The main sponsors of Hockey Canada, the Canadian Ice Hockey Federation, have withdrawn their support for the organization due to the lack of response from its directors to the accusations of sexual abuse against several male players.
This Thursday, Telus, one of the main telecommunications companies in Canada, announced that it will stop sponsoring the men’s hockey program Canada for the “lack of action and commitment” of the federation to change the culture of the organization.
PM Justin Trudeau: “If we have to create an organization, get rid of Hockey Canada, and create an organization called it ‘Canada Hockey’ instead, people will look at doing that.” https://t.co/hKeFtqOhCT
—Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) October 6, 2018
Chevrolet, the car company, also reiterated that, for the time being , will not sponsor the activities of Hockey Canada until the federation clarifies the measures it will adopt to avoid sexual abuse.
The decision of Telus and Chevrolet It comes shortly after two other companies, the Tim Hortons coffee shop chain and Scotiabank, two of the main economic pillars of Hockey Canada, also announced that they will stop sponsoring the ice hockey federation .
The lack of sponsors may affect the World Junior Ice Hockey Championship that Hockey Canada is organizing and that has to be held from 26 December 2022 to January 5 2023 in the Canadian locations of Halifa x and Moncton.
Hockey Canada managers are not only under pressure from their financial sponsors. The Canadian political world has also expressed its outrage.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted again today that the directors of the federation have to leave their posts.
“The people who run Hockey Canada are not extraordinarily special. They are not the only ones in the country who can lead an organization like this. There are many people who can lead it”, he explained.
Trudeau warned that the attitude of the federation may cause it to be necessary to create a new organization to replace it.
Hear me out: #Scotiabank, #TimHortons and any other sponsor of #HockeyCanada who is pulling their funding this year. Take the money your company earmarked for that and donate it to sexual assault centers across the country & youth sexual health programs.
— Farrah Khan (@farrahsafiakhan) October 6, 2022
“Unfortunately everyone has lost faith in that organization and it is nonsense that they have entrenched themselves. A total change is needed. They have to realize that if it is necessary to create an organization called Canada Hockey to replace it, it will be studied to do so, ”he declared.
The scandal erupted when Canadian media revealed that numerous youth players have been implicated in cases of alleged gang rapes in at least 15 occasions from 1989. Two of the incidents involve players from the youth national teams of 2003 and 2018.
But, although several players were charged with the Police, Hockey Canada allowed them to continue playing.
In addition, Hockey Canada has used millions of dollars, part of the fees it collects from affiliated players in all its categories, to pay compensation to women who allegedly suffered sexual abuse.