Evidence of meeting #41 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.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
It was part of our discussions, and we took his advice. We also were aware of the interest of the young woman, as represented by her counsel.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Who made the decision, then, to make the settlement? Who made the final decision? Was it you or was it Mr. Renney?
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
I think it's best to say that Hockey Canada made the decision. Management reviewed it with our board; then we presented the settlement offer, and it was agreed to.
Conservative
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
Hockey Canada is both management and the board.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Did the board approve the settlement before it was offered?
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
The board approved the maximum amount of the settlement, and the settlement offer was made and accepted.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Last night there was a statement from Sheldon Kennedy, who for 20-plus years has been advocating on behalf of victims. He said, “The same people with a new plan expecting different results is the definition of insanity. I call for the resignation of Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith, his leadership team and the board of directors to resign and step down from their positions immediately. Enough is enough already.”
Frankly, Mr. Smith, we agree.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
We agree. For the good of hockey, for the good of the countless volunteers across this country, the good work that countless blameless people are doing in the support of hockey, I strongly believe there needs to be new leadership within Hockey Canada. Will you do that? Will you step down for new leadership to take over?
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
I believe I said in my opening statement that I'm prepared to take on this responsibility for change within our game. I believe I have the experience to do it. Should our board or the governance review that we've outlined in our action plan suggest that I'm not the person, then I'm prepared to accept that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you. The time is up.
I now go to Chris Bittle for the Liberals for six minutes, please.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'm not sure who this question is better addressed to, whether it's Mr. Smith or Mr. McCurdie.
Bob Martin, I understand, works security for the London Knights and is a retired London police officer. Was he ever retained by Hockey Canada to investigate anything involved in this incident?
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
Bob Martin has been a security liaison with a number of our teams—Olympics, world juniors. He was not involved or authorized in any manner to be involved in any of this investigation.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Okay.
I'm going to turn to Mr. Branch.
I'm not quite sure of the direct relationship between you and the individual teams. Do you have any knowledge of whether Mr. Bob Martin was conducting an investigation on behalf of the London Knights and/or their players involved in this instance?
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Would you undertake to look into that allegation with the London Knights and report back to the committee whether the London Knights retained Bob Martin to investigate this incident?
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Thank you so much.
I'd like to go back to what Mr. Nater was discussing.
We have an acknowledgement by the individuals here that there's been a cultural failure, but the individuals before us here have been there for decades, going back to Sheldon Kennedy and when those allegations came forward.
Mr. Smith, you've been with Hockey Canada for 30 years. Why is it now in this moment that you think Canadians should trust you, Hockey Canada and senior management when you've been through these processes for decades? What's changed now?
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
First and foremost, I want to be really clear. I've had a long-standing personal and business relationship with Sheldon Kennedy. I respect him, as all of you do. It was difficult to read his comments yesterday, but I still hold Sheldon in high regard.
As I've said, I do believe that I have the experience to take Hockey Canada and our game to a new place. I do believe that I have the support of our staff. I do believe that I have the support of our board and our membership, and I want to be held accountable to take Hockey Canada to a better place.
As I said, if the governance review or our board decide that someone else should do that, I'm prepared to accept that, but I want to be held accountable to deliver on this action plan.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Was the action plan a document prepared by Hockey Canada, or did you hire an outside organization to assist you with the preparation of that plan?
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
The content of the document was developed by a group of staff within Hockey Canada. They ranged from individuals who were responsible for safe sport; legal from a governance perspective; our lead on business development; our lead on strategy; our lead on people, culture and inclusion; our head of finance; and me. We did look for services and support elsewhere. As an example, the sexual assault centre of Waterloo, who does work with the Ontario Hockey League, has been delivering training this month with our high performance programs in Calgary.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
To the Canadian Hockey League, I know that, legally so, you're not responsible for what happened at the Hockey Canada gala. But in terms of the culture within the Canadian Hockey League, do you not see that there is a serious cultural problem that would inevitably lead to instances like what happened in London?
President, Canadian Hockey League
Our experience with culture has been that it's very much dependent on individual team scenarios. What's the coaching situation? What's the leadership team? What training have they been through? We've found that it's very specific to the team. As it relates to the kind of conduct that this committee hearing is about in terms of sexual misconduct, each league, understanding the team dynamics, has really tried to put programs in place that deal with it at the team level.
In order to help answer this question, would it be okay to pass this on to some of the league commissioners to give some examples of the kinds of things they've done?