During her testimony, interim Hockey Canada board chair, Andrea Skinner suggested that hockey was being treated as a 'scapegoat' for toxic behaviours that exist in wider society.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
If Hockey Canada really wanted to show it was an organization reformed, it would have ensured its representatives could at least feign an appreciation for the seriousness of the organization’s misdeeds in front of federal members of Parliament. But interim board chair Andrea Skinner, who testified before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on Tuesday, couldn’t have demonstrated she took the allegations less seriously if she showed up wearing a clown nose.
During her opening statement, she suggested that hockey was being treated as a “scapegoat” for toxic behaviours that exist in wider society, and said that changes to Hockey Canada’s executive leadership would not serve the interests of the organization and its members. And it only got worse from there: When questioned by Liberal MP Anthony Housefather about a previously undisclosed second fund to pay out sexual assault claims (the Globe and Mail reported on the first fund back in July), Ms. Skinner said that the fund had been “fundamentally misdescribed in the media,” which she called “unfortunate,” adding that “no funds from that trust has been used to settle claims.” Yet as Mr. Housefather pointed out, a 2019 affidavit filed by Hockey Canada CFO Brian Cairo said that the fund was earmarked “for matters including but not limited to sexual abuse.”
In response to subsequent questions, Ms. Skinner claimed that Hockey Canada was the target of “substantial misinformation and unduly cynical attacks.” She said that the organization has an “excellent reputation” and that she believed “appropriate steps were taken” in response to a 2018 allegation from a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by several members of that year’s gold-medal-winning men’s world junior team after a fundraiser in London, Ont. (The allegations have not been tested in court.) At the time, Hockey Canada commissioned a third-party investigation that did not compel participation from players – a misstep for which Hockey Canada has since apologized – but it seems Ms. Skinner now believes that apology was unwarranted.
She further testified that she thinks Hockey Canada President Scott Smith deserves an “A” for his leadership of the organization “under the circumstances,” and chided those who have repeatedly called for changes to senior leadership: “I think that will be very impactful in a negative way to our boys and girls who are playing hockey,” she said. “Will the lights stay on in the rink? I don’t know.”
As it turns out, her committee appearance may have been the thing that threatened arenas across the country. In the hours following her testimony, the hammer fell on Hockey Canada. Hockey Quebec announced that it would not be handing over a portion of its registration fees normally allocated to the national organization, saying in a statement that it does “not have confidence in the ability of the Federation to act effectively to change the culture of hockey under its current structure.” The Ontario Hockey Federation soon followed suit.
Then, on Wednesday, Tim Hortons pulled its sponsorship for the men’s 2022-2023 season. “We’re deeply disappointed in the lack of progress that Hockey Canada has made to date,” Michael Oliveira, the company’s director of communications, wrote in a statement. Scotiabank, Telus and Chevrolet pulled their sponsorships too, and Canadian Tire went even further, permanently ending theirs. Each company spokesperson, in their own words, expressed regret that Hockey Canada didn’t appear to have learned from its mistakes – that it seemed more interested in maintaining its executive makeup than conceding that genuine change often requires changes at the top.
Hockey Canada had a chance to stanch the bleeding before Ms. Skinner sent a stampede of sponsors headed for the door. It released a decent-sounding action plan in July that included specific goals and procedures to “shatter the code of silence and eliminate toxic behaviour in and around Canada’s game.” Its leadership conveyed contrition in public statements, conceding that there was too much secrecy and toxicity in hockey and Canada, and announced that the organization was reopening the investigation into the alleged 2018 sexual assault. In an open letter to Canadians, Hockey Canada’s leadership said, “We unreservedly apologize.” And then, Ms. Skinner came along and threw in a bunch of reservations.
An organization humbled and reformed does not send out its interim board chair to tell a committee that, actually, it did everything right back when it was informed of an alleged group sexual assault. It does not lash out at the media for reporting previously undisclosed funds, nor does it try to pretend that a uniquely noxious type of “bro” culture does not exist in hockey in Canada. The organization might have gotten away with leaving its executive board intact had Ms. Skinner refrained from undermining its previous apologies, and had she not conveyed through her testimony that Hockey Canada still doesn’t get it. But she showed up with a sledgehammer and destroyed all of the work Hockey Canada had attempted to do since July. There’s no stopping the bleeding now.