Canadian Heritage Committee on July 27th, 2022

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

Do you see this as a systemic issue within your sport?

[Scott Smith]

We see this as an issue that we need to eradicate and abolish, and so—

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

When we talk about cultural change, obviously there is a big issue of sexual assault and sexual misconduct, and a cultural shift that has to take place there. Do mental health and racism fit into this toxic culture as well?

[Scott Smith]

They absolutely do. It's part of our overall opportunity to make sure that we're a welcoming environment. I think our organization has done some marvellous things. Most importantly, on the issues of the day, we need to make sure we're delivering appropriate levels of education that, as someone around the table said earlier, are not box-checking exercises but clearly drive the cultural change we want. We need to find a way to make sure that we can measure that.

I think we've done some things to make the game more inclusive, but that's a process. I'm not sure that we will ever hit the finish line on that. We will continually evolve as an organization. Our board, our membership and our staff are prepared to deliver on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We now go to round four.

The Conservatives will put up a person for five minutes, please.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

When I heard everything that happened at Hockey Canada in 2003 and 2018, I was stunned, really surprised and shocked. I worked in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and the coaching was very strict.

We know that Hockey Canada drafts the best players from each team, often captains. The captains who are chosen must be responsible and highly disciplined leaders. It's hard to understand why things like this happen at Hockey Canada.

I'm curious about the coaching these players receive from Hockey Canada. Every player wants to be on this team because it's the pinnacle of junior hockey in Canada. So much so that for two weeks leading up to this team's training camp, these players don't give their all in our leagues, precisely to be ready to play for Hockey Canada.

I'm really surprised that this is happening at Hockey Canada. You even said that there have been one or two cases a year for the past six years.

I would like an explanation of the coaching these players receive. I was sure it was almost impossible for such things to happen at Hockey Canada.

[Scott Smith]

I think in our action plan we've made reference to a few things that may cover what you've just provided as a statement and a question. A couple of key things that stand out for me are further enhancements to our education initiatives and a thorough review by our third party through our action plan to review all of our education initiatives and ensure that it's achieving the objectives we want and that we have the ability to evaluate the effectiveness.

We also have introduced having a third party conduct character assessments on players, coaches, staff and volunteers around our national team program. There are further measures that we have in place to ensure that the appropriate character is in place with a drive to make sure that these incidents never happen again.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

I can't convince myself that we're on the right track with the people who are currently in place at Hockey Canada. Every year, in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, sanctions were imposed, for example, in cases of drug use. Above all, we were constantly informed. I find what has been revealed to us to be disappointing.

I have no further questions.

I'd like to share my time with my colleague Mr. Waugh.

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

Thank you very much.

Gentlemen, you're here because we care about the game, but I have to admit, when I look at the seven of you, and three on Zoom, that's not the face of hockey today. NHL teams have moved to women in positions. We are lagging behind. That front row tells me everything.

Mr. Smith, how are you going to change that culture?

[Scott Smith]

Madam Chair, I think I mentioned earlier the strength of the female voices that we have across our leadership team as well as our board, the incredible position that our national women's team program has as a voice of influence not only in the sport of hockey, but in sport, given that, for the first time in many years, they're world champions and Olympic champions.

We have female leaders who have taken on the leadership with respect to standing committees and task teams within our system. We have a dedicated female hockey policy committee.

I think, on the path to involving, encouraging and making sure that we have more female voices within a game, those are some examples of what we've done, and we'll continue on that process going forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have 30 seconds, Kevin.

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

How long is it going to take, Mr. Branch, until we see women in powerful positions in the OHL, in the LHJMQ and in the Western Hockey League? Really, in those three leagues, in the Canadian Hockey League, there is zero influence right now on the women.

You three will have to lead this in the coming months. I would hope that we do see some women in influential positions in the Canadian Hockey League, in the LHJMQ, the OHL and the WHL.

[David Branch]

I completely—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

There is no time for an answer here, Kevin. You can bring that up again if you have another round.

Now I go to the Liberals for five minutes.

Anthony.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

I want to come back to Mr. Smith.

In the last round of questioning, you told me that you rushed to settle with the victim, without being aware of the underlying facts, without taking the time to alert the other defendants, because you wanted to act wholly in the victim's best interests. Let's look at the victim's best interests.

Mr. Smith, would it have been in the victim's best interests, in the initial version of the settlement agreement, to have a clause preventing her from speaking to any third party about anything that happened to her, with no carve-out for the police or investigators or to respond to players that may be speaking about her? Would that have been in her best interest, Mr. Smith?

[Scott Smith]

Madam Chair, again, this is a layman's explanation of the process, but the minutes of settlement, which is what you're referring to, were part of ongoing discussions between the young woman's lawyer and our lawyer, Mr. Winton, who's to my right. Those were agreed to by both parties. Both parties are experienced, including the young woman's lawyer. I stand to be corrected, but I don't think she would have been prevented from speaking to police.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Why then did you amend the settlement agreement, Mr. Smith? Why did you enter an amendment, which we received today, into the settlement agreement?

[Scott Smith]

Madam Chair, we proactively reached out a little over a week ago, when some of the media reports were representing comments on behalf of players. We reached out to the young woman's lawyer and suggested that she should be given the right to respond to the events of that evening as well. We offered that on a proactive basis, and it took until, I believe, later in the day yesterday to have the young woman's lawyer respond, and Mr. Winton sent that to the clerk of the committee late last night or this morning, as you reference.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I agree, and I agree that in any settlement there would be negotiation and an agreement, and these clauses are common in agreements. However, to say that you were acting wholly in her best interests when there's a confidentiality clause that says she can't speak to anybody about the event seems to belie that.

Let me go to insurance, because you've talked about why you didn't go to the insurers and why you settled from the fund. Why do you carry sexual conduct liability policy insurance?

[Scott Smith]

Thank you for the question.

I'm going to ask Mr. Cairo to answer that, please.

[Brian Cairo]

We carry it because it does afford coverage for our existing players. Where we have gaps in the system is when there are individuals when we acquired the sexual misconduct insurance that were identified, and insurance would not cover those individuals.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Let me understand this better.

If I understand correctly, the claim was reported to the insurers the day that you first heard about this incident in 2018, correct?

[Scott Smith]

That is correct.