Report: Hockey Canada CEO, board resigned day after former Supreme Court justice endorsed leadership change

Content warning: This article discusses sexual assault.

Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith, as well as the organization’s board of directors, resigned on Tuesday after former Supreme Court of Canada justice Thomas Cromwell recommended changes in the way the governing body operates.

In a four-page memo (accessible here) sent to Smith and the Hockey Canada board on Monday, Oct. 10, Cromwell wrote “there can be no serious debate that the level of confidence in Hockey Canada on the part of government, sponsors, some Members and the broader public has sunk to dangerously low levels.”

“Elected officials, including the Prime Minister, the Minister of Sport and some parliamentarians along with
some Members, sponsors and many other parties, have called for a wholesale change of leadership,” Cromwell wrote. “The number, profile and intensity of these calls are such that it is unrealistic to think that they are just a passing media frenzy.

“To ensure effective and continuous governance, these calls must be answered.”

Cromwell’s 103-page interim report on Hockey Canada, dated Sept. 30, 2022 (and which can be found here), concluded that while the creation of a fund to protect Hockey Canada’s uninsured liabilities was appropriate, there was an inappropriate lack of oversight concerning payments out of the fund.

Furthermore, Cromwell concluded that the use of the fund was not made sufficiently transparent to Hockey Canada members and stakeholders.

“While Hockey Canada discloses the balance of the [National Equity Fund] and inter-fund transfers on its audited financial statements, Members do not receive adequate information regarding these funds and their use,” Cromwell wrote. “It also appears that Members and Participants may not have been fully aware of the scope of claims the NEF would fund, namely claims linked to sexual misconduct beyond the named perpetrators.

“Participants, whose registration fees are the primary source of funding for the NEF, have not been adequately informed about what proportions of fees go to fund under- and uninsured claims.”

Hockey Canada has come under extreme scrutiny in recent months for its handling of sexual abuse claims levied against members of the organization.

Most of Hockey Canada’s major sponsors suspended or severed ties with the organization after reports surfaced that it used player registration fees to fund the NEF, which (among other things) was reportedly used to settle a lawsuit filed by an anonymous woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior men’s hockey team.

Numerous past and present Hockey Canada officials have testified on Parliament Hill in front of the Canadian Heritage Committee, with more hearings scheduled.

Before Tuesday’s mass resignations, interim Hockey Canada board chair Andrea Skinner resigned on Saturday. Alongside former board chair Michael Brind’Amour, Skinner testified via video conference last week and questioned the future of hockey in the country without Hockey Canada leadership.

“Will the lights stay on in the rink? I don’t know. We can’t predict that, and to me that’s not a risk worth taking,” Skinner said. “Who would they be replaced with? […] What would that mean for hockey?”

Hockey Canada is expected to elect a new board at its annual general meeting, which is currently scheduled for Dec. 17.