Hockey Canada’s issues go beyond a few bad apples — the entire system needs to be re-engineered
in connection with an alleged sexual assault by members of Canada’s 2018 world junior team.
- in connection with an alleged sexual assault by members of Canada’s 2018 world junior team.
- A woman alleged she was assaulted by the players while she was intoxicated after a gala event in London.
- Formenton is one of five team members expected to face related charges, according to the Globe and Mail.
- Hockey Canada has since announced it will no longer use funds from membership fees to settle sexual assault claims.
More than a few bad apples
- The entire barrel-making system must be re-engineered to produce only the finest barrels to hold and preserve apples with integrity.
- According to Zimbardo’s theory, leaders must remove the bad apples while addressing systemic issues — only then will they be able to create and maintain quality, lasting barrels.
- Otherwise, the existing bad apples will poison the new, rotting the barrel from the inside.
Power in Canadian hockey
Hockey Canada has seen wholesale change with the resignation and reconstitution of both the CEO and board of directors. The new CEO was appointed in September 2023, but it’s important to note that new does not necessarily mean different. Sexual assault is an abuse of power. One could argue that the culture of misogyny and sexual assault evident across hockey environments is a product of power abuse normalized across the hockey world:
- Though often well-intentioned, power imbalanced structures and hierarchies allow individuals and groups to abuse their power.
- Power imbalance is often sought and preserved as a misguided means to achieve stability, security, dominance and control.
Fixing the sport system
- Sport Canada leaders must remove the bad apples while re-engineering a new power-balanced sport system grounded in independence, transparency and accountability.
- We need only look to best practice in sport itself as the blueprint for the Canadian sport system as a whole.
- Sport Canada should then use these criteria to hold national sport organizations accountable.
Greater transparency needed
- An excellent coach posts performance targets, criteria and measures early and often, and athlete performance outcomes daily and publicly.
- Transparency creates a partnership model of shared goals and collaborative process, rather than a power-imbalanced model of authoritarian control and compliance.
Sport Canada needs accountability
- Sport Canada has been chastised for implementing superficial box-checking processes such as the Canadian Sport Governance Code and report-card system, which has since been discontinued.
- According to sound governance principles, Sport Canada needs to create a robust accountability framework that demands verifiable evidence of policy implementation and achievement of standards of practice as a condition of funding.
- Only through a commitment to independence, transparency and accountability can sport bodies become a space that champions not only excellence but also the well-being of all its participants.
Jennifer Walinga receives funding from SSHRC and SDRCC for research on sport, leadership, abuse