Canadian Heritage Committee on July 27th, 2022

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I agree.

[David Branch]

It's a different environment with better attitudes, starting with our owners all the way down.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I'm concerned that there's no database. There's no database available in this country, through Hockey Canada or through the Canadian Hockey League, other than the Graham James incident and so on. How do I know that someone from Gatineau or someone from Victoriaville was involved in an incident? There is no record that I can go to. That person might move out to Vancouver to be with the Vancouver Giants. I don't have the database needed to make choices from the Q, the O and the W. Why can't we have a database of this stuff?

[David Branch]

Well, I know that league by league we are tracking—

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

League by league, but people move. The Edmonton Oil Kings hire someone from the O and so on. I mean, you guys know that in coaching you don't hire within the Western Hockey League; you can hire from the Quebec league and from the O. If we don't have a database from the Canadian Hockey League, how would we know as owners or as personnel?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have five seconds.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

How would we know unless we have a database?

[David Branch]

Well, we exchange information—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Kevin. I'm sorry. I think we have no time for that answer. You may want to go after that again if we have another round. Thank you.

I now go to Michael Coteau for the Liberals.

You have five minutes

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate the opportunity.

I want to continue with the action plan and with talking about cultural change to take on systemic issues within the organization.

Mr. Smith, perhaps I can ask you. The CHL has 1,400 players. Is that correct? How many players do you have?

[Dan MacKenzie]

We have approximately 1,400. You're correct.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

You have 60 teams. In the training that exists currently, I know that one of the pillars is education. In your current educational training, is it mandatory for every single player to get the respect in sport training and the abuse program training and the other forms of training that were mentioned earlier today? Is it mandatory for everyone?

[Dan MacKenzie]

Sorry. Just for clarity, this is for the Canadian Hockey League, not Hockey Canada and the action plan, correct?

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

You know what? It's for Hockey Canada and the action plan. Sorry.

[Scott Smith]

The reference to the training in our action plan is mandatory for all of our national team athletes—male, female and para. We will be reviewing all of our educational initiatives and making determinations on where training will be mandatory and how we will evaluate that mandatory training going forward.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Someone mentioned that it would be mandatory for only the elite athletes. Does that mean the national team only? What happens to the remaining thousand-plus players across the country?

This is for anyone who can answer the question.

Is there mandatory training for all 1,400 players across the country, at this point?

[Dan MacKenzie]

The 1,400, for clarity for the member, is the number of players in the Canadian Hockey League. The number of players who play junior hockey in other divisions outside of the Canadian Hockey League would be much higher. I don't know the exact number.

In the Canadian Hockey League, to answer your question, the 1,400 players receive mandatory training both from the perspective of.... Each of the three leagues operates a respect in sport program, and then each of them also has, depending on the regional needs, their own programs in place, and they are all mandatory.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Is there coordination between the three leagues to synchronize that type of training so it's compatible wherever a player is playing or ends up?

[Dan MacKenzie]

The respect in sport training has an element that happens consistently across all 60. Outside of that, each of the three leagues treats it a little bit differently based on the scenarios that they're in. As I've indicated before, we have teams in the U.S. and some teams in Canada. There are language differences in a league like the Q, so it is delivered a little bit differently.

Again, if there was a desire from the committee to get more information on exactly what that training looks like, we would be happy to provide it.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

This is a question for Mr. Smith in regard to the legal agreements that have been made with victims.

I know that the equity fund has been funding, I believe, all of those agreements since 1987, when it was established. I could be off by a year or two there.

Has any of the insurance money paid for any sexual misconduct or sexual assault cases that have come forward? In addition to the equity fund, has the insurance paid settlement for additional cases?

[Scott Smith]

Madam Chair, I will defer to my colleague Mr. Cairo, who can give you an overview of the claims with respect to our insurance program.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead, Mr. Cairo.

[Brian Cairo]

Madam Chair, with respect to our insurance, we've settled 12 claims for a total of $1.3 million.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Is that in addition to the $7-plus million that was settled through the equity fund?

[Brian Cairo]

That's correct.