BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Canadian government has restored funding to Hockey Canada.
Hockey Canada made the announcement Sunday – and Canadian sport minister Pascale St-Onge made it official – before the Canada-United States gold-medal game at the world women’s hockey championship.
“When we suspended the funding for Hockey Canada, it was never a matter of doing it forever. It was so that the proper change was implemented in the organization,” St-Onge told reporters at the CAA Centre. “I set three conditions for them, they’ve met those three conditions and now we’re reinstating that funding, but it’s not a blank cheque.
“We’re going to ask them to report the situation constantly with Sport Canada. We want to make sure that they keep on going in the right direction and implementing all recommendations from all two reports that were produced in the past few months and we want to make sure that their action plan is actually moving forward.”
Hockey Canada saw its funding shut off by the federal government, while a number of sponsors have pulled dollars since May, when it was revealed a woman alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight players – including members of the 2018 world junior team – following a foundation gala in London, Ont. in June 2018.
Hockey Canada and the woman quietly settled a $3.55-million lawsuit out of court.
The organization then announced members of the 2003 men’s world junior roster – the last time Halifax hosted – were also being investigated for a group sexual assault.
It was also revealed that Hockey Canada’s little-known National Equity Fund – maintained by fees collected from players across the country – had been used to pay for uninsured liabilities, including sexual abuse claims.
Hockey Canada executives in July revealed they paid out $8.9 million in sexual abuse settlements since 1989, excluding the 2018 deal.
In order to have its funding reinstated, Hockey Canada needed to meet three conditions outlined by St-Onge, which included:
– Become a full-signatory to Abuse-Free Sport and the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC);
– Review and implement the recommendations from an independent governance review led 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,” Hockey Canada chair Hugh L. Fraser said in a statement. “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.
“This is a significant moment for the future of Hockey Canada, and hockey in Canada, as it will enable us to further our commitment to supporting all levels of the sport.”
A parliamentary committee unanimously passed a motion on March 27, ordering Hockey Canada to hand over a report from an investigation into the 2018 allegations by March 28. Heinen Hutchison Robitaille LLP was hired by Hockey Canada to perform a third-party investigation.
This was followed hours later by Hockey Canada saying that players from the 2018 world junior team will not be considered for international competition until the investigation is complete.
“Well, there’s still police investigations, so they do need to be extremely prudent not to interfere with the ongoing cases open with the local police,” St-Onge said when asked if Hockey Canada had submitted the report. “So we’re giving a chance for these investigations to move forward.”
Hockey Canada elected a new nine-member board in December after the previous board resigned and CEO Scott Smith was ousted as a result of the controversies.
Cromwell recommended the new board serve only a one-year term focused on improving the organization’s governance and safety across the sport.
While Hockey Canada has yet to hire a new CEO, St-Onge expressed her confidence and pleasure with the current leadership.
“I’ve had the opportunity to meet the president of Hockey Canada and also all the board members, and we’ve had extensive discussions about their role. I’m extremely impressed by the diversity at the table right now,” St-Onge said. “ … They’re putting their own credibility in play by joining an organization in a time of crisis, so I know that they’re there for the right reasons.
“In November, there’s going to be a new board that’s coming in, a new CEO as well. Their mandate is only for a year. Their role is to change the governance that inner policies and to put this change in motion, and I think that that’s what they’re doing.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2023.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
