Parents have 'lost total trust' in the sport after Hockey Canada allegations

As police investigate alleged sexual assaults involving members of two Canadian men's hockey teams, CTVNews.ca heard from a number of parents expressing concerns with enrolling their children in organized hockey. The allegations, they say, are deterring them from allowing their children to participate in the sport they love.

As police investigate alleged group sexual assaults involving members of the 2003 and 2018 Canadian men’s world junior hockey teams, 39-year-old Erin Schnare said she is on the fence about allowing her children to register for the upcoming hockey season.

Schnare lives in Halifax with her husband and three children. Her eldest son, who is about to turn seven, has been playing hockey for nearly two years, while her three-year-old daughter will soon be eligible for enrollment.

“I don’t know if I’ll put them in this year, I’m struggling with it,” she told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Thursday. “What if things don’t change?”

The scandal stretches back to May of this year when Hockey Canada reached a settlement with a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted in London, Ont. by several members of the Canadian world junior hockey team. The incident allegedly took place in 2018. In June, the federal government froze its funding to Hockey Canada and major sponsors, such as Scotiabank and Telus, also pressed pause on their financial support.

Since then, another allegation of group sexual assault has surfaced involving members of the Canadian world junior hockey team in 2003.

After hearing about the allegations, Schnare said she was “disgusted,” which puts her in a difficult position when deciding whether to let her children play hockey. Her son loves to play and her daughter loves to watch, she said. While she doesn’t want them to miss out on participating in the sport they love, Schnare said she worries about the ethics behind allowing her children to play, and the message this might send to Hockey Canada.

“If I keep putting my kids in hockey, am I really helping to facilitate change or am I just going along, status quo?” she said. “Are they going to interpret that as me not caring about what they did or that I agree with it? I hope not.”