A dispute over whether a 13-year-old boy should be allowed to play on a Whitby, Ont., minor hockey team has exposed broader questions about how youth sports organizations should respond when a parent connected to a team has a history of sexually abusing children. The player earned a spot this spring on a U-14 AA Whitby Minor Hockey Association (WMHA) team. But after other team parents learned that the boy’s father, a former Durham Region teacher, had been convicted of multiple sexual offences involving students, concerns were raised with the association about the father potentially attending practices, games and other team activities. The WMHA subsequently told the family the boy could not play for the team, according to emails obtained by CTV News. The family appealed that decision to the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA), which overturned Whitby’s decision and reinstated the player, citing Ontario’s Human Rights Code, according to a copy of the OMHA’s Aug. 25 written decision obtained by CTV News. The team’s head coach has since resigned. CTV News is not naming the father because doing so would identify his son, who has not been accused of wrongdoing. The dispute is complicated by a 10-year court order that places restrictions on the father’s contact with children under 16 while specifically allowing him to attend organized sporting events involving his own child. Under the prohibition order, issued in January 2020 by Ontario Superior Court Justice M.S. Felix, the father may attend a sporting event where his child is expected to participate. He does not have to be directly accompanied by another adult during those events, but he cannot be alone with anyone under the age of 16. The order also prohibits him from entering locker rooms where children under 16 are present or expected to be present and from working or volunteering in any position of trust or authority involving children under 16. Unusual challenge for officials The order creates an unusual challenge for hockey officials. The boy has done nothing wrong and is not subject to any restrictions. But his father’s attendance around a team of young players is governed by a criminal court order intended to limit his access to children. Whitby Minor Hockey president Mark Elsenaar said the association was placed in a difficult position. “It is unfortunate that a minor hockey player has become caught up in circumstances that are clearly not of his own doing,” Elsenaar wrote in a statement. He said the association learned about the father’s criminal convictions after the team selection process had been completed. “Given the severity of that conviction, WMHA determined that removing the child from the team was the appropriate course of action in light of our obligations,” Elsenaar wrote. After the child’s father disputed the decision, Whitby sought guidance from its governing bodies and initially understood it was required to reinstate the player, Elsenaar wrote. The Whitby association proposed a framework of conditions and safeguards that the family was unwilling to accept. Whitby then continued to exclude the player and advised the family of its right to appeal. The player was reinstated last week after his father’s appeal to the OMHA was successful. “WMHA disagrees with this outcome but, given our limited resources to continue challenging it, we are obligated to accept the OMHA’s direction,” Elsenaar said. “We are still determining how to implement this decision consistent with our safeguarding obligations.” Elsenaar said the association hopes the family will work with it on a plan that protects a safe environment for everyone. One parent of a player on the Whitby team told CTV News that families were advised that the association had considered mounting a legal challenge to the OMHA’s decision. According to the parent, families were told lawyers had advised Whitby Minor Hockey that “the case is unwinnable.” “We are not prepared to discuss the specific details of our discussions with the family,” Elsenaar wrote in an email. “We were thorough in our approach to the situation and considered various circumstances. Ultimately, the family was not prepared to agree to the framework of conditions and safeguards that we believed were reasonable and necessary as we have stated.” The OMHA did not respond to a request for comment. Father expects to attend practices, games In a statement to CTV News, the father wrote that he expects to attend as many as half of the team’s practices, games and tournaments. He said he will attend solely as a parent supporting his son and will not participate in team meetings, off-ice activities or social events. He wrote he has never entered a hockey dressing room as a parent and will not do so. “Since my son’s reinstatement, neither WMHA nor OMHA has imposed restrictions on my attendance,” he wrote. The father said the court specifically considered his attendance at his children’s sporting events when imposing the prohibition order. He said the order permits him to attend events involving his children. “I understand why parents take safeguarding seriously, and I respect legitimate concerns,” he wrote. “Youth sport organizations should consider such concerns, but their responses should be lawful, evidence-based, proportionate and directed toward the person about whom the concern exists.” The parents of two players on the team who contacted CTV News said the father refused Whitby Minor Hockey’s request that he agree not to enter arenas during his son’s games and practices or stay inside hotels where his son’s and other teams might be lodging during tournaments. Hilary Findlay, a retired Brock University sport management professor who continues to research and publish on safe-sport issues, said she believes the OMHA should consider going to court to seek changes to the conditions permitting the father to attend his son’s sporting events. “The OMHA has the resources,” Findlay said in an interview with TSN. “You can make the argument the OMHA has a moral and ethical responsibility to deal with it.” Findlay said the fact that a judge specifically permitted the father to attend his child’s sporting events does not relieve hockey organizations of their own safeguarding responsibilities. Those responsibilities, she said, may become more complicated when the team travels. If Whitby participates in tournaments, Findlay said, the association may have a responsibility to advise tournament organizers about the circumstances so they can assess the situation and decide whether other participating teams need to be informed. Failing to do so, she said, could potentially expose the association to liability if an incident occurred and tournament officials had not been given information that might have allowed them to take precautions. That possibility illustrates how far the consequences of the OMHA decision could extend beyond one player and one team. Consequences of one decision The player’s father was an elementary school teacher for approximately 14 years. An Ontario Superior Court appeal decision says he was originally charged with 30 sexual offences involving 15 complainants. Two charges were withdrawn before trial. After a 16-day trial, he was convicted on 16 counts involving eight students. The allegations involved improper touching and sexual interference involving female students and one male student. During the trial, more than a dozen young people, some still in elementary school, testified about incidents in which they said the teacher touched them or they saw him touch other children. The Toronto Star reported that the allegations included touching and caressing children on their buttocks and, in some instances, slipping his hand beneath their clothing. Court also heard that he had been a popular teacher and sports coach who had a knack for communicating with children but, because of his frequent touching, eventually came to be regarded by some students as “creepy.” He was sentenced in January 2020 to 720 days in jail. Global News reported that victim-impact statements described depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder among children affected by his conduct. The judge also imposed probation and the 10-year prohibition order governing his contact with children. The former teacher appealed his convictions and sentence. In 2022, Superior Court Justice P.W. Sutherland set aside two convictions and ordered a new trial on those counts after finding that the teacher’s right to cross-examine witnesses had been improperly restricted. The court dismissed his appeal on the remaining convictions and reduced his jail sentence to 630 days. The appeal court noted that the offences involved children and that he had occupied a position of trust as a teacher. The man was also a sports coach in the Whitby region. “It’s insane that this man would be allowed to be at our games and practices in Whitby,” the parent of a player on the Whitby team said in an interview. “The chances that he will run into some of his victims, who either play hockey or have family members playing hockey, are actually quite good.” Findlay said there is precedent for a provincial sports organization going to court to restrict the places a sanctioned adult is permitted to attend. More than a decade ago, Ontario swimming coach Cecil Russell was banned by Swim Ontario for being a convicted steroids trafficker. Despite his lifetime ban, Russell continued attending swim meets to coach his children. The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, Swimming Canada, and Coaches of Canada then went to Ontario Superior Court in 2007 and obtained an order banning Russell from pools, The Globe and Mail reported. The father in the Whitby hockey case said excluding his son has already had a significant impact on the child and the rest of the family. “He earned his position based on his performance at tryouts and then lost it for reasons entirely outside his control,” the father said. “He has done nothing wrong.” He said the experience has diminished his son’s excitement for the coming season, disrupted his development and created fears that he could be excluded from teams in the future. “Safeguarding concerns about adults can be addressed through proportionate safeguards directed at adults, without excluding or punishing children for the circumstances of their parents,” he said. “He is 13 years old. He has worked extremely hard at his sport and has aspirations for his future in hockey.” If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
