Hockey Canada national funding restored with conditions

Hockey Canada is being reinstated for government funding after meeting conditions set by Canada’s minister of sport.

Hockey Canada announced the change on Sunday alongside Canadian sport minister Pascale St-Onge before the Canada-United States gold-medal game at the women’s world hockey championship.

The federal money was shut-off and many donors pulled their funding after questions were raised about its handling of two separate incidents of alleged sexual assaults.

The sport minister says the organization would once again be funded by the federal government, so long as it continues to follow conditions Ottawa has laid out which are:

• Become a full-signatory to Abuse-Free Sport and the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner;
• Implement the recommendations from an independent review led by a retired justice;
• And commit to more frequent reporting to the federal government.

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St-Onge says the shut down was never intended to be permanent.

Hockey Canada released a statement on Sunday saying that it marks an important milestone for the team in their journey to earn and maintain the trust of Canadians.

“While I would like to thank Minister St-Onge and the government for their vote of confidence and for their ongoing efforts to prioritize safe sport in Canada, I also wish to stress that we still have work to do to change the culture of our sport,” states the team.

The statement also goes on to say the organization is committed to being transparent and accountable to Canadians moving forward.

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