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Hockey Saskatchewan says participation not declining amid Hockey Canada hearings

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Hockey Saskatchewan said it is not seeing a decline in interest in the sport due to the ongoing Hockey Canada hearings.

Hockey Canada has been the subject of a parliamentary hearing this week, digging into the national organization’s management of sexual assault claims and funding.

“Hockey is really important in our province, it’s really important to small town communities, you know I’m hearing in a lot of communities ‘our numbers are back’ up they’re saying,” Kelly McClintock, the general manager of Hockey Saskatchewan, said.

Even though criticism around the responsibility of hockey culture within Hockey Canada continued on Thursday, in Saskatchewan, some currently involved in it are not concerned.

“I have found Saskatchewan hockey to be amazing,” said Angela Harder, a Saskatoon hockey mom.

Harder’s 10 and 11-year-old daughters play with the Saskatoon Comets, a female hockey league.

She said that this is important that they play on an all girls team, and that she has no problem letting them continue to play the game, despite the controversy at the higher level in Canadian hockey.

“Every year it’s not a fight to get them into hockey, because they love it, she said.

For Harder, keeping her girls interested and engaged in the sport is important for many reason. Her daughters love to watch women’s hockey, which helps to empower them, but also, playing the sport teaches them teamwork and compassion towards others.

“Because then it trickles down into school, and their everyday life, and trying to be as inclusive as possible, with everyone around them,” she said.

That love of hockey and team continues across the province, especially here in Regina.

“We’re up from what we have been the last couple of years, cause of that COVID thing, and now that that’s not in place, we’re up just under 10 percent for where we were last year so that’s a positive,” Blair Watson, the executive director at Hockey Regina Inc., said.

Watson said that since the allegations and hearings involving Hockey Canada began, there has not been much of a deterrent in Regina hockey.

“Since it first came out late spring, we’ve had a handful of people inquire, that’s about it, it’s way up the food chain, so it’s not really affecting us here at the local level,” he explained.

However, that doesn’t mean changes to hockey culture aren’t in order, he said.

“We’re working on some stuff. We’ve done anti-bullying sessions before and so we’re doing mental health sessions right now too, so we’re pretty good here in Regina,” said Watson.

Concerns are still felt across the country in regards to accountability when it comes to hockey culture.

On the same day that Canadian Tire pulled sponsorship from Hockey Canada, Respect Group, a company co-founded by former Swift Current Bronco and sports mental health advocate, Sheldon Kennedy, released a statement that the company was partnering with them on their quest for positive sport culture.

PARTICIPANTS LEGACY TRUST FUND

On Wednesday, Hockey Saskatchewan released a memo for the public, explaining the Participants Legacy Trust Fund.

The intention of this, for General Manager Kelly McClintock, was to educate the public on what the fund’s purpose is and where the money came from.

“I think it was really important to say this isn’t a slush fund it's meant to help protect all the members of Hockey Canada and their members in the events of a lawsuit,” he said.

But money going into this fund has since stopped.

“This was money from before 1995, right so anyone that’s playing minor hockey today, never contributed to this,” said McClintock, who was one of the people in the room when the fund was created.

In the statement posted on Hockey Saskatchewan’s website, the organization explained the content of this fund.

“From September 1986 to August 1995 Hockey Canada could not obtain an insurance provider and was essentially ‘self-insured.’ Fees collected from participants registered with members (approximately $18 per participant at that time) were placed into the National Equity Fund and used to cover expenses for lawsuits primarily in the areas of injury lawsuits,” the statement said.

Therefore, at this time, interest incurred from the fund comes back to the organizations that contributed during that time, according to McClintock.

“In the last five years, we’re talking it generated 250,000 or so dollars for us and that helps keep our fees down,” said McClintock.

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