The equality commissioner recommends the union to apologize and pay compensation to the parties. Sami Kauhanen, CEO of the association, responded to the criticism presented by the representative.
The Ice Hockey Association is still trying to find an amicable solution to the suspected cases of racism in junior ice hockey. CEO of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association Sami Kauhanen however, states that the union now wants to look closely at the equality commissioner’s new statement about the case.
On Tuesday, the Commissioner for Equality took a stand on the racism scandal for the last time. The commissioner recommends that the Ice Hockey Association apologize to the parties involved in the case and pay compensation to them. The union should also commit to correcting its practices so that indirect discrimination does not happen again.
Last fall, a player of the under-13 junior team of Lahti Pelicans told his coach that he was racially insulted in a match. Earlier, the Jääkiekkoliitto rejected the equality commissioner’s settlement proposal and transferred the handling of the case to a law firm.
According to the equality commissioner, the statements of the union’s representatives have raised doubts about how seriously things are taken in the union. The statement also says that the Jääkiekkoliitto has not implemented the values to which it is committed in non-discrimination in its competition practices.
This is how Sami Kauhanen, CEO of the Jääkieksliiotto, answered
The Equality Commissioner strongly recommends that the Ice Hockey Federation settle the matter. According to the commissioner, the association should apologize, undertake to correct its practices, pay the legal fees of the club and coach Juha Soka, and pay compensation to Soka and the junior player. How do you comment on this?
– We have not yet had the opportunity to give our own response to the commissioner’s latest statement. We are still very willing to find an amicable solution to the matter.
According to the authorized representative, the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation has given insufficient evidence and incorrect claims in its response, for example about the training of referees for such situations. How do you comment?
– We will go through the authorized opinion carefully. Let’s look at things in more detail after we have gone through the statement.
According to the commissioner, the Ice Hockey Association has updated its guidelines during this investigation. However, the commissioner says that in the past it has not necessarily been understood in the union that the law and basic rights come before the guidelines. How are you going to change the operation of the union so that such situations do not happen again?
– In the ice hockey association, systematic work has been done for years to eradicate all types of inappropriate behavior. Immediately, when the case came to light in the winter, we started to update the guidelines regarding inappropriate behavior. We take this very seriously and will continue to do this work all the time. Honestly, there’s plenty to do.
You said in mid-May that the union is ready to apologize, but not to pay compensation. What is the union’s position now?
– We are still trying to find an amicable solution to the matter.
According to the commissioner, based on the statements of the representatives of the Ice Hockey Federation, doubts have arisen as to how seriously these issues are taken in the Ice Hockey Federation. How important are issues of equality and non-discrimination to the Ice Hockey Federation?
– First of all, it is really unfortunate if there is an image that the Ice Hockey Federation does not take such matters seriously. As I mentioned earlier, we have been doing systematic work for years to eradicate all types of improper behavior. Among other things, we have developed together with Väestöliito the “You are not alone” service. The service offers the possibility to report this type of cases.
– We investigate all cases of inappropriate behavior, even if they are not even mentioned in the match reports. So there is no need for a wake-up call for the matter to be brought up in the match report. All such cases will be investigated if only we get information about it.