Hockey Canada appointed Toronto-based attorney Andrea Skinner as interim chair of its board of directors amid intense public pressure to fundamentally change leadership.
The move comes just days after Canada’s 13 regional ice hockey federations threatened to stop paying fees to Hockey Canada because they were “appalled” at its handling of sexual assault allegations.
The hockey organization said Tuesday it held a meeting with the federations and selected Skinner to take over from Michael Brind’Amour, who resigned over the weekend.
“As a board, we listen to Canadians,” Skinner wrote in the Hockey Canada media release. “We are working to change the culture of ice hockey in a meaningful and positive way.”
Hockey Canada said Skinner graduated from Cornell University, where she captained the varsity hockey team in her senior year. She later coached the varsity team at the University of Ottawa and is now a partner at Aird & Berlis LLP, where she chairs the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Skinner has served on the Hockey Canada Board of Directors since November 2020.
The appointment is Hockey Canada’s latest public announcement, promising to make changes to address its credibility issues and loss of public trust.
In April, a woman filed a $3.5 million lawsuit alleging she was sexually assaulted in 2018 by eight unnamed Canadian Hockey League players, including members of the Canada Junior World Team.
“Cracks in the Fortress”
Hockey associations and parents were outraged to learn that a special fund made up of a portion of their filing fees was used to pay for the settlement.
Ticket sales for the World Junior Hockey Championships in Edmonton are below expectations as the tournament begins this week in the shadow of an ongoing sexual assault scandal at Hockey Canada.
Canada’s Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge has called for a major overhaul of the organisation’s board.
Brind’Armor resigned on Saturday, saying his final term will end in November 2022, but “immediate action is essential to address the important challenges facing our organization and our sport.”
St-Onge responded by saying, “We’re beginning to see cracks in the fort, and that’s how the light is coming in.”
MPs from several parties investigating Hockey Canada’s handling of the group’s alleged sexual assault have repeatedly called on the organization’s top leadership to step down. MEPs argue that senior leaders have not addressed the issues for years and are not the right leaders to fix the organization’s culture.
President resists calls for resignation
The current board is the first to be elected under a new charter that requires gender diversity, Hockey Canada said on Tuesday.
“The composition of the board was improved through the efforts of an independent nominating committee that selected nominees from the public, including Ms. Skinner,” said a release from the Hockey Canada board of directors.
Last week, the organization hired former Supreme Court Justice Thomas Cromwell to lead a third-party review of the organization’s governance structure.
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