Andrea Skinner’s resignation late Saturday night was announced less than a week after her appearance before a parliamentary committee investigating Hockey Canada.The Canadian Press
The sudden resignation of Hockey Canada interim board chair Andrea Skinner, after testimony in Ottawa that parliamentarians called misleading and contradictory, is not enough to bring sufficient change to the embattled organization, MPs said on Sunday.
Ms. Skinner’s resignation late Saturday night was announced less than a week after her appearance before a parliamentary committee investigating Hockey Canada over its handling of an alleged sexual assault. The fallout from that hearing led to most of the organization’s biggest corporate sponsors pulling their support, including Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, Bank of Nova Scotia and Nike.
“Upon reflection, it is clear to me from recent events that it no longer makes sense for me to continue to volunteer my time as interim chair or as a director of the organization,” Ms. Skinner said in a statement announcing her resignation.
Ms. Skinner joined the board in late 2020 and was interim chair for just two months, taking over from previous Hockey Canada chair Michael Brind’Amour, who stepped down in August amid the controversy over an alleged sexual assault involving members of the 2018 national junior team.
A young woman filed a $3.55-million lawsuit this year alleging she was sexually assaulted by several players after a 2018 Hockey Canada fundraising event in London, Ont. Hockey Canada settled the case in May, in a matter of weeks, without completing a full investigation or requiring players to co-operate with the probe. MPs on the committee have accused Hockey Canada of trying to cover up the situation.
Major sponsors called for change last week, echoing demands in Ottawa for Hockey Canada’s senior managers and board to relinquish control, saying the organization has lost the trust of Canadians. Those calls were repeated on Sunday.
“Ms. Skinner has made the decision she should make. Now, for the good of all, the housecleaning must continue within Hockey Canada,” Bloc Québécois MP Sébastien Lemire said.
NDP MP Peter Julian called on the rest of the board and management to follow.
“It’s very clear that as long as the leadership team remains in place that we’re not going to see the profound change that is needed in Hockey Canada,” Mr. Julian said.
A Globe and Mail investigation last week revealed that Hockey Canada created a second multimillion-dollar fund, built by registration fees, to shield its various branches from sexual-assault claims, without disclosing to parents and players how their money was ultimately being used.
Revelations of the second fund, known as the Participants Legacy Trust Fund, followed an investigation in July in which The Globe first revealed that Hockey Canada used a financial reserve called the National Equity Fund, also fed by registration fees, to settle the lawsuit surrounding the 2018 allegations. Parents and players across the country have expressed outrage that their fees were used in the settlement.
After The Globe investigation last week, Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge said Hockey Canada treated sexual assault as an insurance problem rather than a systemic issue that should be addressed within the organization.
The investigation showed that the Participants Legacy Trust Fund was formed using $7.1-million from the National Equity Fund, “for matters including but not limited to sexual abuse,” according to Hockey Canada documents filed in Alberta court.
“There is no doubt that hockey parents across the country want answers from Hockey Canada,” Mr. Julian told Ms. Skinner at the hearings. “They scrimp and save to register their kids in Hockey Canada programs. And the revelations – both the allegations of sexual violence and sexual abuse and how that is handled within Hockey Canada, but also the complete lack of financial transparency – are profoundly disturbing.”
Hockey Canada did not disclose at hearings in June that it used the National Equity Fund to pay the settlement, rather than using its insurance. Though it moved quickly to reassure the government and sponsors that no federal or corporate dollars went toward paying the sexual-assault claim, it did not reveal to the committee – or to the public – that player registration fees were used.
Explainer: What to know about the Hockey Canada scandal and why sponsors are pulling support
MPs criticized Hockey Canada for withholding key information from the hearings. Conservative MP John Nater quoted from meeting minutes obtained from Hockey Canada’s board, in which the organization and a crisis communications firm, Navigator, devised a strategy to put a positive spin on the payments and push back against media.
According to the meeting minutes, which Hockey Canada was ordered to turn over to the committee, the organization “was encouraged to get the message into the public, get ahead of communication and shift the narrative.”
Facing criticism for not disclosing the use of player registration fees in sexual-assault claims, Hockey Canada wanted to alter public perception by saying, “the National Equity Fund is in place to protect children and our programs, and to take care of any victims. Settlement payments must be viewed in a positive manner, not in a negative manner.” The strategy involved Hockey Canada’s leaders and spokespeople repeating statements over and over to the public. “Repetition is required to state the narrative,” the notes say.
Ms. Skinner told the hearings that the second fund had been misconstrued in the media, but gave no evidence as to how it was misrepresented, drawing accusations from MPs that Hockey Canada was trying to muddy the waters and deflect criticism from itself. She then went on to confirm, as The Globe reported, that the trust was indeed created using $7.1-million from the National Equity Fund.
She confirmed further details of The Globe article, including that the trust had not been used to cover a claim, but was in place to address possible future claims, and that it was related to the period prior to 1995, before Hockey Canada began buying insurance for sexual assault. She also confirmed that Hockey Canada believes more lawsuits may emerge from that era because sexual-assault claims can be filed many years after the fact, which had also been reported in The Globe’s investigation.
In questioning Ms. Skinner, MPs read directly from court documents, which described the trust in detail.
“I thought it was a disastrous appearance that has backfired,” Mr. Julian said on Sunday. “Rather than doing the right thing and responding transparently to the questions, they’ve used a variety of techniques and tools of obstruction to basically not provide that information.”
Former Hockey Canada CEO Bob Nicholson has been summoned to appear at a future hearing, though a date has not been set. Mr. Julian, who was contacted recently by a whistleblower alleging that Hockey Canada spent extensively on board dinners and championship rings for directors, said he is planning to ask the committee to recall its CEO Scott Smith. Mr. Julian said he also wants to know how much Hockey Canada has spent to hire Navigator, and whether registration fees are being used for that purpose.
“There is a lot of information that has come out in the last few days, including The Globe and Mail’s revelation of the second secret fund that Hockey Canada put into place to handle issues of sexual abuse and sexual violence,” Mr. Julian said.
“It is important to have transparency around the finances; knowing whether there are other funds that they have put in place in this labyrinthine structure that they have been using to hide the finances. And to get answers that I’ve asked about; board meetings and allegations of over $5,000 being spent for one board-meeting supper,” he said. “These are things that [Mr. Smith] has not responded to or answered.”
In announcing Ms. Skinner’s departure Saturday night, Hockey Canada’s board said in a statement that it was discussing next steps. “We will continue to meet over the weekend to discuss other changes and reforms to the organization.”