Hockey Canada’s CEO and Board of Directors step down

Just a day after interim board member Andrea Skinner resigned from her position, the entire Hockey Canada board has stepped down including Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith. Members of Parliament have been calling for a leadership change for months and the Board of Directors continuously showed support for Smith. It is unclear what the final straw was, but it appears that change is finally on the horizon.

Hockey Canada released a statement saying an, “interim management committee will be put in place” until replacements are voted on during the next election which is slated for December 17th.

Since the sexual assault scandal exploded in June, government officials as high as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had called for the organization to change with much resistance from Hockey Canada. Andrea Skinner had just said last week that she felt hockey was being scapegoated for toxic behavior that is seen all through society, however, her tune changed yesterday as she resigned saying, “it is clear to me from recent events that it no longer makes sense for me to continue to volunteer my time as Interim Chair or as a Director of the organization”.

The changes in leadership will be welcomed across the nation and will hopefully give the organization the chance to regain some of its sponsorships that have been lost as a result. “Recognizing the urgent need for new leadership and perspectives, the entire board of directors announced it will step aside,” Hockey Canada’s statement said.

New Democratic party member Peter Julian told Hockey Canada’s board chair, Andrea Skinner just last week, “Parents scrimp and save to register their kids in Hockey Canada programs. And the revelations – both the allegations of sexual violence and sexual abuse and how that is handled within Hockey Canada, but also the complete lack of financial transparency – are profoundly disturbing.”

With the entire board and CEO resigning, it looks like their consciences finally kicked in. Now that the entire organization is being restructured, hopefully, for the sake of the organization at even the grassroots level, the changes will allow the program to continue to grow in a healthy and safe manner for all involved.