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.
David Branch Commissioner, Ontario Hockey League
I, David Branch, do swear that the evidence I shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Procedural Clerk
Madam Chair, we've sworn in the witnesses here in the room. Would you please ask each of the three virtual witnesses to repeat the oath or the solemn affirmation?
Liberal
Dave Andrews Chair, Hockey Canada Foundation, Hockey Canada
Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you.
I, David Andrews, do swear that the evidence I shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Liberal
Tom Renney Chief Executive Officer (Retired), Hockey Canada
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I do not have the text message with the statement.
Ron Robison Commissioner, Western Hockey League
I, Ron Robison, do swear that the evidence I shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I affirm that the witness has been duly sworn in.
Now, Mr. Renney, have you received the text?
Procedural Clerk
We have sent it to your email, Mr. Renney, but it may not have arrived. I can administer it directly. Would you like to use the oath or the solemn affirmation?
Chief Executive Officer (Retired), Hockey Canada
I can use the oath, thank you, and I do not have an email or a text. Thank you.
Procedural Clerk
That's fine. We can take care of it this way.
Please repeat after me: I, Tom Renney, do swear that the evidence I shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Chief Executive Officer (Retired), Hockey Canada
I, Tom Renney, do swear that the evidence I shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you.
I affirm that the witness has been sworn in.
We should begin, and as I suggested, we'll start with Mr. Glen McCurdie, who is appearing as an individual.
Mr. McCurdie, you have five minutes.
As an Individual
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, honourable members. I thank you for the opportunity to be present here this morning.
Before I commence, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the committee for their kind and compassionate acceptance of my request relative to my initial invitation to the first meeting on June 20, 2022. My father, retired OPP constable Ian McCurdie, passed away in the early hours of June 13, 2022. Your consideration allowed me to put my focus on my family, and I truly appreciate that.
We are here to discuss the events of June 18 and 19, 2018, in London, Ontario, specifically as they pertain to the Hockey Canada Foundation gala, as well as the activities that took place thereafter.
I left Hockey Canada in December of 2021. My departure had nothing to do with the serious allegations stemming from the foundation gala, nor from the management of that matter at Hockey Canada from June of 2018 to my departure in December of 2021. In short, there is no correlation between those events and the end of my employment.
To assist the committee, I can provide a timeline of my activities at the pertinent times.
I was in London for the gala in 2018. My partner at the time, and wife now, attended the gala dinner and awards ceremony on Monday night. The following day, I attended the charity golf tournament. In my group were two of my BFL insurance brokers, a representative of Intact Insurance and a celebrity NHL player.
I have checked my phone records which indicate that I received a call at 12:08 p.m. eastern time from Denise Pattyn, senior director of HR with Hockey Canada—
Bloc
Procedural Clerk
Madam Chair, we'll suspend for a minute to get the interpretation working again. Please stand by.
Madam Chair, the problem seems to have been resolved, so you can resume the meeting and have the witness continue.
As an Individual
Thank you, Madam Chair.
—and Scott Salmond, vice-president of men's national teams. They had received a call from the family or the stepfather of a woman who was making allegations against members of the national junior team, and they were looking to discuss next steps with me. They described the allegations to me in a brief manner. I had not dealt with this kind of real-time situation in my 30 years at Hockey Canada, nor have I dealt with one like it since that time.
My first suggestion to them was that we offer whatever assistance we possibly could, including counselling, referral to a sexual assault centre and filing a police report. I then made a phone call to a person I have confidence in when dealing with difficult situations. That person recommended a law firm that I could contact for immediate advice.
I was looking for legal advice because I wanted to make sure that Hockey Canada was responding responsibly and lawfully. One of those firms was Henein Hutchison, in particular, Danielle Robitaille.
I obtained contact numbers for Danielle. Danielle returned my call at 1:30 p.m. eastern time. I did not take notes of that initial call as I was not in my office, but I do recall Danielle highly recommending that we have the complainant attend London Police Service if possible, and if not, then I should report the matter. I had no issue in doing so.
Denise acted as a liaison at all times between Hockey Canada and the family of the complainant. She was the original point of contact, and we felt it best to maintain that comfort level with the complainant and her family.
I was confident in Henein Hutchison. I recognized the name and felt comfortable in using a firm we had not retained before as they had no preconceived knowledge of Hockey Canada or its operations. They were starting from the ground level in that regard. I felt this fresh perspective would be helpful and credible.
Tom and Scott were on a flight. I knew they were not available, but I also knew this matter needed immediate attention, so I proceeded to work with Danielle to address the matter as best I could. I felt terribly for the complainant and her family and tried to ensure that our response was as compassionate and responsible as possible while still protecting the integrity of the complainant and her family.
I remember being picked up by my wife at the charity golf tournament and asking her to drive as I had much work I needed to do on the way home. This occurred around 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. on June 19.
I had a call with Tom, Scott Smith, Scott Salmond and Denise at 2:37 p.m. This was followed by a lengthy conference call at 4 p.m. eastern where we reviewed the advice we had received and decided on next steps. I was to report the matter to London police. I did so at 6:44 p.m. eastern time as per my phone records.
My recollection is that I spoke with two female officers; first one and then transferred to another. Both were quite abrupt with me, and I did try to stress to them the need to report. Eventually they did call the stepfather after I provided his name and number. I left her my name and phone number as well.
At 8:14 p.m., as per my phone records, London Police Service phoned me back. I spoke to a Constable Fortier. Constable Fortier indicated that the victim was unwilling to come forward despite their efforts to convince her. Constable Fortier provided me with the incident number and provided me with the name of the detective assigned to the complaint.
The insurers I would normally report this to were with me at the time I received the calls about this issue. They knew what was going on only for that reason. I formally reported this matter in writing to our insurers the next day, Wednesday, June 20, 2018, after I had reported the matter to London police.
In terms of the settlement of this matter, that took place after I was no longer at Hockey Canada. I was not involved in any of the discussions and was not involved in any manner with this file after my departure in December of 2021.
I thank you for your time and look forward to assisting the committee in whatever manner I can.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you very much, Mr. McCurdie.
We will now go to the Canadian Hockey League and Dan MacKenzie.
You have five minutes, please, Mr. MacKenzie.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Madam Chair, the interpreter flagged that the witness was speaking too quickly for the interpreter to interpret the end of his statement.
I still caught what was said, but I encourage the witnesses to be mindful of the interpreters.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you.
I don't think there is any interpretation. I'm getting none at the moment.
Could we please suspend while we check that before we begin Dan MacKenzie's testimony?