Hockey Canada must stop treating women’s and para-hockey like an afterthought

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Hockey Canada is the latest in a long list of sport organizations that have come under fire due to unsafe sporting practices and failures to protect athlete rights. The situation at Canada’s national hockey body has captured the nation’s imagination because of the cultural potency of the sport.

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Many have visions of hockey’s “purity” where snow is shovelled off frozen ponds and friends gather for a friendly game. But imbued in these idealized narratives are the gendered, ableist and heteronormative expectations of the sport.

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As witnessed with the recent scandal, the toxic masculine culture of hockey is at the heart of these concerns. A culture where secrecy and silence are expected. And Hockey Canada has used its own resources to support and cover up this toxic culture.

It took an outcry from the Canadian public, the federal government and corporate sponsors pulling their support for the leadership to finally step away. But what is being missed in this conversation is that Hockey Canada is not just about men’s hockey — it’s about women’s and para ice hockey programs as well.

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So, what…