Canada’s MOS Confirms Funding Has Now Been Restored To Hockey Canada

Summary

• Hockey Canada gets approval for funding ban to be lifted 
• Funding was stopped after Hockey Canada was accused of covering up massive scandals
• Hockey Canada will be required to constantly report to Sport Canada

Hockey Canada, the governing body for hockey in Canada faced a massive fallout in 2022 after media reported that Hockey Canada had covered up a number of sexual malpractice allegations and made financial settlements to silence these accusations.

The fall-out hurt Hockey Canada in a number of ways, especially financially as Hockey Canada ended up losing some of its biggest sponsors and also had its federal government funding frozen. Since then, Hockey Canada sacked its entire board of directors and the new board is looking to make significant changes.  

Hockey Canada Now Eligible For Funding 

Sport minister Pascale St-Onge has now confirmed that funding to Hockey Canada has now been resorted. St-Onge said that she had set out three main criteria that Hockey Canada had to meet before funding would be resorted and those conditions were met.

St-Onge said she wanted Hockey Canada to sign-on to the to Abuse-Free Sport and the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC); make a commitment to provide regular reporting to the federal government and use the recommendations laid out by the retired Justice Thomas Cromwell who carried out an independent governance review.

St-Onge said that the government will once again start to fund Hockey Canada but it would not be a blank cheque. The sports minister said that when the decision was made to stop funding, it was not meant to be forever but till Hockey Canada showed that they were serious about change and not repeating their actions.

Hockey Canada Happy To Get Funding Restored

Hockey Canada is still without a full-time CEO and is working with a board that will for one year with the main focus to bring about change. St-Onge said that she was happy with the new leadership and the direction they were taking Hockey Canada.

In a statement, Hockey Canada chair Hugh L. Fraser said

Today marks an important milestone for Hockey Canada in our journey to earn and maintain the trust of Canadian. 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 legal sport in Canada, I also wish to stress that we still have work to do to change the culture of our sport.