Jonathan Goldblum, Chairman of Hockey Canada:
As Canadians, hockey plays a central role in our daily lives.
It gives us something to discuss with our family, friends and co-workers, and it brings our communities together when Canada plays on the international stage and no matter your skill level, when you’re on the ice, hockey allows us to experience one of life’s greatest joys: having fun.
Hockey is important.
Our members, staff, participants, parents, partners, government officials and all other stakeholders in the game want hockey to succeed and to have a Hockey Canada that makes every Canadian proud.
When I applied as a potential candidate for the Interim Board of Directors last fall, it was driven by optimism that Hockey Canada would soon once again be viewed as a leader in hockey and the sport, not only in our country but around the world.
In the past year, our Transitional Council has made important and meaningful progress in renewing leadership, sports integrity, good governance, financial transparency and accountability.
Although our time together was only 11 months, it laid the foundation for the work we will do together to make positive changes that benefit our organization, our membership, hockey and the sport in general.
We can’t do this without each and every one of you.
Last week, we held our winter conference and annual meeting in Montreal, where the Hockey Canada Board of Directors elections took place.
I was grateful to be appointed as Chairman of the Board and to join Grant Burbridge and Marian Jacko, who were wonderful colleagues on the Transition Board, and our six new directors: Gillian Apps, Amanda Fowler, Corey Hirsch, Christy Miller, Christa Outhwaite and Geoffrey Wong.
We are excited to work as a team and help you all in any way we can throughout our time together.
Led by Katherine Henderson, Pat McLaughlin and the rest of the staff at Hockey Canada, we are fortunate to have a committed and passionate group ready to take our sport to new heights.
And let’s remember to have fun along the way, because that’s what hockey is all about.
Katherine Henderson, President and CEO of Hockey Canada:
In September, I joined Hockey Canada as a proud Canadian, sports leader and lifelong hockey fan.
I am excited to work with our passionate Board of Directors, staff, members and partners to provide all Canadians with personalized hockey experiences that are right for them, and to ensure that hockey in our country embodies safety, excellence and sport for all.
After meeting and learning from so many of you in the past three months, I find myself even more excited about what the future holds for us. The future we create together.
At the Winter Conference, we had honest and important discussions with our members on a number of topics, including increasing alignment, our collective efforts to better address abuse in hockey, this season’s promising scoring data and upcoming initiatives at the national and member levels.
I’ve shared with the membership and the outgoing Board the recurring themes that were highlighted during my initial conversations with our stakeholders at all levels of the game, and I want to summarize them for you as we look forward:
- We are Canadians and we want to excel in hockey.
- The right to play hockey must become our way of thinking;
- Our participants, including players, coaches, officials, volunteers and administrators, are here to serve;
- It is crucial to have an athlete-centric philosophy as the game continues to grow and develop;
- We have made significant investments in sports safety, but in order to achieve this and much more, we need to prioritize our actions and be more efficient;
- Strengthen our governance by doing it better, with greater impact and with less risk;
- Outstanding people, including those who deliver hockey at the grassroots level, will make the difference.
Although there is more work to be done, we are certainly on our way.
I am confident that with governance that accelerates what we want to do, brings new people into the sport, focuses on our business priorities, continues to align with our members and empowers the great people we have throughout our organization, the opportunities for hockey in the future are truly limitless.
As you know, Jonathan Goldblum was named Chairman of the Board of Directors on Saturday after he was elected by members, Jillian Apps, Grant Burbridge, Amanda Fowler, Corey Hirsch, Marian Jaco, Christy Miller, Christa Outhwaite and Jeffrey Wong.
Jonathan’s passion for hockey is contagious and I am excited to work with him and the other managers to help us work towards happy, safe and healthy hockey for everyone.
To each and every one of you, thank you for the ideas, knowledge and support you have given me during my first three months at Hockey Canada, and for your tireless efforts to make hockey even better.
I’m so happy to be on this journey with you – let’s continue it.
Carb Futurum.
