A new national poll showed most Canadians are upset with Hockey Canada using player registration fees to pay out sexual assault lawsuits without telling the public..The Nanos Research poll was conducted for The Globe and Mail, it found 73% felt anger that some of the registration fees were being used and 71% opposed the fees being used to settle sexual assault claims..“Both of those are really big numbers,” said Nik Nanos, Nanos Research's chief data scientist. .“Many times on public opinion, a lot of things are nuanced. There’s no nuance; this is very cut and dried. Canadians are angry. They’re very disappointed and they don’t have confidence in Hockey Canada.”.Hockey Canada used an account called the National Equity Fund (NEF) to pay out sexual assault claims outside of court from registration fees..The NEF collected fees from Timbits hockey to the senior leagues, with the fund exceeding $15 million..READ MORE Hockey Canada did not use taxpayer funds to settle a $3.5 million sexual assault lawsuit.The NEF allowed Hockey Canada to settle without exposing the claims and without involving its insurance..When the story broke, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that “what we’re learning today is absolutely unacceptable … I think right now it’s hard for anyone in Canada to have faith or trust in anyone at Hockey Canada.”.Hockey Canada’s use of the fees angered more women than men, with 81% of women angered compared to 65% of men..“Both men and women are angry, but the anger meter is even higher among women than men,” said Nanos..Only 4% supported using the registration fees to pay the claims and five percent somewhat supported it..Compared to 71% were opposed to using registration fees, 13% were somewhat opposed, and seven percent were unsure..READ MORE Hockey Canada CFO said it paid nine sex settlements totalling $7.6 million.Since the sexual assault lawsuits became public, how Canadians view Hockey Canada was negatively affected..Forty-seven percent said it gave them a negative impression of hockey players, while 28% had a somewhat negative impact, and 16% had no impact..For some parents, it impacted whether they would involve their children in hockey after learning of the claims, with 39% less likely their children will play hockey, and 55% said it has no impact..Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they have no confidence in the leadership of Hockey Canada..“There’s not a lot of confidence that Hockey Canada can fix itself, just because of how they’ve handled this, so there’s going to need to be some significant outside help and action to try to fix this situation,” said Nanos..“Canadians are very tuned into this story and they’re very angry. Not just about what happened, but they’re also angry over how it’s being handled by Hockey Canada.”.Nanos Research randomly polled 1,038 Canadians by phone and online between July 29 and August 2. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.
