More revelations in the Hockey Canada hearing.
The national governing body for the sport in Canada says they paid out nine settlements from its National Equity Fund, totaling $7.6 million, since 1989.
A large portion of the funds was related to Graham James, a former Canadian junior ice hockey coach who plead guilty in 1997 to two counts of sexual assault.
Money from the fund, paid in part by children’s registration fees, also went towards paying a third-party investigator looking into accusations about the 2018 group sexual assault involving members of the World Junior team.
Meanwhile, Conservative MP John Nater, who is also the Shadow Minister for Canadian Heritage, echoed the calls of many asking for top officials in the organization to resign over the way they deal with the 2018 allegations as well as those about the 2003 team.
“For the good of hockey, for the good of the countless volunteers across this country, the good work that countless blameless people are doing in the sport of hockey, I strongly believe that there needs to be new leadership within Hockey Canada.”
Hockey Canada President Scott Smith says he won’t resign as he believes he’s prepared to accept the responsibility to make the required changes.
The organization says it will no longer use the National Equity Fund for sexual abuse claims.