sport

Friday October 7, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 7, 2022

Hockey Canada cannot dodge accountability

When it comes to wilful blindness and delusional self-importance, it’s no small accomplishment to leave a committee of politicians — themselves masters in the craft — slack-jawed and speechless.

But Andrea Skinner pulled it off.

The interim chair of Hockey Canada, testifying before a Commons committee on Tuesday, put on a master class of denial, deflection, whataboutism and arrogance.

Skinner suggested the problem of sexual assault was societal, rather than particularly prevalent in hockey.

“Toxic behaviour exists throughout society,” she told MPs via video link, and to crack down on hockey would be “counterproductive.”

She went on to say that the hockey world in this country could not possibly cope with a wholesale housecleaning at Hockey Canada.

February 18, 2022

“I think that will be very impactful in a negative way to our boys and girls who are playing hockey. Will the lights stay on in the rink? I don’t know. We can’t predict that. And to me, that’s not a risk worth taking.”

The defiant performance amounted to chutzpah on stilts, so out of touch with the reality of proceedings that MPs wanted to know if Skinner was perhaps being coached by someone off screen working from a script.

The last year at Hockey Canada has produced enough appalling news that most entities under similar duress would have cleaned house and agreed to whatever terms citizens, stakeholders and government demanded by way of renewal.

First came media reports of an alleged sexual assault following a 2018 gala in London, Ont., involving eight unidentified players — including members of that year’s world junior championship team.

A police investigation resulted in no charges, but a woman — 18 and intoxicated at the time of the alleged assault — later sued Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and unnamed players for more than $3.5 million and reached an out-of-court settlement. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Then came news that Hockey Canada maintained a so-called National Equity Fund to pay for uninsured liabilities, including sexual-abuse claims.

Then, further allegations of sexual assault against players on Canada’s national junior team from 2003 in Halifax.

The federal government has frozen funding and corporate sponsors put a hold on their support, turning this summer’s World Junior Hockey championship in Alberta into the sporting equivalent of a tree falling in a forest with no one there to hear it.

This week, just days before the scheduled committee appearance, more news broke that Hockey Canada actually had a second fund to handle sexual assault claims.

While police continue to investigate the sexual assault allegations, federal Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge quite properly commissioned a full audit of Hockey Canada dating to 2016.

This week, the minister said on CBC News: “We’re witnessing an organization that seems to be more interested in protecting themselves and their jobs than protecting the public, the women and the players in their own organization.”

It goes without saying there must be accountability and consequences for any perpetrators of sexual assault.

There must also be accountability for the governance group that — whether Skinner recognizes it or not — contributed to the toxic culture of entitlement by helping make complaints disappear while allowing transgressors to skate merrily on with their charmed lives.

On Wednesday, Hockey Quebec declared that it had lost confidence in Hockey Canada and will not transfer funds to the national organization. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke for many, saying, “I think it boggles the mind that Hockey Canada is continuing to dig in its heels … Parents across the country are losing faith or have lost faith in Hockey Canada. Certainly, politicians here in Ottawa have lost faith in Hockey Canada.”

Skinner need have no fear that the lights will stay on in rinks across Canada. Just as the spotlight on Hockey Canada will keep shining until accountability is delivered. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Saturday October 29, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday October 29, 2016 'Pretty Good Rich Kids': Reaching the OHL takes more than talent What does it take to make it to the Ontario Hockey League? Skill? Certainly. Speed? Sure. Strength? No question. But it also takes something else Ñ something over and above raw talent and physicality. To make it to the OHL, you also need a winning ticket in the lottery of birth. A year-long Spectator investigation finds a highly significant number of the league's Ontario-raised players are from suburban neighbourhoods where most people are well-educated, earn high incomes and live in expensive homes. The odds of them crossing paths with someone living in poverty are extremely low. For anyone familiar with the extraordinary cost of playing hockey in Ontario Ñ $15,000-or-so annually for an elite AAA player and getting higher Ñ this won't come as a shock. If you want to be the next Sidney Crosby, says Wilfrid Laurier University's William McTeer, "the first question you have to ask is how much money do your parents have and are they prepared to invest in your future as an athlete.Ó But cost isn't the only thing keeping children in Hamilton and across Ontario out of the game. Several factors, including geography, public policy and the funding mechanisms of non-profits, are making it increasingly difficult for low- and middle-income families to access the sport, particularly at competitive levels. "I think it's tragic," says Philip White, a sport sociologist at McMaster University. "You live in a culture where everybody is supposed to have an opportunity to advance and kids are simply shut out.Ó Our analysis is grounded in data. Stick with us while we get the heavy stuff out of the way. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator) http://www.thespec.com/sports-story/6931904--pretty-good-rich-kids-reaching-the-ohl-takes-more-than-talent/ Canada, Ontario,ÊHamilton, hockey, soccer, amateur, sport, professional, money, wealth,

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 29, 2016

‘Pretty Good Rich Kids’: Reaching the OHL takes more than talent

What does it take to make it to the Ontario Hockey League?

Skill? Certainly. Speed? Sure. Strength? No question.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday November 28, 2007 Probe into hockey brawl between 8-year-olds A decision on whether to lay a criminal charge in connection with a hockey brawl involving eight-year-olds at a tournament in Guelph, Ont. will likely come on Wednesday, says a police spokesperson.Ê "It's the interaction between the two coaches -- whether or not that was a consensual fight or an assault," Sgt. Cate Welsh of the Guelph Police told CTV.ca on Tuesday.Ê Niagara Falls Thunder coaching staff allegedly spat at a counterpart with the Duffield Devils, Welsh said.Ê But what had everyone talking is the bench-clearing brawl erupting at the game's end on Friday, which involved such young players. Players for both sides belong to Novice AAA teams.Ê "This is a really rare incident," Richard Ropchan, executive director of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association told CTV.ca, adding he can't think of a similar one in his nine years with the OMHA.Ê "Certainly the fact that eight-year-olds are involved -- well, that certainly got my attention."Ê Ropchan added that the brawl "points right to the adults involved. You can't blame the kids for that."Ê Witnesses say there were cheap shots throughout the game, culminating with a fight. (Source: CTV News)Êhttp://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2007/11/26/ontario_leads_in_child_poverty.html Hockey, fighting, contact, brawl, coaches, aggressive, brutality, history, Roman, gladiators, Rome, war, violence, editorial cartoon, 2007

 November 28, 2007

But it also takes something else — something over and above raw talent and physicality. To make it to the OHL, you also need a winning ticket in the lottery of birth.

A year-long Spectator investigation finds a highly significant number of the league’s Ontario-raised players are from suburban neighbourhoods where most people are well-educated, earn high incomes and live in expensive homes.

The odds of them crossing paths with someone living in poverty are extremely low.

For anyone familiar with the extraordinary cost of playing hockey in Ontario — $15,000-or-so annually for an elite AAA player and getting higher — this won’t come as a shock. If you want to be the next Sidney Crosby, says Wilfrid Laurier University’s William McTeer, “the first question you have to ask is how much money do your parents have and are they prepared to invest in your future as an athlete.”

But cost isn’t the only thing keeping children in Hamilton and across Ontario out of the game.

Several factors, including geography, public policy and the funding mechanisms of non-profits, are making it increasingly difficult for low- and middle-income families to access the sport, particularly at competitive levels.

“I think it’s tragic,” says Philip White, a sport sociologist at McMaster University. “You live in a culture where everybody is supposed to have an opportunity to advance and kids are simply shut out.”

Our analysis is grounded in data. Stick with us while we get the heavy stuff out of the way. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Thursday September 8, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Thursday September 8, 2016 Children and Youth Services Minister Michael Coteau is urging city council to end Hamilton's bylaw ban on road hockey. "Road hockey bans are commonplace in municipalities across Ontario, but they don't need to be," the minister wrote in a Sept. 6 letter to council that notes Toronto and Kingston have already bucked the municipal trend. "I am hoping that your council will be next. A vote to overturn the prohibition and let kids play will challenge other municipalities to abolish similar road hockey bans in their own communities.Ó Coteau made headlines in July when he publicly urged Toronto's council to end its own street hockey ban. Council did so over the objections of its own legal staff, but proposed conditions limiting game time to daylight hours and on streets with slow traffic speeds. The move prompted Coun. Sam Merulla Ñ who fought unsuccessfully to kill Hamilton's bylaw as far back as 2002 Ñ to ask city legal staff to revisit the local ban. A report is expected later this year. Merulla said he spoke to Coteau about the value of street hockey in the summer and was "heartened" by the minister's enthusiasm. But he added the province could help by adding language to the Highway Traffic Act that would head off municipal concerns about liability. "With a stroke of a pen, they could help all municipalities feel more comfortable overnight," he said. Municipal lawyers in several cities, including Hamilton, have in the past suggested the strict language in the Highway Traffic Act doesn't provide the legal leeway needed for cities to allow sports in the street. In any event, Hamilton would only enforce its street hockey ban in response to a complaint. But municipal lawyers have argued the rule helps protect the city from lawsuits in the event of an injury. Coteau said in a brief interview he hasn't heard from municipal leaders other than Merulla that provincial rules of th

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 8, 2016

Children and Youth Services Minister Michael Coteau is urging city council to end Hamilton’s bylaw ban on road hockey.

“Road hockey bans are commonplace in municipalities across Ontario, but they don’t need to be,” the minister wrote in a Sept. 6 letter to council that notes Toronto and Kingston have already bucked the municipal trend.

“I am hoping that your council will be next. A vote to overturn the prohibition and let kids play will challenge other municipalities to abolish similar road hockey bans in their own communities.”

Coteau made headlines in July when he publicly urged Toronto’s council to end its own street hockey ban. Council did so over the objections of its own legal staff, but proposed conditions limiting game time to daylight hours and on streets with slow traffic speeds.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday, January 5, 2002 Road hockey: A proud Canadian sporting tradition or a dangerous nuisance? A Hamilton court will weigh in Monday on a father's fate after he played hockey with his kids on their street, infuriating a neighbour while breaking a bylaw that divides neighbourhoods nationwide. "The bylaw says we stay off the street," said Nadia Ciuriak, whose garden has been invaded by countless stray hockey balls from Gary Kotar's kids over the years. "If people want street hockey, the proper way of dealing with that is to go to city council and insist that the bylaw gets removed.Ó While Kotar's kids haven't caused any damage to their neighbour's property, it's the principle of breaking the bylaw and trespassing to retrieve errant balls that bothers Ciuriak. "Initially I retrieved the balls from my garden, but then I decided I had other things to do, and I didn't want them going into my garden," said Ciuriak, who has lived with her mother and sister at the house for 40 years. Ciuriak also objects to the behaviour of some of the players on her street. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Canada, Ontario, Hamilton, sport, hockey, play, road, road hockey, youth, exercise

January 5, 2002

The move prompted Coun. Sam Merulla — who fought unsuccessfully to kill Hamilton’s bylaw as far back as 2002 — to ask city legal staff to revisit the local ban. A report is expected later this year.

Merulla said he spoke to Coteau about the value of street hockey in the summer and was “heartened” by the minister’s enthusiasm.

But he added the province could help by adding language to the Highway Traffic Act that would head off municipal concerns about liability.

“With a stroke of a pen, they could help all municipalities feel more comfortable overnight,” he said.

Municipal lawyers in several cities, including Hamilton, have in the past suggested the strict language in the Highway Traffic Act doesn’t provide the legal leeway needed for cities to allow sports in the street.

In any event, Hamilton would only enforce its street hockey ban in response to a complaint. But municipal lawyers have argued the rule helps protect the city from lawsuits in the event of an injury.

Coteau said in a brief interview he hasn’t heard from municipal leaders other than Merulla that provincial rules of the road are an impediment to changing local bylaws.

“If (the act) is a barrier … I’d love to have a conversation about it,” he said.

But the minister added, while he is keen to advocate for a “common sense approach,” he isn’t intending to enforce rule changes on any city. “Local policy-makers … have to make those decisions on behalf of the people they represent.”  (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

 

Wednesday March 3, 2010

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 3, 2010

That podium isn’t cheap

All that gold — and silver and bronze — seemed so shiny and bright on Sunday afternoon and evening. Outfitting ourselves in flags, toques, Team Canada hockey jerseys, “mad-trapper” hats, curling sweaters and the famous red mittens never seemed so, well, patriotic.

Close to 99 per cent of Canadians, according to a poll, say they were pleased with our athletes’ performance. The hockey final broke TV-watching records and the closing ceremonies didn’t come far behind.

The wave of national pride — “I’ve never felt more proud to be a Canadian” was the somewhat hyperbolic theme — is still rippling across the country. The pride is a direct consequence of Canadian athletes’ performance and 26-medal count at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. And that is a direct consequence, by almost all accounts, of the five-year, $117-million Own The Podium program.

But only days after the Olympic flame was extinguished, many Canadians are already hemming and hawing over how much money they want to put toward continuing Own The Podium.

Leading up to Vancouver, Canadian taxpayers put in $66 million; the rest came from the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC), corporate sponsorships, the B.C. government, and national Olympic and Paralympic committees. It is hard to dismiss the argument Canada “bought” its Olympic success. A less cynical view might be Canada finally invested in its amateur athletes and got good results. Either way, it is clear, world-beating athletes come at a cost. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday, January 5, 2002

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Saturday, January 5, 2002 Road hockey: A proud Canadian sporting tradition or a dangerous nuisance? A Hamilton court will weigh in Monday on a father's fate after he played hockey with his kids on their street, infuriating a neighbour while breaking a bylaw that divides neighbourhoods nationwide. "The bylaw says we stay off the street," said Nadia Ciuriak, whose garden has been invaded by countless stray hockey balls from Gary Kotar's kids over the years. "If people want street hockey, the proper way of dealing with that is to go to city council and insist that the bylaw gets removed.Ó While Kotar's kids haven't caused any damage to their neighbour's property, it's the principle of breaking the bylaw and trespassing to retrieve errant balls that bothers Ciuriak. "Initially I retrieved the balls from my garden, but then I decided I had other things to do, and I didn't want them going into my garden," said Ciuriak, who has lived with her mother and sister at the house for 40 years. Ciuriak also objects to the behaviour of some of the players on her street. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Canada, Ontario, Hamilton, sport, hockey, play, road, road hockey, youth, exercise

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, January 5, 2002

Road hockey: A proud Canadian sporting tradition or a dangerous nuisance?

A Hamilton court will weigh in Monday on a father’s fate after he played hockey with his kids on their street, infuriating a neighbour while breaking a bylaw that divides neighbourhoods nationwide. “The bylaw says we stay off the street,” said Nadia Ciuriak, whose garden has been invaded by countless stray hockey balls from Gary Kotar’s kids over the years.

“If people want street hockey, the proper way of dealing with that is to go to city council and insist that the bylaw gets removed.”

While Kotar’s kids haven’t caused any damage to their neighbour’s property, it’s the principle of breaking the bylaw and trespassing to retrieve errant balls that bothers Ciuriak.

“Initially I retrieved the balls from my garden, but then I decided I had other things to do, and I didn’t want them going into my garden,” said Ciuriak, who has lived with her mother and sister at the house for 40 years.

Ciuriak also objects to the behaviour of some of the players on her street. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)