National funding has been reinstated for Hockey Canada after a 10-month freeze that resulted from the organization’s response to sexual misconduct allegations.
Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge made the announcement Sunday before the Canada vs. United States gold medal game at the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Brampton.
In order to have funding restored by the federal government, Hockey Canada had to satisfy three conditions: become a full-signatory to Abuse-Free Sport and the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, implement recommendations from an independent review by retired Justice Thomas Cromwell, and commit to more frequent reporting to the federal government.
“Today marks an important milestone for Hockey Canada in our journey to earn and maintain the trust of Canadians,” said Hugh Fraser, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors. “While I would like to thank Minister St-Onge and the government for their vote of confidence and for their ongoing efforts to prioritize safe sport in Canada, I also wish to stress that we still have work to do to change the culture of our sport.”
Throughout the spring and summer of 2022, Hockey Canada lost funding from the federal government and a number of sponsors as multiple women came forward alleging they had been sexually assaulted by groups of players.
One of the accusations came in May 2022 from a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by eight athletes – including players on the 2018 world junior team – after a gala in February 2018. Hockey Canada eventually settled a $3.55-million lawsuit with the woman outside of court – a move which stirred controversy across the nation.
A short time later, another woman came forward with a similar account of sexual misconduct involving the 2002-2003 national junior team, which prompted similar outrage from the public.
In response to these incidents and the backlash that followed, Hockey Canada made a commitment to improve their organizational culture through efforts such as implementing mandatory sexual violence and consent training, creating a new confidential complaint mechanism, and conducting a full governance review.
In October 2022, Hockey Canada’s CEO and Board of Directors resigned from the organization. New members of the board were appointed in December of that year.
Leading up to Sunday’s announcement, the newly-elected Board of Directors reportedly met with St-Onge to discuss the progress that has been made within the organization.
Hockey Canada said in a statement that their leaders “recognize and appreciate that there is more work to be done” and “will continue to be transparent and accountable to [St-Onge] and all Canadians moving forward.”
