'I want a change': Tim Hortons hockey cards inclusivity effort disappoints 8-year-old activist

An 8-year-old girl in Ontario is pushing for Tim Hortons to do a better job representing women in hockey after she bought hockey trading cards from the company that she expected to prominently feature female players for the first time, but was inspired to activism by how few she got.

When Hannah Granatstein, an enthusiastic young hockey player for a co-ed team in Toronto, was recently going through her dad's old boxes of hockey cards, she was disappointed to see that all of them were of men.

So when Tim Hortons announced members of Canada's women's Olympic hockey team would be featured on their trading cards for sale in 2022, Granatstein's mother says her daughter was ecstatic.

"We marked the day in our calendar, and that morning we walked over to the Tim Hortons near our house and we opened them," Eva Melamed told CTV National News.

But of the 45 cards they purchased, only five players were women.

"They said they were going to feature women, but there weren't enough," Granatstein said.

The young hockey player decided to voice her concerns to Tim Hortons in a handwritten letter. It reads in part: "Women are just as good as men, maybe even better! The women deserve for the whole world to know about them because they are awesome hockey players too … I want a change!"

Her father, David Granatstein, said he's not surprised by his daughter's activism because she plays on a co-ed team where every player is as good as the next.

"She's not seeing that in the packs of cards she's getting, so she felt something was wrong," he said.

After writing her letter, Granatstein's coach Kevin Shier shared a picture of the young player's words on Twitter, and it quickly took off.

The letter caught the attention of Tim Hortons, which responded by saying that although there are more men than women featured in the trading cards, they're proud to have included members of the women's team for the first time. But the company also has a call set up with Granatstein on Friday to hear her concerns.

"I can't wait to speak with her and talk to her about what we can do as a brand to be more representative and more inclusive," Solange Bernard, Tim Hortons' senior director of marketing, told CTV National News.

The message Granatstein hopes to portray: “I’m a girl and people should be treated the same way.” 

Hey @TimHortons,

An 8-year-old named Hannah has an issue that she'd like to bring to your attention!

Young girls all over Canada deserve to see their idols on hockey cards as much as men - let's do better!

Signed,
Hannah G., & Friends pic.twitter.com/bPTQiCBaP5

— Kevin Shier (@KevinShier_) January 10, 2022