Hockey Canada is under pressure to make significant leadership changes amid a widening scandal over how the organization has responded to reported cases of alleged sexual assaults.
The sporting organization has seen key corporate sponsorships withdrawn and sharp criticism from federal politicians, as it has so far resisted calls for a shift in its leadership ranks.
In recent months, Hockey Canada settled a lawsuit with a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight Canadian Hockey League players, including members of Canada’s world junior team, in London, Ont., in 2018.
But other allegations of hockey players being involved in group sexual assaults have since come to light, and it has been revealed that Hockey Canada has paid millions of dollars for sexual abuse settlements since 1989.
At the provincial level, two prominent organizations have disavowed Hockey Canada over its handling of the scandal.
Calls to reform the organization were renewed after a fresh wave of allegations were levelled against the embattled governing body. Some provincial hockey federations, which collect fees on behalf of Hockey Canada, came out against the organization, with some taking steps to halt the transfer of those fees.
Hockey Canada also faces pressure from corporate sponsors that have curtailed their financial support.
While some sponsors suspended or limited their sponsorships of Hockey Canada in the summer, when allegations against the organization first came to light, more brands have since come forward to publicly distance themselves from hockey’s governing body.
According to Hockey Canada’s website, sponsorships account for 27 per cent of its funding.
Tim Hortons, Telus Corp. and Scotiabank have all pulled men’s program funding for the upcoming season, but will continue to support women’s, para and grassroots programs.
Nike has suspended its partnership with Hockey Canada. The company says “significant and substantive action is required to support athletes and transform hockey for future generations.”
In Ottawa
Hockey Canada has also faced criticism from federal politicians, with Canada’s sport minister saying it is time for the organization to “clean the house.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said “there needs to be wholesale change” at Hockey Canada, and it’s possible a new organization could be created to replace it.
TORONTO – The keynote speaker at a series of lectures hosted by artificial intelligence luminary Geoffrey Hinton says the technology will get better than humans at cyber offence by the end of the decade.
The views Jacob Steinhardt has are based around his belief that AI systems will become “superhuman” with coding tasks and finding exploits.
Exploits are weak points in software and hardware that people can abuse for their own gain.
To find these vulnerabilities, the assistant professor at UC Berkeley in California says humans would have to read all the code underpinning a system.
While people might not have the patience for that kind of drudgery, Steinhardt says AI systems don’t get bored, so they will not only undertake the task but be very meticulous with it.
Steinhardt’s remarks concluded the Hinton Lectures, a two-evening series of talks put on by the Global Risk Institute at the John W. H. Bassett Theatre in Toronto.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.
Montreal police say a 53-year-old man was allegedly stabbed by a fellow hospital patient early this morning.
They say the victim suffered serious injuries but is expected to survive following the incident, which hospital officials say took place in the emergency room.
Police were called to the downtown Université de Montréal hospital known as the CHUM at about 1:15 a.m.
Const. Véronique Dubuc says a 35-year-old male suspect attacked the other with a sharp object and hospital staff intervened.
The victim was seriously injured in the upper body but was quickly stabilized by hospital staff.
Police are investigating and don’t yet know the motive for the attack.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version cited police saying the suspect and victim were hospital roommates, but in fact the stabbing is alleged to have happened in the emergency room.
LONDON (AP) — More than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, the highest number recorded since the U.N. health agency began keeping track.
About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being the world’s top infectious disease killer after being replaced by COVID-19 during the pandemic. The deaths are almost double the number of people killed by HIV in 2023.
WHO said TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan account for more than half of the world’s cases.
“The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
TB deaths continue to fall globally, however, and the number of people being newly infected is beginning to stabilize. The agency noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to have drug-resistant TB last year, fewer than half were diagnosed and treated.
Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that mostly affects the lungs. Roughly a quarter of the global population is estimated to have TB, but only about 5–10% of those develop symptoms.
Advocacy groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have long called for the U.S. company Cepheid, which produces TB tests used in poorer countries, to make them available for $5 per test to increase availability. Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders and 150 global health partners sent Cepheid an open letter calling on them to “prioritize people’s lives” and to urgently help make TB testing more widespread globally.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
