CALGARY—Hockey Canada has named its slate of candidates to fill the nine vacant positions on its board of directors, including Marian Jacko, originally from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. The new board members were selected from more than 550 applicants.
Hockey Canada members voted on Saturday to accept the entire slate, which includes five women and four men. Hockey Canada’s board stepped down in October as part of the fallout from its handling of sexual assault allegations against former members of two of its world junior teams. The federation’s 13 provincial and territorial bodies had the choice of accepting or turning down the nine names which had been put forward by an independent nominating committee.
As has been reported previously, three days after interim chair Andrea Skinner resigned in October, all members of Hockey Canada’s previous board quit, including president and CEO Scott Smith, amid heavy criticism related to the scandal-plagued organization’s handling of sexual assault allegations and hushed payouts to victims.
In May it was revealed that a woman alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight Canadian Hockey League (CHL) players, including members of the 2018 world junior team, after a Hockey Canada gala event in London, Ontario, four years ago.
Funding to Hockey Canada from federal and corporate sources was cancelled as more scandals came to light, and a series of heritage committee meetings on Parliament Hill saw current and past officials besieged by questions from MPs that led to the board and Mr. Smith’s resignation.
It was also revealed that Hockey Canada’s National Equity Fund (which is maintained by fees collected from players across Canada) had been used to pay for uninsured liabilities, including sexual abuse claims.
Marian Jacko is the assistant deputy attorney general for the Indigenous Justice Division of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. Prior to this role, Ms. Jacko was appointed by order-in-council as the Children’s Lawyer for Ontario, the first Indigenous person appointed to this role, where she spent nearly 20 years representing and advocating for the personal and property rights of children and youth.
Ms. Jacko has spent her entire 24-year career tirelessly working on behalf of children and Indigenous peoples. Ms. Jacko raised her eldest child as a single parent while earning three university degrees, including a Master’s degree in social work and a law degree from the University of Toronto. While working full-time as a lawyer and raising three children, she obtained her Master of Law from York University in 2005.
Ms. Jacko strongly believes in community service, serving on many non-profit organizations’ boards and advisory committees over the years. Currently she is the president of the Little Native Hockey League (Little NHL) and president of Anishnawbe Health of Toronto. She also sits on a volunteer board of mentors with the Future of Hockey Lab whose work is committed to values-based social innovation and culture change while growing the game of ice hockey.
Ms. Jacko has over a decade of coaching experience having coached at the Little NHL over many years, at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships and the Ontario Summer Games. She is currently the head coach of the Under 18A team in North York. She is passionate about the sport of ice hockey and believes it has the potential to change the narrative, for Indigenous children and youth, to one of resilience.
Other members of the board include the Honourable Hugh L. Fraser, a retired judge who is now Hockey Canada’s new chair, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, former women’s national team captain, Grant Borbridge, Julie Duranceau, Jonathan F. Goldbloom, Marni Fullerton, Dave Evans and Andrea Poole.
In November, former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell headed an independent review of Hockey Canada. The review concluded the federation was at a ‘crossroads’ and called for more oversight and accountability. The report included many recommendations, one being that no more than 60 per cent of board members be of the same gender.
The new board will serve a one-year term and will focus on improving the organization’s governance and safety across the sport.
