WINDSOR MINOR HOCKEY VOWS CHANGE — IN A YEAR
The embattled Windsor Minor Hockey Association is promising it will change — in a year.
The association will announce a review of “a broad range of issues” at its annual meeting April 3, its lawyer, David McNevin, said Friday. “They’re going to announce a process to consider a broad range of issues and create a forum for people to come forward and make suggestions,” he said. Changes will be made by the association’s 2019 annual meeting, he said.
“The rules and procedures will be different in a year.” President Dean Lapierre refused to comment this week on proposed amendments to the organization’s constitution that would allow players’ parents to vote at annual meetings, impose term limits on board members and end free registration or cash in lieu for board members. The amendments were submitted by former treasurer Mario Pennesi and a group of parents and community members. They want the board to approve the amendments at the annual meeting next month.
On Thursday, the association authorized McNevin to speak. The issues are “somewhat sensitive since there is no final decision, and it is somewhat complicated,” he said. “They thought it best that I address it.” Pennesi and others allege that Windsor Minor, a non-profit organization under Ontario’s Corporations Act, violates the legislation by not allowing parents, who are association members, to vote, not having term limits and remunerating board members.
“I don’t believe they’re violating the legislation,” McNevin said.
However, not allowing parents to vote and giving board members free registration, worth about $500, are “grey” areas, he said. There are other “things that are offside,” he added, but refused to say what they are.
There is no requirement for term limits under the act, he said. However, the Ontario Minor Hockey Association, the umbrella organization for more than 200 associations including Windsor Minor, limits its president to two two-year terms. Lapierre has been president 19 years. McNevin called the association’s constitution “a bit antiquated” but said, “in fairness to the board,” it didn’t make the rules. They existed before the board assumed the leadership. “I certainly think there’s a need for revamping things, particularly the participation of the membership,” he said. “That’s what the board is committed to doing.” The association will update its rules to ensure they comply with the legislation and with the best practices of other minor hockey organizations across the province, he said.
The board will consult with parents, the OMHA and other minor hockey organizations, he said. He will also recommend it contact Trish McAuliffe, a retired national human rights investigator and trainer for Unifor who was recruited by former Local 444 president Dino Chiodo to work with the association. The board’s executive met with her once last summer.
But Pennesi insisted the board must consider his proposed amendments at the annual meeting next month because they were submitted in accordance with the constitution. Parents should at least win the right to vote at the meeting next month, “if they’re serious about getting parents involved,” said former Windsor Minor parent Lisa Porter.
“I don’t understand why it would take a year,” she said. “They should be challenged on that. What is the problem? I can’t believe not one single member of the board would stand up and say we need to change that.” Parents wouldn’t be able to vote on anything the board proposes for the next year, she said. Pennesi “raised some important issues that need to be addressed,” McNevin said. But the board revoked his life membership because they believed it was “unprofessional” for him to rally support from parents and community members for the amendments. “They felt they were being attacked and there were unfair statements being made,” he said. It was unfair for Pennesi, who received free registration for at least seven years when he was a board member, to attack it now, he said.
“If Mr. Pennesi was so concerned about this why did he get it for so many years?” asked McNevin.
He called it “disingenuous.” Pennesi said he wasn’t aware that board members shouldn’t be remunerated until he received an anonymous letter recently reviewing the constitution and the legislation. The board hasn’t responded to his emails urging other changes since last fall, he said.
McNevin called Pennesi a “devoted and hard-working volunteer who gave a big part of his life to the organization.” The board wants to “patch the rift,” he said.
Pennesi is demanding a public apology and the reinstatement of his life membership.
“They should not have taken away my life membership,” he said. “I want a public apology to acknowledge that what they did was wrong.”
The controversy began when Lapierre called Canadian women marching in the Women’s March on Washington last year “dumb bitches” on social media. He had been making derogatory comments about women, poor people and others on social media for at least five years.
He apologized, was suspended for the rest of the season and participated in a program called Respect in Sport. The board is satisfied the incident has been dealt with, McNevin said.
But few people accepted the apology, said Porter. “Basically, he was sorry he was caught,” she said.