Hockey Canada C.E.O. and Board of Directors Resign Amid Controversy – The New York Times

TORONTO — The sweeping changes at the top of Hockey Canada demanded for months by politicians, corporate sponsors, prominent figures in sport and the public finally happened Tuesday when Scott Smith stepped down as the organization’s president and chief executive. At the same time, the entire board of directors also resigned.

The departures came days after the resignation of the interim board chair, Andrea Skinner. She served for about two months after replacing the former chair Michael Brind’Amour, who resigned in August.

“An interim management committee will be put in place, which will guide the organization until no later than a newly constituted Board appoints a new C.E.O. to lead the organization,” Hockey Canada, the sport’s national governing body, said in a statement. A board election is scheduled for Dec. 17. No date was given for the formation of the interim management committee.

Just as the departures of Smith and the board of directors were announced, the equipment and apparel company Bauer Hockey became the latest sponsor to step away from Hockey Canada. It announced on Tuesday it was joining corporations such as Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire and Esso in either canceling or pausing sponsorships worth millions of dollars annually. By then, the governing bodies for amateur hockey in Quebec and Ontario had severed ties with Hockey Canada, and other provincial organizations had stepped back, as well.

The resignations marked the latest fallout in a series of scandals related to allegations of sexual assault and subsequent financial settlements paid out by Hockey Canada going back to 1989. The downward spiral for the organization began in May when the Canadian sports broadcaster TSN reported a settlement was paid to a woman who filed a $3.55 million (Canadian) lawsuit accusing players on Canada’s men’s world junior team of sexual assault after a Hockey Canada social event in London, Ontario, in 2018.

As the furor mounted, the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage began an investigation of Hockey Canada in June. Hockey Canada’s officials refused calls for their resignation and resisted requests for financial and other information from the committee, hoping to escape the parliamentary investigation unscathed. They also promised to review their governance and make changes.

But more revelations rocked the country over the summer. Then, Skinner and Brind’Amour both were given a bumpy ride by the Heritage Committee last week, and committee members said their hearings finally made Hockey Canada bow to the growing demands for change.

“I think the testimony did it,” Hedy Fry, a Liberal member of Parliament and the chair of the committee, said. “The people watching saw the non-answering, the process of suggesting they would give an A to the leadership.”

She added: “I think that caused a whole lot of the backlash. I think the resignations came partly because hearings exposed things that caused the dominoes to fall in place with sponsors, et cetera, et cetera. I think the public backlash also made a difference.”

The resistance of Smith and other Hockey Canada officials to stepping down persisted even as the scandals piled up. Articles in The Globe and Mail revealed Hockey Canada maintained two secret funds to pay out settlements for claims of sexual assault and abuse. Hockey Canada officials testified in July before the Heritage Committee that aside from the London claim, 7.6 million Canadian dollars were paid out to settle nine claims of sexual assault and abuse since 1989. Most of the money went to victims of the former junior hockey coach Graham James.

Some of the money for the secret funds came from registration fees for children’s hockey programs across Canada.

Also over the summer, Hockey Canada revealed some players on the 2003 men’s world junior team were under investigation for accusations of sexual assault. Police in London said they would reopen their investigation of the 2018 incident, and the N.H.L. also announced an investigation because some players on that team are now under its jurisdiction.

No names of either the 2003 or 2018 players have been made public, and none of the accusations have been tried in criminal court.

Smith, a longtime Hockey Canada executive, lasted a little more than three months in the top job. He got off to a rough start when both he and his predecessor, Tom Renney, who coached the Rangers for nearly five seasons, appeared at the first Heritage Committee hearing in June. Neither man offered many concrete answers, and the federal government cut off funding to Hockey Canada as a direct result. The exodus of corporate sponsors followed.

However, the Liberal M.P. Anthony Housefather, who sits on the Heritage Committee, thinks Tuesday’s resignations will lead to progress for the investigation. But he still has questions about Smith’s departure.

“Hopefully this will lead to more transparency from Hockey Canada in questions we have to ask,” Housefather said. “We still need to understand what severance Scott Smith got paid. I’d like to think he just resigned, but I’m sure he reached some kind of deal.”

He added: “And the interim management committee, are these new people, or are they the same people who worked alongside Smith and Skinner?”

The Heritage Committee plans to resume its work next week. Bob Nicholson, the chairman of the Edmonton Oilers, is expected to be the first witness. He was the chief executive of Hockey Canada from 1998 to 2014 and has so far had only limited exposure to the scandals.