As the calls for Hockey Canada to be held accountable regarding their handling of a growing number of sexual assault allegations escalate, one local MP says it is time to reform the culture within not only that organization but within the Ministry of Sport.
The latter is the domain of MP Pascale St-Onge.
And, the Conservative Shadow Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth this week was one of three MPs who issued a statement on the pair of emergency committee hearings into those allegations.
That would be Elgin-Middlesex-London MP, Karen Vecchio.
In the statement, the trio asserts, “The hearings at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage into Hockey Canada’s involvement in allegations of sexual assault have heard the testimony of a secretive and unaccountable organization where allegations of sexual assault have been covered up.
“It is clear that Hockey Canada sweeps cases under the rug and moves on. Senior management within the organization has not shown Canadians that they are capable of taking the necessary actions to hold perpetrators accountable and prevent acts of sexual violence from occurring in the future.
“This has to change.
We talked to Vecchio a week ago about the seriousness of the allegations, the government’s funding of Hockey Canada and major sponsors of the organization putting a hold on their sponsorship commitments.
“When people ask me what can the government of Canada do, one of the biggest things we work on is about equality. It’s about the safety and security of persons.
“And I really work very closely on intimate partner violence and violence against women and sexual assault.
“So, when this story came about, for years we’ve heard about what goes on but you find out about this four years later.”
News broke in May that Hockey Canada had quietly settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges she was assaulted by eight unnamed players, including members of the country’s world junior team at a gala in London in 2018.
Since then, allegations have surfaced regarding a sexual assault that took place in Halifax in 2003 involving players from the 2003 World Junior hockey team.
“What we do know is they got away with sexually violating a young woman and no one is being held accountable. Should these be the people who get to wear Team Canada and the maple leaf on their shirts?”
And this past Wednesday at those emergency committee hearings Hockey Canada chief financial officer Brian Cairo revealed the organization has paid out $7.6 million in sexual abuse settlements since 1989.
Vecchio continued, “Having Hockey Canada come to committee really opened up our eyes. This is something that has been going on, one or two sexual assaults a year that are reported to the highest level, which is Hockey Canada.
“What happens when something happens and it isn’t reported? And, that’s where all the wheels fell off.
“This is where we found out Hockey Canada has protocols and processes . . . and Hockey Canada had to do a third-party investigation and as soon as this settlement came about (in the London sexual assault), they just stopped the investigation and wiped their hands clean of it.
“Each and every player received a letter as well as their home club indicating the sexual assault had taken place and they were asking for their cooperation.”
What is known is eight of those players did not come forward.
“What we do know is they got away with sexually violating a young woman and no one is being held accountable.
“Should these be the people who get to wear Team Canada and the maple leaf on their shirts?
“Hockey Canada dropped the ball here. They had a chance to change the environment. They put in policies and I’ve read their policies but if there are absolutely no consequences, nothing is going to change.”
“Are these the people who are going back and coaching the next generation of hockey players?
“What I’m really worried about,” continued Vecchio, “is young boys are taken out of their homes and they’re never taught to be a gentleman.
“They are put on a pedestal and, instead, people just make their problems go away. And we saw this problem go away for eight hockey players for $3.5 million.
“Hockey Canada dropped the ball here. They had a chance to change the environment. They put in policies and I’ve read their policies but if there are absolutely no consequences, nothing is going to change.”
In the statement issued this week, Vecchio et al demanded to know, “How can Canadians trust the leadership of Hockey Canada to enact meaningful change when they sat on these serious accusations for all these years?
“Moreover, how can Canadians trust the Minister of Sport, when she has been kept in the dark by her own department?
“The fact of the matter is, the government has failed Canadians by not following up on the allegations and continuing funding to Hockey Canada when they knew the seriousness of the allegations.”
Vecchio and her cohorts concluded the statement with, “protecting victims takes precedence over protecting hockey players and government officials.”
CENTRAL ELGIN BECOMES A BIT PLAYER IN ST. THOMAS LAND ACQUISITION
Last month this corner documented the announcement from the City of St. Thomas, in partnership with St. Thomas Economic Development Corp., that it is assembling an 800-plus acre parcel of land in the area of Ron McNeil Line and Highbury Avenue in the hope of attracting a mega industrial development.
Earlier this month, we talked with former Central Elgin Mayor Bill Walters who expressed grave concerns about the lack of information provided to ratepayers in St. Thomas and Central Elgin about the transaction.
At its July 19 council meeting, Central Elgin council released a statement – its first official comment – on the land acquisition which is expected to be finalized this summer.
What is relevant from this statement is although the majority of the land to be acquired is actually in Central Elgin, it appears council and staff are being told to quietly sit in the back of the bus and enjoy the ride.
The statement, read by Deputy Mayor Tom Marks advises, “These lands within the Municipality of Central Elgin have land use designations of agricultural, natural hazard and natural heritage in the Municipality of Central Elgin Official Plan.
“The Municipality of Central Elgin, Elgin County and the private land owners . . . have worked diligently since 2019 to submit these employment lands through the Provincial Job Site Challenge for potential mega site development opportunities.”
“In Ontario, land use designations may only be altered pursuant to the Planning Act, 1990.”
Well, we’ve seen how the Ford government can steamroller over local planning considerations.
The statement goes on to note, “The agricultural lands identified by the City of St. Thomas are directly north of approximately 800 acres of unutilized employment lands, entirely within the Municipality of Central Elgin, designated as major industrial and commercial industrial in the Municipality of Central Elgin Official Plan.
“The Municipality of Central Elgin, Elgin County and the private land owners . . . have worked diligently since 2019 to submit these employment lands through the Provincial Job Site Challenge for potential mega site development opportunities.”
Since 1999, Central Elgin has been promoting industrial and commercial development on this site east of Centennial Avenue and north of Hwy. 3 “to bring jobs to the community and diversify the Municipality of Central Elgin and Elgin county tax base to facilitate local economic growth and prosperity.”
“remains committed to representing the public and to considering the well-being and interests of the municipality, including local economic growth and prosperity . . .”
By way of explanation as to why the lack of information made available to date Marks explained, “During significant development opportunity considerations, the federal and/or provincial government may utilize various mechanisms, inclusive of communication embargoes and non-disclosure agreements, to protect the confidentiality of certain information related to a potential economic development opportunity.”
So, for Central Elgin to be invited to the party thrown by the City of St. Thomas, the municipality had to be a good boy and sit quietly while the city and province determined what would happen to the land it owned.
A scrap of the party cake, however, is available to Central Elgin ratepayers.
The municipality’s statement points out, “the process for municipal restructuring, or a boundary adjustment that alter the geographical boundaries of a municipality, is a public process as outlined within the Municipal Act, 2001 . . . That public process includes notice to the public and a public consultation meeting on the potential restructuring proposal.”
Hands up all of you who already can guess how that public consultation will play out.
Admitting it is caught between a rock and a hard place, the Municipality of Central Elgin bravely assures ratepayers it “remains committed to representing the public and to considering the well-being and interests of the municipality, including local economic growth and prosperity . . .”
It’s just in this case, that doesn’t amount to a whole lot.
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A TIP OF THE CITY SCOPE FEDORA TO . . .
All of the individuals involved in Wednesday’s celebration of Jack Graney Day.
From the official dedication of the Hometown Heroes sculptures to the autograph sessions to the wonderfully choreographed evening at Emslie Field culminating in a spectacular drone show, well done.
On a personal note, one of the more delightful moments was a conversation with Barbara Gregorich, author of Jack and Larry, during the afternoon autograph session at the Joe Thornton Community Centre.
Of all the subjects she could have documented, why St. Thomas-born baseball player turned broadcaster Jack Graney and the Cleveland Indians’ bull terrier mascot Larry?
Gregorich was born in Ohio and is a diehard Cleveland fan, although she drifted over to the Red Sox for a spell during the Ted Williams era but we are not supposed to dwell on that.
She responded, “I grew up in a working-class neighbourhood on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and I played baseball every day.
“I must have been so young when I started playing baseball because I don’t remember learning it.
“I would play with my brother and the neighbour kids, boys and girls, black and white playing on the same teams and this was in the early 1950s.”
Oh, the power of sports.
Gregorich admits when growing up, she yearned to be a baseball player or a writer. As it turns out, she accomplished both.
Her novel She’s on First was called “the best book that’s written on the idea of the first woman to play professional baseball.”
WHAT YOU CAN FIND IN A NEWSLETTER
Look at what can be found in the May 2022 newsletter of the city’s emergency shelter.
That would be capacity information not made available during the presentation to city council on July 11 by The Inn’s board president Margaret Barrie and Pastor Cherisse Swarath, Interim Executive Director, Inn Out of the Cold.
The former had insisted the shelter was full to its 40-bed capacity most nights.
That’s not what the newsletter indicates, even in the dead of winter.
The average population per night in January and February of this year was 32. That climbed to 37 in March and as the better weather arrived in April slipped to 29.
The average number of meals served per day peaked at 87 in February and dipped to 70 in April.
Swarath alluded to the above information when she told members of council, “Our capacity is not always brimming. Weather does play a factor in that.
“It’s a work in progress on a daily basis. We can’t really determine a trend. It’s really an anomaly right now.”
A word of advice to Barrie, there’s good reading in your newsletter.
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ONE TO WATCH
As a follow-up to last week’s item on the availability of ice time at the city’s two arenas, a report from the parks and recreation department will be presented to council at its Aug. 8 meeting.
CONDOLENCES
To the St. Thomas Fire Department family on the death this week of 34-year-old firefighter Nicholas Cheeseman.
The four-year veteran was killed in a motorcycle collision in Central Elgin, right on the border with St. Thomas.
Cheeseman – a resident of Port Stanley – was married with a young child.
Fire Chief Dave Gregory advises details of recognition by the fire department have not yet been finalized.
THE ECHO CHAMBER
Reacting to our item last week on the city’s emergency shelter, Steve Ogden passed along the following.
“Kudos to St. T for even providing these shelters. But I would love to start reading about approaching homelessness from its most significant root cause.
“I’m guessing that’s mental illness, which many of us non-homeless struggle with as well.
“Here’s a great, authoritative article on getting to the root:
https://www.anxietycentre.com/…/why-is-mental-illness…/”
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