Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 15th, 2022

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

You agreed that it would be important to be transparent about the use of that fund and the purpose of it. I'm curious as to why you feel that's important.

[Bob Nicholson]

I think any of those funds are important. At the time, we were really trying to make sure they were there for our 13 members, who then deliver that information to the grassroots and all of the minor hockey associations. It was important for us to do that at our board table at that time.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Nicholson, why is transparency in an organization like Hockey Canada important?

[Bob Nicholson]

It's really important. You know, when I look at it, the board structure was a lot different when I was there. We had over 25 members—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Nicholson, I'm sorry. I'm just not getting to the “why”. Why is it important?

[Bob Nicholson]

Why is it important? It's so that all of our members—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have 20 seconds.

[Bob Nicholson]

—can give the information to minor hockey players and parents on how Hockey Canada uses its funds and its finances.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much. The time is up.

I will now move to Liberal member Anthony Housefather.

You have five minutes, please, Anthony.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair

Thank you very much to both witnesses.

Mr. McLaughlin, your sincerity did come through to me, and I thank you for that.

Mr. Nicholson, I want to start by asking a question. When you were CEO of Hockey Canada, was it a standard practice to have employees, when they resigned, sign NDAs?

[Bob Nicholson]

There certainly were some who signed NDAs, but it wasn't all of them. I can't tell you, Anthony, how many there were, but in some situations, depending on the amount of knowledge they would have, there would be some type of clause.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Today Rick Westhead reported that two staffers connected with the women's national team in 2013-14 had signed NDAs, as had Dan Church, who resigned right before the 2014 Olympics.

Are you aware of the circumstances that led to those NDAs being signed?

[Bob Nicholson]

Thanks for bringing up that question. There is an NDA that is in place. I know that Dan Church and two other coaches signed those NDAs. I was fully aware of how they got to that position. I was not involved; we had other senior people doing it. It was an evaluation of a coach going into the Olympic Games. A decision was made, after meeting with a number of the staff and I think a majority of the players, that we would make a change in the coaching staff. An NDA was signed by Dan and by two other coaches, for sure.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you so much for your candour, Mr. Nicholson.

Let me just ask this: Did allegations of harassment lead to any of what happened, or was this simply disappointment by players and not allegations that would be of a serious nature that should have been disclosed?

[Bob Nicholson]

That's a great question. What I remember was really an in-depth evaluation from the staff and from the players. After all of those individual meetings happened, they thought it was in the best interest to make a coaching change for us to move forward to go into the Olympic Games.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

That's fair enough. I think this may be something that others will pursue.

Mr. Nicholson, from everything I've heard about you and from everything I've gotten, you're a very good businessman. You're somebody who has a lot of ability. Can I understand why there were no written guidelines related to what people should do at Hockey Canada when there was a claim of sexual harassment while you were there? You'd think that this would be one of the first things you would have the organization put in place.

[Bob Nicholson]

On that question.... You know what? I wish I could go back. I wish I could have put more policies in.

My job as CEO was to run the operations. Policies came from the board. I'm not deflecting that back to the board. I was the CEO and I should have been encouraging more policies. When I listen to you speak and others speak, that was something I would have liked to have done. I didn't, and I'm sorry about that.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

You can't cry over spilled milk. Again, I appreciate your reflection on it, because we haven't had so much reflection before.

Can I ask, while you were CEO, were you ever directed by the board to sign settlement agreements?

[Bob Nicholson]

Yes, I was.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

When you were so directed, at the time you were there, did the board minute those mandates to you? Did the board put in their minutes that they approved a settlement agreement and authorized Mr. Nicholson to sign the settlement agreement, or were you left out on a limb, that one day you would have to prove that the board actually authorized you to do that?

[Bob Nicholson]

That's a very good question. I'm thinking about it right now. You know what? I was directed to sign those agreements from recommendations from our lawyers, from our risk management, from our insurance people. We took the settlements back to the board and then I would sign it.

My role—I will use Graham James again—was having our legal, our insurance, our risk and safety management, our expertise to work on the settlement, and then I had the role to meet with the victims. I had to meet with them several times, and then we came up with the final settlement fee. I know how difficult it was for those victims.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have 30 seconds, Anthony.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I appreciate that. Again, it put you in a very bad position. You were an employee who was being asked to sign something, with no written proof years later that you were mandated to do it.

In any case, I appreciate your testimony. I will ask Mr. McLaughlin questions in my next round.

Thank you, Mr. Nicholson.

[Bob Nicholson]

Thank you.