Hockey Canada maintained a third secret slush fund for sexual assault claims
Content warning: This section contains mention of sexual assault.
The GIST: Just when it seemed Hockey Canada couldn’t sink any lower, news broke Monday that the organization had a third reserve fund to cover up uninsured claims, including sexual assault claims. A nesting doll of bullsh!t.
The context: Hockey Canada has been under fire since May when their mishandling of a sexual assault case involving eight players, including members of the junior national team, was brought to light.
- Since then, a third-party investigation uncovered two previously hidden slush funds financed by youth registration fees, which Hockey Canada allegedly used to quietly settle sexual assault claims.
- Sponsors and fans demanded change, and those demands were reluctantly met — CEO Scott Smith and the rest of the org’s board finally resigned earlier this month.
The latest: An interim report from the ongoing governance review into Hockey Canada revealed the aforementioned thirdfund. What’s more, it found the org also evaded financial transparency to avoid being the target of sexual assault claims and so as not to impact their bargaining position in settlement talks. WTF?
What’s next: Probably more mess, TBH. Monday’s revelations are just an initial roundup of the investigation’s findings, with the full report expected to be released later this month.
- As for Hockey Canada leadership, there have been calls to diversify the board to include members who are not entrenched in the sport’s toxic culture. May we suggest burning it all down?
