Mandatory Training for Hockey Quebec Coaches Warns of Systemic Racism, Includes Critical Race Theory

A slide on systemic racism within a mandatory leadership training module for Hockey Quebec. Screenshot via The Epoch Times

If you want to jump on the ice with kids in Quebec and volunteer as a hockey coach or assistant, you need to be instructed on “systemic racism” and “micro-aggressions,” according to training material viewed by The Epoch Times.

The mandatory leadership training requested by Hockey Quebec costs $35 and covers a lot of ground, from child development to concussions in sports.

It also has a section devoted to “inclusive leadership,” based on the controversial concepts of critical race theory (CRT). CRT is an ideology that aims to dismantle what it perceives as systems of white oppression, including the Western principle of equality under the law. It is similar to Marxism in that it is revolutionary in nature, but rather than pitting social classes against one another, power struggles are framed around race.

The Hockey Quebec training module explains there are two types of racism—“individual” and “systemic”—and that racism is present everywhere, embedded deep in people’s thoughts, and impacts every institution and sector in society.

“These systems that make up the way we live are often built and administered with a white bias that does not provide or allow equal or fair opportunities for racialized people to succeed,” the training material tells prospective coaches.

The question of whether systemic racism exists has played out differently in Quebec than in the rest of the country. Premier François Legault has pushed back against the notion and on other aspects of “woke” ideology.

The Hockey Quebec training takes a differing stance, saying that systemic racism “often leads to widespread discrimination” in fields such as health care, criminal justice, employment, housing, political influence, education, and more.

Along with recommending self-examination for “unconscious biases,” the training warns against committing “micro-aggressions,” which include “demeaning statements and remarks that racial minorities often experience when interacting with people who may engage in implicit racism.”

The training also quotes activist author Ibram X. Kendi, who is known to have said that the “only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination.”

A slide on systemic racism within a mandatory leadership training module for Hockey Quebec. Screenshot via The Epoch Times

“Parents typically don’t talk to their kids about race. They avoid conversations about racial inequities and dynamics in the community. As a result, those kids are taught to be racist by society,” Mr. Kendi is quoted as saying in the Hockey Quebec training manual.

Hockey Canada

The training is mandated by Hockey Canada, Hockey Quebec communications director Marie-Joël Desaulniers told The Epoch Times. Ms. Desaulniers did not reply directly to an inquiry as to whether Hockey Quebec supports the ideology taught in the training or the teachings of Mr. Kendi.

The office of Quebec’s sports minister declined to comment on the thesis of systemic racism promoted by Hockey Quebec.

“We’ll let Hockey Quebec explain the situation,” said the minister’s press secretary, Mathieu Durocher.

Hockey Canada would not confirm whether it imposes the inclusivity training on all provinces, or whether it has adopted CRT to drive its anti-racism objectives.

Spokesperson Esther Madziya only indicated that the Respect Group produced the training. The Respect Group Inc. is a third-party tech company that delivers online training programs on bullying and discrimination.

“Hockey Canada has a contract with the Respect Group who provide the non certification training programs to coaches,” said Ms. Madziya.

The Respect Group did not respond to an inquiry from The Epoch Times on whether it uses CRT deliberately in its training materials.

Changing the Culture

Hockey Canada is aiming to stamp out racism, other forms of discrimination, and bad behaviour perceived to beset the sport.

In recent years, some players have come out to denounce the sport’s culture, such as former NHL player Akim Aliu. Mr. Aliu accused his former coach Bill Peters of racist verbal attacks.

Hockey Canada held its Beyond the Boards Summit this month, which is said to be focused on “open conversations about how to make hockey more positive for all participants, including looking at facets of hockey culture that exist in areas of the sport such as elitism, gender-based violence, homophobia, misogyny, racism and sexism.”

Like other organizations’ recent attempts to eliminate racism, Hockey Canada, Hockey Quebec, and the Respect Group are promoting tenets of CRT and critical social justice, which according to its proponents diverge from those of the civil rights movement.

While Martin Luther King Jr. advocated that a person should be judged based on their character rather than their skin colour, CRT claims that white people are complicit in systemic oppression because of their traits.

“Unlike traditional civil rights discourse, which stresses incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law,” writes CRT thought leaders Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic in their book “Critical Race Theory: An Introduction.”

In academia, the ideology has gained ground in recent decades. It is now commonplace in public and private workplaces, along with other types of postmodern critical theories forming what currently passes as the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) framework.

DEI-type workplace training has come under the spotlight recently with the suicide of a former school principal employed by the Toronto School Board after he was accused by a DEI trainer of white supremacy. A ruling by a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board said the instructor had engaged in behaviour that was “abusive, egregious and vexatious.”

Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.