The executive director the London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC) said she “isn’t surprised” Hockey Canada funding has been restored.
Emphasizing the importance of hockey in Canada, the Government of Canada is once again supporting hockey's governing body.
“We actually gave Hockey Canada some conditions for us to reinstate the funding and they have met all three conditions,” explained Pascale St. Onge, Canada’s minister of sport.
They include:
- Becoming a full-signatory to abuse free sport and the office of the sport integrity commissioner
- Reviewing and implementing recommendations from an independent governance review
- Committing to more frequent reporting to the federal government
When asked why the conditions of Hockey Canada getting its funding back didn't involve the stoppage in use of non-disclosure agreements, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he'd defer to St-Onge on answering such questions, but that parents need to know change is happening.
"We need to know that the mentality has changed, that the culture is being addressed," he said. "We put extremely clear expectations before Hockey Canada, before we would restore funding to them.
He added, "They have indicated a real willingness to move forward on that. But we are going to continue to be extremely vigilant around ensuring that they continue to be worthy of the trust that millions of Canadians put in them, as we encourage our kids to play sports, and specifically hockey."
LAWC Executive Director Jenn Dunn said it’s a wait and see approach to whether the safe sport protocols will make a difference.
“Really only time is going to tell,” said Dunn. “We’ll see how that trickles down to smaller leagues like the OHL and then further down.”
The funding was frozen for 10 months after investigations revealed the organization paid out $8.9 million to settle sexual assault claims since 1989.
Hockey Canada quietly settled a $3.5 million lawsuit out of court which centred around allegations a woman was assaulted by eight members of Team Canada at a London, Ont. hotel in February 2018.
The Ontario Hockey League has taken steps to ensure junior players are educated about consent with training through their onsite program.
The London Knights said they have gone above and beyond the requirements by adding additional hours of training, including visits by LAWC.
“They play such good hockey, but they also need to continue to do well off the ice as well,” said Dunn.
She added that while education is really important, it’s also important that not only players are the ones who are educated.
“A lot of the people that are in the coaching positions and the management positions were also once hockey players,” said Dunn. “Education is important for the young generation, but it's also important for those owners and managers and coaches to also have an understanding of what's going on. It starts from the top.”
Monday — a day after the announcement — opposition MPs have spoke out against the decision to restore funding, calling it “premature” and “lacking conditions to protect victims.”
— With files from Canadian Press