An investigation into hockey culture as New Brunswick prepares to host its first ever world junior championship
**This was written months ago for school and is being posted here for exposure purposes.
Every December, like millions of Canadians, Kay Imam looks forward to one of her favourite holiday traditions – sitting in front of her TV for the start of the World Junior Hockey Championship on Boxing Day. But not this year.
“At this point, celebrating these young men on the world stage is inappropriate,” she said.
Following what’s transpired in the media over the last few months, and the viewpoints many Canadians like Imam now hold, we ought to ask – is Hockey Canada ready to host another large-scale hockey tournament?
Four months ago, the rescheduled 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship took place in Edmonton. An average of 1 319 people attended each of the tournament’s 20 preliminary round matches at Rogers Place, an arena which seats more than 20 000.
Some blamed the COVID-19 pandemic, others high ticket prices, or the summer weather prompting fans to choose to spend their time in the sun instead, but even the International Ice Hockey Federation, which oversees the world juniors, was forced to acknowledge the role played by the 2003 and 2018 Hockey Canada scandals which have recently dominated the public eye.
“There is understandable scrutiny from Canadians of Hockey Canada and the culture of hockey,” read a statement released by the federation following the conclusion of the tournament – only a few months after TSN reporter Rick Westhead revealed a woman was sexually assaulted at the Hockey Canada Foundation Gala by eight men on June 19, 2018, including members of the reigning gold-medalist under-20 team Canada squad.
It then came to light that Hockey Canada, under the guise of the National Equity Fund, had siphoned $7.6 million, in addition to the undisclosed sum spent on the settlement for the 2018 assault.
While the current board of directors at Hockey Canada is committed to not running for re-election, it should be noted that the same board which was in charge when the story first broke will still be in power until the elections on Dec. 17.
“This has been going on for decades,” said Kristi Allain, an associate professor at St. Thomas University who specializes in sport psychology, referencing the 2003 sexual assault allegations against members of the 2003 world junior team and the Graham James sexual abuse case from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
In Allain’s view, hockey’s sexual violence problem is a cultural issue that stems from the grassroots level upwards.
“We need change from the bottom up. From triple-A hockey, the hockey played by ten, 11, 12-year-olds, right up to the hockey in the NHL, this is a problem that we see throughout young men’s elite-level collision sports,” she said, adding that “we need to see some change” before events like the world juniors take place on Canadian soil again.
“It’s an unsafe space for the young men who compete in these leagues [the three leagues that comprise the Canadian Hockey League], and for the communities that are around them.”
Imam agrees.
“Growing the game means making it less expensive, making it more welcoming to women and people of colour, and making it safer for the people already part of it. We don't need to keep letting hockey players suffer like this. They deserve safety too.”
Hockey New Brunswick executive director, Nic Jansen, says that he does not agree that hosting the World Juniors means fostering the negative behaviour associated with it, though he did acknowledge that there is concern based upon the past incidents.
“I think that those that are involved this year are not related to that,” said Jansen, while outlining a series of steps Hockey New Brunswick has taken to solve the problems that plague hockey dressing rooms locally.
“They refer to it as a rape culture, but where it starts is inappropriate jokes, sexist comments, things like that that happen in dressing rooms,” he said.
In addition to partnering with Sexual Violence New Brunswick, HNB has begun conducting one-hour equity, diversity, and inclusion workshops with all players in the 13-17 age bracket – though only about 400 of the 3 000 eligible participants have undergone the training so far.
“We’re working with an individual, Norman Hector. He’s delivered these types of workshops for several years. He talks about why it’s important to be open-minded, why it’s inappropriate to be discriminatory on-ice, so we think think this is a very effective way to educate our members.”
“It’s too early to say” whether these workshops will produce significant cultural change, says Jansen, and on that point he and Allain agree – though she does say it’s encouraging that the organization is working with third parties like Norman and Sexual Violence New Brunswick rather than it being the same internal voices that have perpetuated the culture for ages in charge of re-education.
Now 20, Andrew Smith is almost three years removed from his playing days for school and minor hockey teams in St. Stephen, New Brunswick.
Smith says that, in his experience, it’s tough to be the voice in the room to stand up and say something, whether the action is racist, homophobic, misogynstic, or disrespectful in any which way – but when the sport is less competitive, those in the seats of power can do a lot to shape the culture that rarely happens without accountability further up the ladder.
“Go to the upper levels, like the world juniors – the locker room banter is just the same as it is in a midget C locker room. The same words, same kinda jokes being tossed around. Except the only difference now is that, when you get to the higher levels, the coaches aren’t necessarily good guys anymore,” said Smith.
“People just need to look around and think about how what’s being said in the locker room is more than just banter. Because words… words fucking hurt.”
Both Imam and Smith say that, in light of what’s come out, the world juniors should not take place in Canada – but Boxing Day is nearing, and there’s no going back now – so what should be done before Hockey Canada hosts again?
“I don’t even know,” said Imam, adding that she expects nothing but lip service, and maybe the addition of a few more voices from the same school of thought to their board of directors.
“But hey. Maybe one or two of them will be women so that'll make it all okay in their eyes,” she added.
Smith, however, believes the right people in the right places at the grassroots level can make a huge change.
“We need more people to not excuse shitty behaviour,” he said.
“One of my coaches growing up – I’ll say his name – Greg Best – was probably the best coach I’ve ever had. He coached my bantam C team when I was playing in St. Stephen and a lot of the guys on the C team, they come from different backgrounds, a lot of them – they really come from nothing. They have really terrible examples set for them by their parents, a lot of them express some pretty distasteful views, homophobic stuff like slurs, and the insults that get passed around the locker room.”
But I’ll never forget what he said to our team when one kid called another kid a f—, or a queer, or something to that effect. Greg stood up, and he looked at him and he said, ‘you boys oughta not be talking like that, because chances are someone in this room is probably gonna take offense to that. You never know who your words will hurt’.”
Then he told us a story about this guy that he knew growing up, who was loved in the room, called other people queer, etcetera. And then one day, apparently this friend was at some bar in Ottawa having an argument with this guy. What he didn’t know was that this guy had some bodybuilder dudes that he knew that were gay. He went inside to the bar, got them, and this guy that apparently was really homophobic got the shit beat out of him. That was his word of warning to us.”
“The thing that shocked me is, Greg Best, he’s a St. Stephen guy. You know, blue collar, works hard for a living. And it really shocked me that someone like that, compared to other guys like him that I’ve known that have some pretty gross opinions, the way he talked about it was dignified. I dunno – That just always stuck with me.”