Canadian Heritage Committee on July 27th, 2022

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Can the clerk confirm that. Thank you.

[Justin Vaive]

I can confirm that we have received them. Both pieces have been sent to translation. Upon receipt of the translation they'll be distributed to the members of the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, John. That's the end of your round. You have six seconds. Do you want to make a quick statement or whatever?

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd reiterate what I said earlier in the meeting. I believe there is a time, and now is the time for new leadership.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

We now go to Chris Bittle for the Liberals for five minutes.

Chris.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I'm going to ask a couple of quick questions and then split my time with Mr. Maloney.

Mr. Branch, you mentioned an app for reporting incidents at the OHL. Has any player ever reported an incident through the app where you then followed up with an investigation?

[David Branch]

First of all, they have. I can give you an example from this past year that you may be familiar with. A player reported a concern of racial abuse to our director of CDI, Mr. Rico Phillips. That was a new position we put in place two years ago. We conducted an independent investigation, and the person who was alleged to have made certain remarks was expelled from our league.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Smith, it states in the action plan, under the expanded application of the code of conduct, that “failure to cooperate in an investigation could mean never wearing a Hockey Canada jersey—ever”. But with respect to earlier comments, you said that those who do not co-operate “will” not be able to participate. What's the discrepancy there between the action plan and your comments?

[Scott Smith]

If a player fails to participate in an investigation of the nature that we're talking about, they will be expelled from any and all Hockey Canada activity.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Just to confirm, regardless of their talent, whether they're a generational talent or not, that will apply equally to all players.

[Scott Smith]

To confirm: If a player fails to participate in an investigation of the nature that we've been discussing for a period of time now, they will be prevented from participating in hockey programs.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'll turn my time over to Mr. Maloney.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Bittle. I appreciate your sharing your time.

I have just a couple of quick questions, gentlemen.

First, if my memory serves me, in June there was discussion about an NHL investigation into the events from 2018. What's the status of that? Do we know?

[Scott Smith]

My awareness of the NHL investigation is that it's ongoing. I'm not privy to the details of the status.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Thank you.

My second series of questions is about the equity fund. My understanding is that the fund was created in 1989. It's been used 20 times to settle civil lawsuits. Nine of those cases involved allegations of sexual misconduct. The other 11 cases had no allegations of sexual misconduct. They're claims of another nature. Is that correct?

[Brian Cairo]

Yes. That is correct.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Without getting into too many particulars, what is the nature of those claims? I guess what I'm really asking is whether this fund was created as a form of self-insurance because you didn't have coverage or you chose from a business perspective to self-insure.

[Brian Cairo]

It was a self-insurance fund when it did start, so yes, there is a form of that.

To answer your question about the nature of injuries, one particular injury was a plaintiff who suffered a catastrophic injury in a WHL game and became a quadriplegic. Basically, he endured 40 years until he passed just this very year.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

Are the monies from that fund used for any purposes other than legal claims?

[Brian Cairo]

The money from the equity fund is used to fund our insurance premiums.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

So it's solely for legal purposes. But on the claim you're talking about with the individual who suffered catastrophic injuries, was there a civil action arising from that?

[Brian Cairo]

I think Ron Robison would be best to answer that. It happened way back in the early eighties, I believe, so I'm not familiar with it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead, Mr. Robison.

[Ron Robison]

Could you repeat the question, please?