Panel backs uneven split of Broncos donations
Survivor’s family who pushed for equal distribution still happy with process
SASKATOON Michelle Straschnitzki says she would have preferred almost $15 million raised following the Humboldt Broncos bus crash be divided equally among the 29 affected families, but is nevertheless pleased the process is moving forward.
Straschnitzki, whose 18-year-old son Ryan was paralyzed in the April 6 crash and has since returned to the ice to play sledge hockey, said her family’s reasons for wanting the money to be divided evenly are simple.
“It’s impossible to say who needs more. There’s all kinds of things involved. Yes, Ryan has a longer road to recovery than some of them, but who’s to say the other boys don’t have more problems as well? It’s kind of a catch-22,” Straschnitzki said.
“It’s one of those things — we’d just rather have it wrapped up as equitably as possible,” she added in a phone interview hours after the committee tasked with dividing up the money recommended a different solution.
In its report, the five-member panel appointed this summer recommended that each survivor receive $425,000, while the families of the people killed in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team bus crash each receive $475,000.
Those payments — which need to be approved by a judge — would come on top of the $50,000 paid this summer to each of the 29 families affected by the crash, meaning the totals are $475,000 for survivors and $525,000 for those who died.
The committee further recommended that any money left over from what is thought to be the most successful online fundraiser in Canadian history be split evenly among the 13 survivors and their families.
“We have considered the logic and fairness of our recommendations by asking two simple questions,” the committee wrote in its 19-page document filed in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench early Thursday afternoon.
“First, would any of the 13 survivors and their families trade places with any of the other 16 families in return for any amount of money? Of course, they would not.
“Second, would any of the 16 families who have lost a loved one forego any amount of money if they could have their sons, daughters or partners back? Of course they would, in a heartbeat.”
The money is currently controlled by the Humboldt Broncos Memorial Fund Inc., a non-profit corporation set up after the crash and tasked with overseeing its distribution under Saskatchewan’s untested Informal Public Appeals Act.
The report, the creation of which was approved by a judge as part of that process, addresses the question of “whether sharing equitable also means sharing equally;” it also addresses tensions the issue has caused among survivors and their families.
While the majority of the 24 families who agreed to be interviewed by the committee expressed interest in equal distribution, all but three acknowledged there were other fair, reasonable and acceptable ways to allocate the money, the report states.
The three “entrenched” claimants told the committee that support for equal distribution was “unanimous,” and two suggested that unless the committee recommended that option, “the reputations of individual committee members could be ruined,” the report states.
“We did not find their relatively aggressive approach to be helpful. Their comments did not influence our recommendations, but they did provide us with insight into the pressure to conform felt by many of the families,” the committee wrote.
According to court documents, some families were under intense pressure to conform, with one unnamed claimant stating, “No matter what you say you’re wrong. It’s a really hard position. If you advocate for yourself you go against others.”
While Straschnitzki said her family is grateful to those who donated, as well as the fact that the money should be disbursed soon, she acknowledged being among those who petitioned the non-profit controlling the money for an equal distribution.
“We kind of all just wanted it to be over with, and we had decided as the families that we wanted to have it split between the families instead of having it drag out and drag out and drag out,” Straschnitzki said.
Additional court documents filed Thursday state that while a lawyer based in St. Albert, Alta., submitted a petition asking for equal distribution, not all of the signatures could be verified and the non-profit recommended the judge follow the committee’s advice.
The lawyer, Stacy Maurier, declined to comment through a spokeswoman.
Humboldt Broncos Memorial Fund spokeswoman Tammy Robert said neither the non-profit’s board of directors nor the advisory committee would comment on the recommended distribution on Thursday.
MTL Aikins LLP, the law firm representing the memorial fund, also declined to comment, citing a matter before the court.
Sixteen people were killed and another 13 were injured when the Broncos team bus collided with a tractor-trailer at a highway intersection north of Tisdale on April 6.
The semi driver was uninjured, and now faces multiple dangerous driving charges.
This summer, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Neil Gabrielson approved “urgently” needed payments of $50,000 to each of the 29 families affected by the crash, as well as a plan under which the committee would determine how to disburse the rest.
Gabrielson also ordered that the money cover more than the expenses incurred by each of the families.
In its report, the committee said it “discontinued” looking into compensation based on expenses, partly because of a paucity of information and partly because the GoFundMe campaign was “never intended to operate as insurance.”
The committee includes hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser; Mark Chipman, chair of Winnipeg Jets owner True North Sports + Entertainment Ltd.; trauma expert Kevin Cameron; retired judge Dennis Ball; and Saskatoon surgeon Peter Spafford.
Gabrielson is expected to consider their recommendations at a hearing next week.