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.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Let me ask one last question, Mr. Smith.
Do you not think the board should have been involved on June 19 when the phone call went to Mr. Glen McCurdie? Do you not think the head of Hockey Canada's board of governors along with the rest of the board of governors should have been involved immediately on June 19 when that phone call went to Mr. McCurdie?
Instead, they were left out in the dark for probably weeks.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
Mr. Chair, my recollection is that the chair of the board was advised on June 19 and that within a week we did have an update call with the board of directors where they were briefed.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Do you not think it should have happened on June 19 or June 20, instead of a week later?
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Nater
Thank you, Kevin.
If you can answer that in a couple of seconds, go ahead.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Nater
Okay.
Next up is Ms. Hepfner for the Liberals for five minutes.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Mr. Smith is probably best to answer this question.
A couple of people have remarked at the homogeny of the group at the end of this table. Do you think it would help Hockey Canada to have some women in leadership positions within the organization?
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
I definitely do.
Our current board of directors has two women. In our senior leadership team, there are five women and seven men. We have strong female voices within our system, whether that be on standing committees, leadership of standing committees or task teams. We have a female hockey policy committee, and especially our national women's team.
I would definitely welcome that, and I do think that we have strong voices that help us and will continue to help us on a go-forward basis.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Can you talk about the discrepancy in funding between women's hockey and men's hockey?
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
I think we can give you an overview of what we spend with respect to our high performance programs, and I would respectfully ask Mr. Cairo to provide an update on that.
Chief Financial Officer, Hockey Canada
Mr. Chair, with respect to spending on the women's program, in the last four years—so including this year—we have spent a total of $20.3 million compared to the men's program of $17.8 million, so we have spent more on the women's program over the last four years.
On the para program, we have spent $4.2 million.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Okay.
I'm wondering if you've heard from hockey moms and dads who are concerned about this national equity fund and the fact that part of their—or maybe you can clarify—registration fees would have gone to this fund.
President and Chief Operating Officer, Hockey Canada
Mr. Chair, in a moment I'll ask Mr. Cairo to go through that.
I would like to say that I think—and you will probably hear this from Mr. Lorenzetti later this afternoon—that insurance doesn't cover everything. We're in a situation where we want to make sure that we provide and support families. In some cases, we've made payments out of the equity fund for injuries that may not be covered to the extent they need to be from an insurance point of view. I also would like to clarify that there is a difference between registration fees and insurance fees.
I'll turn it over to Mr. Cairo.
Chief Financial Officer, Hockey Canada
I think Scott's covered most of it.
When the fund was set up in 1995, we purchased commercial liability insurance. Unfortunately, when we purchased it at that point, not all of our risks would be covered. I'm not aware of any company that can totally de-risk any of its risky items.
In 1998, largely stemming from the Graham James incidents, we added a sexual abuse component to our liability insurance. This coverage has been in place for the last 25 years, so that's a real testament to the reputation of Hockey Canada.
When setting up this fund, it was recognized that there are just some unforeseen circumstances where claims are not insured, and you can think of Graham James. The insurance companies were not going to insure us for those types of instances. I've already explained that, out of the claims that we've paid out of this fund of $7.6 million, $6.8 million of them have been Graham James related.
Yes, I can understand that the parents aren't happy. I wouldn't be happy either, but that's the reality of the situation. Some risks can't be insured.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thank you.
I understand that nine times the fund was used for sexual assault claims, or am I mistaken on that?
I'm wondering if you agree that, by having a fund that allows potential perpetrators to escape any accountability, it perpetuates the problem. It's saying from the top that this is okay and, if you're accused of sexual assault, we'll get you out of it. Do you understand, or do you agree?
Chief Financial Officer, Hockey Canada
I'm not sure what you mean by letting them out, because Graham James was persecuted to the end. I don't know if he is even still in jail, but it was a criminal matter.
This money is used to support the victims of those individuals, not the perpetrator. We feel very strongly that we need to support those victims.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Did you try to use your insurance policy for this 2018 incident in London?
Chief Financial Officer, Hockey Canada
We felt that, first of all, the right thing to do was to deal with the young woman, and secondly, it was right for the organization. We didn't know all of the details of the night, but we did believe harm was caused.
We had two options. One was basically to work with the young lady to arrive at a resolution that met her needs and didn't revictimize her or force her to litigate, which likely would reveal her identity and would essentially condone this behaviour to Canadians. We didn't believe we would get a definitive coverage answer from our insurance. We are already having debates about insurance of the sexual abuse nature that are committed by players. We didn't feel we would have a covered answer back for months, if not years.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Nater
Thank you, Ms. Hepfner. I did allow extra time for that to be answered.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Nater
Next up we have another round for the Conservatives. It's a five-minute round.
I will call on Ms. Vecchio.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Thanks very much.
I'm going to start off with Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith, yesterday we heard from counsel that, during the investigation, they ceased the investigation when the complainant wouldn't come forward. Scott, did you have anything to do with ceasing that investigation at that time? Was there any consultation with the counsellor at that time about why this was being ceased?