What your Company Can Learn from the Hockey Canada Scandal

Article by: Michelle Grocholsky (she/her)

This week, a Globe and Mail investigation revealed a multimillion-dollar fund (the so-called “National Equity Fund”) used to pay out settlements in sexual assault cases raised against its players. The fund, made up of registration fees of players across Canada (beginning from beginner Timbits Hockey), is used to issue payments and cover out-of-court settlements for claims deemed uninsurable, including those related to rape and sexual assault. In effect, the fund functions to sweep sexual assault allegations under the rug, and silence survivors. No investigations into the matter follow. No outside scrutiny. No formal recourse for the alleged offender. And no support for the person who raised the claim.

Unfortunately, the mishandling of serious claims including sexual assault is not unique to Hockey Canada. In our work as Equity, Diversity & Inclusion strategists, our team has collected and analyzed data from thousands of employees across Canada, assessing their levels of psychological safety when it comes to raising issues related to exclusion, discrimination, harassment and workplace injustice. Our data tell us that on average, 10% of employees do not feel safe raising claims within their organization. A further 25% are unaware of the channels available to them to raise grievances, and 25% are unsure that their claim would be handled appropriately if they were to report. When we disaggregate this data by intersectional identity demographics, we see a startling trend. Women, non-binary, racialized, and particularly Black individuals, along with those with disabilities including mental health conditions, are significantly less likely to feel safe reporting injustice at work, a finding made even more concerning given that our data show they are exponentially more likely to experience and witness harm in the workplace. The data is particularly stark when we look at Black Women, where a recent dataset showed us that only 44% report feeling safe to raise claims without fear of retaliation or reprisal, 29% lower than White women.

While most organizations do not have the multimillion-dollar equivalent of Hockey Canada’s “National Equity Fund,” many do harbor problematic practices that lead to the further perpetuation of harm and injustice, and that prevent a fair and objective handling of concerns. In our work with clients across the nation, we’ve heard countless tales of women employees being packaged out with strict non-disclosure agreements after raising claims against more senior men in the workplace. These same companies publicly tout their commitment to EDI, many even winning awards for their purported culture of inclusion. However, taglines and diversity statements tend to fade to the background when employers are faced with the decision to pursue a fair investigatory process that will result in the termination of a high-ranking, and revenue generating member of staff, or to terminate the employment of the person who has raised the claim. We’ve listened to hundreds of hours of employee stories about investigatory processes gone awry because they’ve been led by internal employees put in the impossible position of maintaining the objectivity necessary to conduct a fair and impartial proceeding, or who are woefully unequipped to navigate the complexities of racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and the many other forms of oppression that exist within our workplaces. For example, I’ll never forget an interview with a Black woman who recounted an experience of being told by an internal investigator that “racism did not happen” because of the perpetrator’s expressed lack of intention to be racist.  A White employee who lacks impartiality and is ill equipped to navigate the complexities of racism and oppression is not the best position to make determinations about whether racism or oppression happens. This kind of investigatory process is a perpetuation of oppression. Full stop.

Hockey Canada, who has acknowledged that it deals with multiple sexual assault allegations a year, has seen their federal funding cut off and several corporate sponsors pause financial support. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who called the situation “completely outrageous” says that government support for the organization would remain frozen “pending significant reforms, transparency and accountability.” Canadian organizations must also follow suit. That means developing safe, anonymized processes for employees to raise issues that are handled by objective third parties who are equipped in matters of oppression and marginalization. It also means greater transparency on how matters such as sexual assault allegations are handled, including the rights and responsibilities of different parties within the organization to center employee wellbeing, provide support and care to those raising claims, and to shepherd, maintain and uphold a fair process.  

Your organization need not be the subject of a major scandal to instigate change to how matters of harm are investigated and addressed. Start today by seeking out a qualified third-party, a few that we recommend include Williams HR law and Brainsell