A member of the Hockey Canada Board has resigned.
Andrea Skinner stepped down from her role as Director and Interim Board Chair, following a parliamentary committee meeting, where she defended the organization’s handling of sexual assault allegations. Hockey Canada released a statement from Skinner on October 8th.
Meantime, there’s still a question of whether the World Juniors will go ahead in Moncton and Halifax in December.
Both the Premier of New Brunswick Blaine Higgs, and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston have considered pulling the plug if Hockey Canada doesn’t make changes.
Central Nova MP Sean Fraser says it’s disgusting what is happening with Hockey Canada, “I think it’s a brave thing for somebody like Premier Higgs to make a statement like that. Anything we can do to signal to women in Canada that this isn’t going to be tolerated, we need to do. I’m so pleased to see the corporate sponsors are pulling out of their support for Hockey Canada, it’s just completely unacceptable. This is just a function of being a decent human being.”
Halifax MP Andy Filmore on the other hand feels the competition should go ahead, “The World Juniors have an incredible impact on amateur athleticism and sports and overall incredible economic impacts in the region. I’ll have to learn more about any position taken by the Atlantic premiers on that. It’s an undeniable benefit to the capital city of Nova Scotia and an undeniable benefit to the athletes so I’m firmly in the camp of, I would like to see the World Juniors happen in Halifax.”
The mayors of Moncton and Halifax are also deeply concerned about Hockey Canada’s lack of judgement and professionalism.
In a joint statement, Dawn Arnold and Mike Savage are looking for meaningful changes within the organization prior to the World Juniors.
The mayors have been talking about the situation and they think accountability is paramount.
With files from Allan Dearing
