BadgerBruce
Registered User
- Aug 8, 2013
- 1,632
- 2,414
I don’t think he’s related to Rod, but I could be wrong.
Michael Brind’Amour’s journey to Board Chair of Hockey Canada is illustrative of what’s wrong with the organization.
Until VERY recently, when a small governance change (and what a knock down drag ‘em out fight that was!) required two females on the Hockey Canada Board, eligibility was restricted solely to those who previously served as either a Council Chair or President of one of the 13 Hockey Canada branches, and only the presidents of those branches cast ballots for board candidates.
To become a branch president (say, the president of Hockey Quebec or the Ontario Hockey Federation) is in itself ridiculously difficult because THOSE groups have their own regulations restricting who can run for their Boards and vote.
This is how “old boys clubs” are created and sustained. This is why the only people who ever get nominated are old white guys who are political animals. Them’s the rules.
Michael Brind’Amour followed this path.
From 1987-94, he sat of the Board of the Joliette Minor Hockey Association, ending as President.
This made him eligible to serve on the Board of the Laurentides-Lanaudiere region (1996-98) and then eligible to run for Vice-president and eventually President (1998-2002).
As the president of Laurentides-Lanaudiere region, he became eligible to run for the Board of Hockey Quebec (1998-2002) and then run for vice-president (2002-2006) and eventually president (2006-11).
Only as the President of Hockey Quebec did he become eligible to run for the Hockey Canada Board (2011-18), and only as a sitting member of the Hockey Canada Board did he become eligible to run for Chair (2018-2022).
This is how Hockey Canada works. It took Brind’Amour over THIRTY YEARS to climb the ladder from local minor hockey association president to Hockey Canada Board Chair.
It’s an old-boys network by design. W.A. Hewitt, Foster’s dad, sat on the Board from 1915-1964 — he was 89 years old and died just a few months later.
Seldom are Hockey Canada board members “hockey visionaries.” Rather, they are political survivors.
