Investigation into Hockey Canada takes a dramatic and emotional turn today

The third party investigation into the management of Hockey Canada and its executive staff continues and new developments uncovered just yesterday have implicated the organization's top members even more than initially reported.

While it was uncovered this past summer that Hockey Canada used a child registration fees to create a "slush fund" of cash to pay off alleged victims of sexual abuse, the Globe and Mail has uncovered the fact that Hockey Canada actually had an additional such account.

More from the Globe:

Known as the Participants Legacy Trust Fund, the reserve was created by the organization and its members with more than $7.1-million from the National Equity Fund. The money was earmarked “for matters including but not limited to sexual abuse,” according to Hockey Canada documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The trust, with its vaguely worded name, is another example of a large financial reserve created by Hockey Canada and its member branches to cover sexual assault claims, among other things, with funds gathered from hockey registration fees, without fully disclosing to parents and players how their money was ultimately being used.

- Grant Robertson, Globe and Mail

This, of course, flies in the face of statements that Hockey Canada executives made saying that they would not use such practices again and that they were committed to changing the "culture" of Hockey Canada. Then... we find out that they've in fact just created a new slush fund with a different name. Disgusting.

More from Grant Robertson of the Globe:

Amid the controversy, Hockey Canada, the sport’s governing body, reassured sponsors and government that none of their money was used to settle the lawsuit. Though Hockey Canada previously disclosed very little about the National Equity Fund and how it operated, officials later acknowledged at federal hearings in July that it was used to pay settlements on nine sexual assault claims totalling $7.6-million since 1989, not including the claim settled this year.

Grant Robertson, Globe and Mail

Even worse, Hockey Canada spokesman Jeremy Knight confirms that the account exists, but that Hockey Canada doesn't include it on its balance sheet or in its list of assets. To me, this signals that it's clear Hockey Canada is trying to hide the account's existence.

More from the Globe:

He said the trust is not listed on Hockey Canada’s balance sheet because it is not considered an asset. Though Hockey Canada is a beneficiary of the Participants Legacy Trust Fund, any distributions from the trust go to Hockey Canada’s member branches. He said the trust has not been used, but remains available for its stated purpose.

Hockey Canada has said in recent months that reserve accounts such as the National Equity Fund are an example of prudent risk management. But MPs on a parliamentary committee investigating Hockey Canada’s handling of sexual assault question that assertion, given the revelations about these multimillion-dollar funds and the amassing of player fees.

MPs say there has been insufficient disclosure about how the money is used – particularly in the 2018 case, where Hockey Canada settled the lawsuit with fees collected from registrants, who were not told about it, rather than holding the players involved financially accountable.

Grant Robertson, Globe and Mail

Given ALL of this, Canadian Minister for Sport Pascale St-Onge is calling on Hockey Canada's executive staff to resign immediately: