Hockey Canada Losing Partnerships

Partners Have Backed Out of their Commitments, Government Also Freezing Funds

Content Warning: The following article contains references to sexual assault

Over the past few days, some of Hockey Canada’s biggest partners have announced a pause to their partnership agreements with the association. Scotiabank, Telus, Imperial Oil (Esso), Tim Hortons, and Canadian Tire have made statements over the past few days to announce their decision. This comes in response to a settled lawsuit involving the 2017-18 Men’s World Junior team, as reported by Rick Westhead of TSN last month.

It was also announced on Wednesday by the Canadian Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge that the Federal Government will be freezing its funding to Hockey Canada – with the request that Hockey Canada agrees to work with a new agency to independently investigate and review abuse complaints and administer sanctions. Before the freeze, Hockey Canada received $14 million in funding in 2021 from the government, not including COVID-19-related subsidies.

While most partners made a statement expressing their disappointment in the organization for the lack of accountability for harmful behaviour as a cause for their decision, a few organizations stood out in their statements:

Telus announced that they will be redirecting their funds to Canadian organizations that support women affected by sexual violence
Scotiabank made an open letter in the Globe and Mail, redirecting their funding to the Hockey Canada Assist fund, with an additional donation to the Canadian Women’s Foundation
Imperial Oil will be stepping back from supporting the 2022 Men’s World Juniors with Esso branding, and specifically stated supporting grassroots youth and women’s programs

It is important to remember that Hockey Canada oversees operations of both the Men’s, Women’s, and Youth programming, and these brands have acknowledged that the actions of the organization (with respect to their Men’s program_ should not hinder the investments they are making in supporting the youth and women that love the game and may experience barriers in accessing the game.

With over 60 partners listed on its website across multiple categories (including supply partners), Hockey Canada strongly depends on partnership funding to help support its operations. According to the 2020-21 Report on Hockey Canada’s website, 43% of Hockey Canada’s funding comes from Business Development and Partnerships, including an additional 6% that comes from Government Assistance. With the potential of more partners retracting funding, Hockey Canada is currently operating on thin ice, to say the least.

July 1, 2022 - Issue 45 of The Sport Marketeer