The current Minor Hockey Association Board has made a
demand of the City which cannot legally be met.
For the City Council to tell the parent (and ratepayer) that he is not
permitted on arena property in two of its 17 arenas would be a violation
of the parent’s rights as a citizen.
A court challenge would result in a major expense to taxpayers and
perhaps lead to a large settlement in favour of the parent.
The tendering of the resignations of the Board members has now created
a situation where the Minor Hockey Association will cease to exist as a
corporate entity on January 1 since there will not be a Board of Directors
in place. All activity will have to be suspended until a new Board of
Directors is elected. To elect a new Board of Directors will simply mean
that the parents showed their support of the current Board members for
tendering their resignations, but were still willing to put in a new group
to go ahead with the season.
The father at the center of the controversy is allowed to attend the
games and the current Board of Directors, all of whom have served the
association faithfully for many years, will be replaced by a group of
well-meaning people who have no idea what is going on. The real losers in
this mess will be the kids.
There is only one way out of the situation. The Board of Directors
must rescind their resignations and accept the decision of the City to
allow the parent to enter the arena.
However, any further incident by the parent must be reported to the
legal authorities immediately, even if that means that the police are
called in and charges are laid. This may mean that one of the members of
the Board of Directors will have to attend the games during which the
parent’s son is playing and be prepared to step in and take any
necessary action. The officials already have the authority to deal with
parents and others who issue threats during a game.
The parent in question will likely be the best behaved person in the
arena, knowing that he is being watched and judged by everyone around,
including the children on the ice.
In this case, it is quite likely that it is the existing parents of the
Minor Hockey Association who will find themselves in the most precarious
of situations. They have publicly declared that they will not tolerate any
form of harassment, verbal or physical abuse from the father who was
suspended. In making this declaration, They have set extremely high
standards of behaviour for the parent, but in doing so, they they have
also set some very high standards for themselves. The next time one of
those parents feels emotionally moved to shout at a referee for making a
disputed call, or the next time a coach or a player threatens a referee,
what is going to happen? We know that the next time the father in question
does something similar, everyone will be all over him and someone will
likely be calling the police. Will the same standard be applied to all
other parents in the stands - without exception? It should.
What has taken place in this Northern Ontario community is that the
parents have said, "enough is enough". They have collectively
stated that no one should be expected to put up with harassment when in
the arenas. No one should be expected to feel threatened, verbally or
physically. Yet we all know that a lot of nasty things are said in the
heat of the moment during a hockey game. Where will the line be drawn? In
this community, it appears as if the hockey parents have said that zero
tolerance will mean zero tolerance - otherwise, they should not aim
criticism at the father who finds himself at the center of all the
controversy. It is best to remember that when you point your finger at
someone else, you still have three others pointing back at you.
