Hockey Canada’s members have elected a new board of directors with eight directors and a chair, the governing body announced Saturday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The election of a new board comes two months after Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith left the governing body and the entire board stepped down.
- The then-board said it recognized “the urgent need for new leadership and perspectives” and asked members to select a new slate of directors by no later than Saturday’s virtual election.
- The new board will serve a special one-year term focused on “making the changes necessary to improve the governance at Hockey Canada,” the federation said.
- Hockey Canada has been under intense scrutiny and criticism since May when allegations of sexual assault were made public in a lawsuit that the organization settled.
Who is the new board of directors?
- The Hon. Hugh L. Fraser (Chair)
- Grant Borbridge
- Cassie Campbell-Pascall
- Julie Duranceau
- David Evans
- Marnie Fullerton
- Jonathan F. Goldbloom
- Marian Jacko
- Andrea Poole
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What they’re saying
Chair Hugh Fraser said the new board is committed to making the necessary changes expected out of Hockey Canada.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us and we are determined to enact the changes Canadians expect of Hockey Canada,” Fraser said in a statement. “Hockey means so much to our country and we will be committed to making sure that Hockey Canada is an organization that is transparent and accountable to all Canadians, and is worthy of their trust.”
Backstory
The sexual assault allegations were made public in a complaint filed in April in Ontario Superior Court. In the complaint, a woman alleged she was assaulted by eight players in a London, Ont., hotel room following a Hockey Canada Foundation event in June 2018. Members of Canada’s gold medal-winning world junior team were among those accused of assault. lawsuit.
Police in London, Ont., where the alleged sexual assault occurred, have since reopened their investigation into the incident. Hockey Canada has also reopened its investigation into the incident. The NHL is conducting an investigation as well, with the majority of the members of the 2018 Canadian national team currently under contract to NHL teams.
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Additionally, Halifax Police have opened an investigation into allegations of a group sexual assault involving the 2003 Canadian World Junior team, which emerged after the 2018 allegation and settlement were revealed.
Hockey Canada still has a long way to go to repair its relationships with provincial and regional governing bodies, which oversee minor hockey across the country. Several federations threatened to withhold player participant fees that are paid to Hockey Canada and called for a change in leadership. In response, Hockey Canada announced in late October that it would not collect any participant assessment fees for the upcoming season.
The organization has also faced public scrutiny from high-profile stakeholders, including the Canadian national women’s hockey team. After the departure of Smith and the board’s resignation in October, the women’s national team released a statement asking for “a seat at the table” as Hockey Canada recalibrates and requested to be better represented by the new board.
A number of top sponsors have ended their partnership with the organization, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously floated the idea of creating a new federation.
Required Reading
(Photo: BO AMSTRUP / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)
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