Hockey Canada's new board needs to protect victims, not just reputation, N.B. official says

A hockey fan, former blue-liner and self-described "governance geek" for 25 years says Hockey Canada's culture problem should have been caught a long time ago.

Haley Flaro is vice-chair of the board at WorkSafeNB, chair of its governance committee and executive director of Ability New Brunswick. She played defence growing up before retiring after an injury, and has been immersed in the sport. 

Hockey Canada's CEO and board of directors resigned following public outcry and a sponsor mass exodus over how it handled an alleged group sexual assault involving members of the 2018 men's national junior team. Executives also revealed the organization had paid $8.9 million in settlements to 21 sexual assault complainants since 1989, using a reserve fund.

Flaro said this resignation shows the governance is in need of significant repair.

She said if the organization was paying any attention to its "risk registry," and actively looking for issues that could cause harm to people and not just to reputation, the sexual abuse allegations should have been enough of a clue to do something years ago.

Flaro said it appears the organization was "most concerned with reputational risk versus the risk that these women and these complainants were highlighting," she said.

"There's abuse in the sport as well, of those that are gay, lesbian, bisexual. We see all kinds of different issues that arise, and everyone needs to ensure that there's really clear processes to bring these issues to light and have them investigated."

Hockey Canada's use of fund to pay sexual assault claims flawed: report

2 years ago

Duration 2:47

She said board composition is often the root of a cultural problem. A strong board should include people with experience in risk management, and should be diverse and represent people from different backgrounds, abilities and genders.

"If you have allegations continuing to come in around sexual abuse, that's a flag. And so, you know, what education is needed? Because it's not OK that that's happening," she said.

Hockey Canada has said it's been working to make its board more diverse in recent years. In 2019, the organization approved a bylaw change that requires the board to include a minimum of two males and two females.

Flaro said when she was playing the sport, there was no room for women. That was 25 years ago, she said, and this bylaw change in 2019 was not enough.

"It was a very isolating, exclusion-type environment to be playing hockey in. It was seen as a man's game, and that's changing. It has changed, but we're not there yet," she said.

As calls for change mounted, the organization also commissioned former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell to review its governance structure.

CBC News has viewed and verified parts Cromwell's 100-page-plus preliminary report, where he recommends sweeping changes.

According to CBC's review, the report found Hockey Canada didn't have policies and procedures in place to govern the use of its reserve funds, didn't fully disclose its funds in financial records, and broke the rules by failing to notify members of large payouts.

Flaro said some of that money should have gone to educating players, and providing a process for people who experience abuse.

"This should have been picked up by their annual audits of their funds ... I'm just flustered by that. Why that got silenced."

The organization will be electing a new board by December.