The player crossed the central ice logo in a match against the Russian team on January 2, 2008 at the John Labatt Center in London, Ontario. Klaus Andersen / Getty Images
Tim Hortons is suspending support for the IIHF World Junior Championships and plans to reassess his sponsorship of Hockey Canada as the organization faces a growing backlash from corporate partners over its payment for settling allegations that eight Canadian hockey players have attacked young woman in 2018 after the Hockey Canada gala.
The fast food chain, owned by Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International Inc., said Wednesday it would not sponsor the Junior World Championships in Edmonton in August. The move makes Tim Hortons the last high-ranking sponsor to respond to news that Hockey Canada paid an undisclosed amount last month to settle the allegations. On Tuesday, Bank of Nova Scotia said it would “pause” Hockey Canada’s sponsorship, and Canadian Tire and Telus also withdrew their support from the World Junior Event.
“We are suspending support for the upcoming World Junior Championships for men as we await details from Hockey Canada on how they intend to take decisive and decisive action following the deeply worrying allegations surrounding the 2018 Hockey Canada Foundation event,” Tim Hortons Spokesman Michael Oliveira wrote in a statement Wednesday. “Hockey Canada has announced that it is committed to changing hockey culture to make it safer and more inclusive for everyone, on and off the ice. We have strongly expressed our belief that Canadians are urgently seeking specific details from Hockey Canada on how it intends to do so. We will review our sponsorship agreement once we have all the information we need to look into our capabilities. “
Tim Hortons has sponsored Hockey Canada since 2018 and expanded the partnership in 2019 to become the organization’s fourth “first marketing partner,” along with Nike, Telus, TSN and RDS and Esso Imperial Oil’s parent company. Canada.
Nike and TSN / RDS spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment.
Opinion: The important moral issue facing Hockey Canada’s sponsors
For now, the World Junior event is the only aspect of Tim Hortons’ sponsorship that has changed; The company’s involvement in the organization also includes the role of sponsor of the Centennial Cup – the annual Canadian Youth Hockey League – held in May this year, as well as participation in international events, including World Juniors and IIHF World Women’s U18 Championship. Timbits’ mass hockey program is also unaffected.
Mr Oliveira did not answer a question about whether Tim Hortons intended to redirect the funds that would be used for marketing at World Juniors to any other causes.
In a lawsuit filed in April, a woman demanded $ 3.55 million in damages from Hockey Canada, CHL and unnamed players she allegedly repeatedly attacked in a hotel room after the 2018 event in London, Ont.
Earlier this month, Federal Sports Minister Pascal Saint-Onge ordered a forensic audit to make sure Hockey Canada did not use any public funds to pay for the out-of-court settlement.
Hockey Canada President Scott Smith and CEO Tom Renee were summoned to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last week and said players attending the 2018 event were not required to participate in an independent investigation into the alleged sexual violence. The Commission has scheduled additional hearings for the end of July.
The Canadian government froze federal funding for Hockey Canada last week, saying it would recover funding if the organization joins the newly formed Office of Sports Integrity Commissioner, which was recently set up to deal with numerous complaints of abuse and abuse in sport. .
Corporate support represents a much larger amount of Hockey Canada’s revenue than government funding: 43 percent came from business development and partnerships last year, according to Hockey Canada’s annual report, while government aid accounted for only 6 percent of the organization’s revenue.
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