(Calgary) Referees are imposing more penalties for discriminatory reasons, insults and on-ice intimidation, Hockey Canada said in a report released Wednesday.
Posted at 1:04 p.m.
The organization that oversees hockey in the country mentioned that penalties imposed under an anti-discrimination regulation increased by 41% during the 2023-24 season, from 1.9 penalties per 1,000 players in 2022- 23 to 2.6.
The report captures data collected nationally during the 2023-24 season on behaviors that contravene Section 11 Abuse of Hockey Canada’s playing rules, which are identified through two independent complaint management mechanisms : Hockey Canada’s independent third party and the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OCIS).
“This year’s report is extremely important in helping us better understand what is happening in our communities, as it now includes all punishments and incident allegations relating to Section 11 (abuse), in addition to BCIS statistics and data provided by the independent third party,” said Natasha Johnston, Vice-President of Sport Integrity at Hockey Canada.
Gender, sexual orientation, and other gender-related slurs have been the primary reasons for these types of penalties and suspensions.
Insults with racist connotations came second among the discriminatory acts listed.
On the other hand, reports and allegations of discrimination that were not picked up by on-ice referees, leading to investigations, fell 11% to 1.3% per 1000 players last season. This rate was 1.5% during the previous season.
Hockey Canada began publishing its annual abuse reports in 2022.
In December 2022, the organization and its members published a report on all incidents relating to insults, insults or intimidation of a discriminatory nature, referred to in game rule 11.4 (discrimination) of Hockey Canada and events during the 2021-2022 season.
Last year the report was expanded to include abuse more broadly and included data on complaints received by the independent third party and the BCIS, punishments and incident allegations relating to rule 11.4 as well as data from the pilot project which aimed to monitor punishments linked to mistreatment within certain regional, provincial or territorial members.
