Hockey Canada, one of the richest sports organizations in the country, received $ 14 million in support from the federal government in 2020 and 2021, including $ 3.4 million in emergency grants for COVID-19, according to financial reports received from CBC News .
Funding for COVID-19 has helped the national non-profit hockey governing body set aside a budget surplus of $ 13.2 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021 – further complementing a collection of stocks, bonds, cash and more. assets worth more than $ 153 million at the time. The organization reported a loss of $ 3.2 million in 2020 due to declining market values of its investments, compared to a surplus of $ 18.1 million in 2019.
Hockey Canada’s finances will be in front and in the center on Monday as three current and former executives – including Tom Renny, the organisation’s outgoing chief operating officer, who is due to retire on July 1 – are due to testify on Parliament Hill before the standing committee. on Canadian heritage.
Politicians from all parties are seeking to determine whether public funds were used to settle a $ 3.55 million lawsuit filed by a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by eight former Canadian Hockey League players after a Hockey Canada Foundation event. in London, Ont. June 2018
Her statement said some of the attackers – identified only as John Doe 1 to 8 – were members of Canada’s national youth team, which had won gold at the IIHF World Cup six months earlier.
The woman has not been named and her allegations have not been proven in court. But news of the lawsuit, first reported last month by TSN, reverberated in the hockey world and beyond. Pascal Saint-Onge, the Federal Minister of Sport, has ordered a forensic audit of Hockey Canada’s finances.
“What I want to know, and what I think all Canadians want to know, was whether there were public funds used to cover up this horrific story of gang rape?” St-Onge told reporters earlier this month, after by ordering the review. “The other thing Canadians want to know is how such an important organization can ensure that their players are not responsible for these accusations.
Federal Sports Minister Pascal Saint-Onge, who appeared in the House of Commons in February, ordered a forensic audit of Hockey Canada’s finances to see if public funds were used to settle a sexual assault lawsuit against eight former youth hockey players. (Blair Gable / Reuters)
The National Hockey League is conducting its own investigation to determine if any of its current players are among the accused. Twenty-two members of the 2017-18 youth team have been selected for the NHL Draft.
Hockey Canada officials did not respond to a request for an interview with CBC News or written questions about his finances. But a media statement on the commission’s appearance last week said “no state funds have been used to settle the case recently”.
In June last year, the non-profit organization had $ 25 million in cash
The organization is very public about some numbers – such as its 385,190 registered players – but is less forthcoming when it comes to attaching dollar numbers to its business. Hockey Canada says only a small portion of its funding – six percent, according to its 2020-2021 annual report – comes from “government aid”, as opposed to 43 percent from “business and partnership development.”
However, the financial statements submitted to the Canadian Revenue Agency’s charity provide a more complete picture. (As a registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Association, Hockey Canada has the right to issue tax receipts for donations.)
These documents show that Hockey Canada received $ 5.65 million in operating grants from Sports Canada in fiscal 2021, as well as $ 2.45 million under the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and another $ 197,000 in the Canadian emergency rent subsidy, both pandemic relief programs. That total of $ 8.3 million represents 13.4 percent of the organization’s $ 61.9 million annual revenue.
The iconic Hockey Canada logo has long been featured on the national team’s sweaters. The organization’s finances will come first on Monday, when four current and former leaders are due to testify on Parliament Hill before the Canadian Heritage Standing Committee. (Albert Lyung / CBC)
For the fiscal year ending June 2020, Hockey Canada received $ 4.95 million in federal operating grants and $ 760,000 in funding from CEWS – 8.7 percent of revenue of $ 65 million.
At the end of June 2021, Hockey Canada had nearly $ 25 million in cash, as well as $ 41.5 million in bonds and $ 77 million in shares divided into three trust and donation funds – with total assets increasing by $ 20 million by 2020 and $ 32 million more than in 2019.
Financial statements show that Hockey Canada did not pay income tax in fiscal 2020 or 2021.
However, the organization paid $ 9.64 million in insurance premiums in fiscal 2021 for everything from accidental medical and dental coverage to third-party liability for sexual misconduct – a potential source for a recent lawsuit.
WATCH The Commission will consider the financing of Hockey Canada following the allegations of sexual violence in 2018:
Hockey Canada is facing questions about how it paid for the settlement of sexual assault charges
Hockey Canada executives are ready to answer questions at a committee hearing in Ottawa about how the organization has used public funding in recent years, including millions in support of the pandemic. Critics also want to know if the funding was used for an agreement following allegations of sexual abuse by players.
Calls for greater responsibility
Bruce Kidd, an honorary professor of sports and public policy at the University of Toronto, said Canadians deserve more transparency than the people who run the country’s national sport.
“I think they owe a report on what happened … a report on how this agreement was paid,” he said. “And I think more importantly for me, they need to provide a much better account of how they’re trying to change the culture of their sport, so that these attacks – which have a long history in hockey and some other sports – never not to be repeated. “
Kidd said he believed many sports in Canada were in crisis and that the appropriate response from the government could be to call in a commission of inquiry, such as Charles Dubin’s investigation into drugs to improve performance following the post-Summer doping scandal with Ben Johnson. 1988 Olympic Games
“I think there are many more voices calling for change now than at the last time we had a national debate on sexual harassment, bullying and misconduct in sport in the early 1990s,” Kidd said. “I mean, it’s wall-to-wall now. It’s not just a few sports, it’s almost every sport. And it’s going to be very difficult for decision-makers not to act.”
Jennifer Dunn, executive director of the London Center for Abused Women, says news of alleged sexual violence in her city by hockey players has been difficult for her clients. She hopes more attention will be paid to prevention. (Albert Lyung / CBC)
Jennifer Dunn, executive director of the Center for Abused Women in London, the city where the alleged sexual assault by the gang took place, said the controversy over Hockey Canada’s attitude to the 2018 allegations has worried some of its clients.
“I say that women who have been sexually abused are essentially serving life sentences because, yes, they can get support from agencies like ours, but that doesn’t go away for a really long time,” she said.
However, she said that all the attention on whether taxpayers’ money was used for the settlement seemed wrong.
“It just keeps happening. There’s a locker room mentality in which it’s almost as if these young boys have been raised with no value to the woman’s life,” Dunn said. “The real focus needs to be on how to stop this.”
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