Former Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis testifies in front of Canadian Heritage Committee

Former Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis spoke in front of the Canadian Heritage Committee Thursday afternoon. He recently stepped down, amid allegations from Olympic gold medallist Christine Sinclair, who says Canadian women’s soccer players must be paid the same as their male counterparts.

Bontis started off by apologizing to Sinclair, “while I do not recall using the language she referenced, I don’t dispute it and my exact choice of words is not the point. What matters is that she felt she treated her concerns disrespectfully. I feel terrible about making her feel this way, and I’ve since communicated with Christine and her agent to apologize personally.”

Bontis is referring to Sinclair’s comments made a few weeks ago when she appeared in front of the same committee where she said, “…I was tasked with outlining our compensation ask on behalf of the women’s national team. The president of Canada Soccer listened to what I had to say, and then later in the meeting, referred back to it as quote, ‘what was it Christine was bitching about?'”

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Bontis stepped down from his role as the president of Canada Soccer last month. Canada Soccer is one of many professional sports appearing in front of the Canadian Heritage Committee on Safe Sport. Bontis says he’s been an advocate of equal pay from the start.

Bontis says, “I advocated for pay equity publicly from the first day I was elected president and did so throughout my term. Serving as a volunteer for Canada Soccer and witnessing the progress and achievements of Canada’s national teams has given me some of the proudest moments of my life.”

Hamilton Mountain MP Lisa Hepfner is part of the committee that quested Bontis on Thursday, “we heard from four women from the Canadian women’s soccer team, including Christine Sinclair. And we heard from them how they’ve been feeling mistreated, not being paid equally to the men’s team, even though they’re Olympic champions and world champions, they don’t feel like they’re getting that respect from Canada Soccer.”

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Bontis says provincial organizations pressured him to step down, but he was never told the reasons why they wanted him out. On Thursday, he told the committee the last few weeks have been stressful for his family. “My wife was subjected to numerous abusive phone calls and my children received unwanted messages and were subjected to social media abuse. Ultimately, I work with a panic button under my desk in my office here at McMaster,” Bontis said.

The Canadian Heritage Committee on Safe Sport will meet again on Apr. 17.

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