The Globe And Mail – Several years after Hockey Canada began using player registration fees to build a large financial reserve known as the National Equity Fund to cover sexual assault claims and other lawsuits, it channelled a significant portion of that money into a second multimillion-dollar fund for similar purposes.
Known as the Participants Legacy Trust Fund, the reserve was created by the organization and its members with more than $7.1-million from the National Equity Fund. The money was earmarked “for matters including but not limited to sexual abuse,” according to Hockey Canada documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.
The trust, with its vaguely worded name, is another example of a large financial reserve created by Hockey Canada and its member branches to cover sexual assault claims, among other things, with funds gathered from hockey registration fees, without fully disclosing to parents and players how their money was ultimately being used.
The Globe first reported in July that Hockey Canada used a little-known reserve called the National Equity Fund, built through player registration fees, to settle a $3.55-million lawsuit filed this year by a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by several members of the 2018 World Junior team.
The lawsuit was settled in a matter of weeks for an undisclosed sum, without completing a full investigation into the incident or requiring players to co-operate with the probe. The settlement came despite Hockey Canada chief financial officer Brian Cairo saying, “We didn’t know all the details of the night, but we did believe harm was caused.” Police in London, Ont., where the alleged assault occurred, have since reopened their investigation, while lawyers for the unnamed players in the lawsuit deny the allegations.
Amid the controversy, Hockey Canada, the sport’s governing body, reassured sponsors and government that none of their money was used to settle the lawsuit. Though Hockey Canada previously disclosed very little about the National Equity Fund and how it operated, officials later acknowledged at federal hearings in July that it was used to pay settlements on nine sexual assault claims totalling $7.6-million since 1989, not including the claim settled this year.
But the National Equity Fund wasn’t the only such account. Documents filed in AlbertaCourt of Queen’s Bench reveal details of the Participants Legacy Trust Fund, which was created in 1999 for Hockey Canada’s member branches, including provincial hockey organizations, by transferring millions of dollars out of the National Equity Fund into this new reserve.
The trust was set up to handle claims against Hockey Canada’s member branches from incidents occurring from 1986 to 1995, before Hockey Canada began purchasing insurance for sexual assault claims and other liabilities. It covered an era when the sport was hit with numerous sexual abuse cases, including those associated with disgraced coach Graham James. Read More…
