Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I'm here representing Hockey Canada and the 4.2 million people who are involved in the game of hockey in our country. I respect the process here. We want to make sure that we give you the role of Hockey Canada.
When you look at hockey in this country, coast to coast, there are many youngsters who play it, from the initiation program up to the Olympic team. Shane Doan is a person who has represented our country eight times. I know there is going to be a lot of discussion about Shane Doan and how he was named to the team and named captain, but I just want to take a moment to talk about the speak-out program that we work with from coast to coast in this country. We're very proud of it. We've spent over $2 million on this program to make sure we have an environment that is safe for all our young players, coaches, and officials to participate in this game, and to make sure that we're looking at the harassment side, so that, if it's there, we have a process to deal with it on a day-to-day basis. This is something that I, as a staff person, and our board are proud of.
Also, it was an allegation that was made about Shane Doan, and we want to make sure that we understand that it was an allegation. We have done our research on this and feel very comfortable with the information we have today. We hope we are here to show you why we are 100% behind the naming of Shane Doan to the team, and as the captain of this team. It's very important for our team now playing in Russia. I really feel it is very important for our country.