A review by former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell found serious flaws in how Hockey Canada divulged details about settlements for as many as six claims against the organization, according to a CBC report on Wednesday.
In the review, commissioned by Hockey Canada in August but not independently viewed by Sportsnet, Cromwell said the organization “didn’t have policies and procedures in place to govern use of its reserve funds, didn’t fully disclose its funds in financial records and broke the rules by failing to notify members of large payouts,” according to the CBC.
In his report, Cromwell found that Hockey Canada failed to notify members of six cases since 1999 that exceeded $500,000, contravening the organization’s policy on disclosure of such incidents involving the National Equity Fund.
Cromwell found that the meetings held about these settlements were held in-camera and no minutes were taken. This policy of not taking minutes for in-camera meetings previously drew the scorn of the Parliamentary committee investigating Hockey Canada’s finances and approaches around the settlement for an alleged group sexual assault by members of the Canadian world junior team in June 2018.
Cromwell also made several recommendations, according to the CBC, including suggesting Hockey Canada’s website more clearly lay out what portion of registration fees are spent on uninsured claims; suggesting Hockey Canada come up with clearer guidance on how such settlement funds are administered and clearer procedures on notifying member associations of those suits; and recommending the board of directors increase its size from nine to 13 members and have greater gender parity (before the recent wave of resignations by the board, it had two women and seven men).
The 13 provincial and regional federations are expected to meet in Toronto on Saturday to discuss and vote on the recommendations in Cromwell’s report, the CBC says. The Hockey Canada board of directors is scheduled to meet virtually on Dec. 17.
The leaking of Cromwell’s report comes on the heels of a third Hockey Canada hearing in Ottawa last week that turned contentious, the subsequent resignation of board chair Andrea Skinner, the permanent departure or redirection of funds by almost all of the organization’s sponsors, calls for action by eight provincial federations, the departure of CEO Scott Smith and resignation of the entirety of the remaining board of directors.
Hockey Canada settled a lawsuit in May in which a woman accused eight CHL players, including members of the 2018 Canadian World Juniors team, of group sexual assault in a London, Ont., hotel room during a summer Hockey Canada event in 2018.
The NHL has since opened an investigation into the 2018 allegations to determine to what extent players currently in the league were involved. London police, after initially closing an investigation without pressing charges, have since reopened their investigation, while law firm Henein Hutchison LLP is also looking into the incident. An investigation into similar allegations against members of the 2003 Canadian world junior team is being carried out by Halifax police.
