Hockey Canada’s non-disclosure agreement in crosshairs of parliamentary committee
Global News
The Canadian government froze all federal funding to Hockey Canada on Wednesday amid a firestorm of scrutiny over its handling of sexual assault allegations.
The non-disclosure agreement covering Hockey Canada‘s settlement of a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct is now in the crosshairs of a new parliamentary committee request for documents about the organization’s handling of the matter.
The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage met behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon. Late Thursday afternoon it published the minutes of that meeting.
They detail the decision of the committee to formally request documents about how Hockey Canada handled the allegation of sexual assault in 2018 against multiple players on the World Junior championship team — in time for two meetings next month.
On July 26 and July 27, the committee will invite Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge back to testify.
It is subpoenaing officials from Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and Sport Canada, and also inviting witnesses from the insurance company BFL Canada and Henein Hutchison, which is the external firm that probed the allegations.
The committee is requesting copies of communications between Hockey Canada and teams and players about the alleged sexual assault, as well as a copy of the non-disclosure agreement that is redacted in order to protect identities.
Members of Parliament on the committee also want minutes of meetings held by Hockey Canada and the Hockey Canada Foundation subject to solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege and settlement privilege from June 2018 until July 15, 2022.
Of note, the committee does not yet appear to have used its power to order the documents be released.
