Portion of fees for young Toronto hockey players given to Hockey Canada

Support for withholding fees to Hockey Canada Parents of participants in the GTHL voiced support for withholding fees from Hockey Canada over scandal involving sexual assault payouts.

A portion of registration fees for more than 40,000 young hockey players in the Toronto area are distributed to Hockey Canada and a percentage of that money is paid into the National Equity Fund, which has been at the center of the sexual assault scandal.

The Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) does not pay funds directly to Hockey Canada, but the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) does and the GTHL is a member.

According to the GTHL's breakdown of its registration and insurance fees, the league collects a total of $40.41 per participant from the Player Registration Fee. The GTHL keeps $8.50 and the remainder goes to the OHF, which is a governing body of amateur hockey in the province.

A total of $25.46 per participant is paid to Hockey Canada from the OHF to cover insurance and assessment. That works out to more than $1 million each season.

Of that amount, $2.97 is paid into the National Equity Fund, which the GTHL states is used to cover Hockey Canada costs to administer this fund which includes salaries, wellness programs, concussion research, criminal record checks, and donations to wellness organizations.

The National Equity Fund has put Hockey Canada under increased scrutiny since the organization confirmed its existence in a statement on July 19 and said it had been used to settle sexual misconduct claims.

Its not clear if any GTHL fees paid via the OHF to Hockey Canada were used to settle sexual misconduct claims.

"I'm unhappy that Hockey Canada is doing what they're doing, I don't want to be part of trying to pay off law suits," said Jason McCormack, who has two sons playing in the GTHL.

The GTHL deferred comment to the Ontario Hockey Federation.

The OHF stated it has asked Hockey Canada not to collect the $3 participant assessment fee for its players in the 2022-23 season.

The OHF said it had previously made the request to Hockey Canada’s former Chair of the Board Michael Brind’amour on July 29, 2022.

"It is our understanding now that this request was never directed to the Board before his departure. Based on this information, the OHF has once again, reaffirmed our formal requested of Hockey Canada to not collect the $3.00 Participant Assessment Fee for the 2022-2023 season," said Phillip McKee OHF executive director in a statement."

"It's pretty significant if this kind of funding gets held back, but I think more significantly is the symbolism that these provincial hockey organizations don't want to be associated with this current leadership with Hockey Canada," said Simon Darnell with Centre for Sport Policy Studies at the University of Toronto.

The statement came after Hockey Quebec announced it is has lost confidence in Hockey Canada and has decided not to transfer its share of registration funds to the national organization.

The OHF is monitoring the situation at Hockey Canada and is committed to being transparent about its operations to members, the communities, volunteers, families and players.

With files from The Canadian Press