you, thank you to the minister for being here to answer our questions today.
One of the things that was revealed through the media since your last appearance before this committee was the idea that Hockey Canada had a fund for uninsurable emergencies. Through the media, we learned that if Hockey Canada didn't want to put a sexual assault allegation through their insurance, then they could use this fund. I'm wondering what your reaction was to that news and what you make of that practice.
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
I certainly share the outrage of parents who learned that registration fees were used for that purpose. I found out through the media.
Hockey Canada has an obligation of transparency to those who provide the organization with funding, whether it be parents signing their children up for hockey, sponsors or Canadians as a whole, the source of the organization's public funding.
That is why I also asked for an audit. I wanted to make sure that no public funds were used to cover up the affair.
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thank you.
You mentioned this a bit in your opening statement, but can you describe for us your reaction to Hockey Canada's response to the news and the committee's work here, and the steps that Hockey Canada is going to put in place, or says it's going to put in place, to address these cultural issues?
1:15 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Having an action plan and sharing it with the public are steps in the right direction, but this isn't the first time Hockey Canada has made these types of promises. For the Government of Canada and the Canadian public, the key to figuring out whether Hockey Canada has actually made those changes lies in identifying the right evaluation methods. Now is the time for action.
What I and everyone else are wondering is this. Are the people who were on the job when the events occurred—those whose handling of the situation was very controversial, to say the least—the right people to implement the plan Hockey Canada has put forward?
Personally, I think the decision-making table at Hockey Canada needs more diverse representation if the organization is truly going to change at every level.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Can you clarify this? As soon as you learned of the allegations, you froze the funding to Hockey Canada. I'm wondering what other power you have as minister to act against allegations of wrongdoing. What sort of levers can you pull to take action?
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Canadian sport federations and organizations are independent self-run entities. Their relationship with the Canadian government is based on contribution agreements. We have a financial relationship with them.
As someone in a leadership position, I intend to demand change. I also intend to use the contribution agreements to raise the threshold for compliance, so that federally funded sport organizations and federations have to meet more stringent requirements. The idea is to encourage them to adopt better governance, prevention and education practices when it comes to violence, abuse and maltreatment in sport. I also expect greater accountability on their part.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Since the Hockey Canada allegations have come out, you've also heard from other sports organizations. Can you reflect on whether the culture problem is exclusive to hockey? Is it more widespread? Is hockey particularly different from other national sports?
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Since taking office, I have received at least eight letters describing abuse and maltreatment in various sports, or inquiring about organizations' use of funds.
I said quite plainly that Canadian sport was in crisis and that the priorities of stakeholders in the sports world were very much in question. Performance is usually priority number one, at the expense of athletes' health and safety. That is the realization I have come to.
The hockey system in Canada is especially powerful. It's our national sport, and it is male-dominated. Men's teams receive the bulk of Hockey Canada's attention. The particularly heinous conduct we have heard about and the alleged events of 2003 and 2018 are proof that Hockey Canada needs to take specific actions to address sexual violence and the culture of silence organization-wide.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Quickly, I heard a reference that Canadian women's hockey could have been—
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
—better funded had a separate fund not existed for uninsurable claims. What do you make of that?
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Pascale St-Onge Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
The people at Hockey Canada need to answer questions about how they managed the organization's finances and funded its operations. They need to answer questions about how much room they made for women and Paralympic athletes. Hockey Canada is more than just men's teams.
Asking those important questions is paramount, as is holding Hockey Canada to account.