Hockey Canada’s Chair of the Board of Directors Andrea Skinner took a defiant stance in defending the organization to Canadian Parliamentary members by reaffirming support for senior leadership and blaming the media and politicians for piling on in the wake of a scandal that has engulfed the national governing body.
Skinner was one of two witnesses who appeared before the Canadian Heritage Committee on Tuesday in the third round of hearings to address how Hockey Canada handled a 2018 sexual assault allegation that was settled earlier this year. The newly-appointed chair doubled down on the board’s belief that senior management acted appropriately upon learning that a young woman said she was sexually assaulted by eight junior hockey players following a Hockey Canada Foundation event in London, Ont., in 2018 and said that she felt that the sport was being unfairly targeted by claims of cultural toxicity.
“Regrettably, toxic behavior exists throughout society. No segment of society is immune,” Skinner said in her opening statement. “Suggesting that toxic behavior is somehow a specific hockey problem or to scapegoat hockey as a centerpiece for toxic culture is, in my opinion, counterproductive to finding solutions.”
In testimony that seemed to echo Hockey Canada’s communications counter-offensive (the organization recently sent out a survey to members asking whether they felt the scrutiny on the organization was “overblown”), Skinner voiced emphatic support for embattled CEO Scott Smith and the senior leadership team.
