Belleville District Girls Hockey Association Complaints Procedure
The BDGHA is committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for all participants. We understand that concerns or complaints may arise from time to time. This Complaints Procedure is designed to ensure that complaints are addressed promptly and fairly.
Please wait 24 hours before attempting to resolve any emotionally charged situations or submitting a formal complaint.
This procedure covers complaints related to any aspect of the BDGHA activities, including but not limited to player safety, coaching, behaviour, discrimination, harassment, or any other matter of concern.
Step 1: Informal Resolution: Speak with the coach, manager, or member
Initially, the member or player (or parent if the child is under the age of 18) should bring their issues or concerns to the coach, manager, or member, and a meeting or discussion should be held.
Step 2: Issue or complaint
If discussing the issue with the coach, manager, or member does not resolve it to everyone's satisfaction, or if the coach, manager, or member fails to respond to the complaint, a formal complaint can be submitted.
Formal Complaint: To file a formal complaint, the complainant should submit an online complaint to the BDGHA.
Please read each question on the form carefully and complete fully. Definitions have been provided to assist with completion of the form.
Please note:
1. BDGHA cannot guarantee complete confidentiality. The contents of this document may be shared to resolve the complaint here within.
2. By completing the form, you agree that BDGHA may share some or all of this information in the process of resolving the complaint.
3. Complaints will be addressed according to severity, resources and safety for participants.
Complete the BDGHA Complaint Form here: BDGHA Complaint Form
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Definitions (as they apply to this form)
The following definitions will be used to determine the grounds on which the complaint is made and the process to address it.
The definitions are meant as a supplement to the definitions found within BDGHA Code of Conduct as well as the OWHA/OHF. BDGHA acknowledges and supports Hockey Canada’s definitions of bullying, harassment and abuse.
Misconduct
Misconduct refers to the behaviour or a pattern of behaviour that is found, by a formal (ie, an independent investigation) or informal process (ie, an internal fact finding) to be contrary to the BDGHA Code of Conduct and that is not harassment, abuse or bullying.
Bullying
Bullying describes behaviors that are similar to harassment, but occur between child and youth that are not addressed under human rights laws. Bullying is intentionally (or nonintentional) hurting someone in order to insult, humiliate, degrade or exclude him or her. There are a number of specific categories of Bullying, as set out below:
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Physical Bullying: Hitting, shoving, kicking, spitting on, grabbing, beating others up, damaging or stealing another person’s property.
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Verbal Bullying: Name calling, hurtful teasing, humiliating or threatening someone, degrading behaviors; may happen over the phone, through text messaging or chat rooms, through social media sites, in notes or in person.
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Relational Bullying: Trying to cut off victims from social connection by convincing peers to exclude or reject a certain person. This may happen in person, over the phone, through the computer.
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Reactive Bullying: Engaging in bullying as well as provoking bullies to attack by taunting them.
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Cyber Bullying: Involves the use of information and communication technologies such as email, cell phones and text messaging, camera phones, instant messaging, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, defamatory personal websites, to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others, threaten, harass, embarrass, social exclude or damage reputations and friendships.
Harassment
Harassment is defined as conduct, gestures or comments which are insulting, intimidating, humiliating, hurtful, malicious, degrading or otherwise offensive to an individual or group of individuals which create a hostile or intimidating environment for work or sports activities, or which negatively affect performance or work.
Any of the different forms of harassment must be based on a prohibited ground of discrimination in human rights legislation, including race, ethnicity, colour, religion, age, sex, marital status, family status, disability, pardoned conviction and sexual orientation.
Hazing
Hazing is an initiation process that may humiliate, demean, degrade or disgrace a person regardless of location or consent of the participant(s).
Abuse
Child abuse is any form of physical, emotional and / or sexual mistreatment or lack of care which causes physical injury or emotional damage to a child. A common characteristic of all forms of abuse against children and youth is an abuse of power or authority and / or breach of trust. Abuse is an issue of child protection. Protection refers to provincial, territorial or Aboriginal band-appointed child protective services. A child may be need of protection from harm if abuse or neglect is suspected. Information about one’s legal duty to report and circumstances under which reporting must occur according to child protection legislation is available at www.hockeycanada.ca.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse is a chronic attack on a child or youth’s self-esteem; it is psychologically destructive behavior by a person in a position of power, authority or trust. It can take the form of name-calling, threatening, ridiculing, berating, intimidating, isolating, hazing or ignoring the child or youth’s needs.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is when a person in a position of power or trust purposefully injures or threatens to injure a child or youth. This may take the form of slapping, hitting, shaking, kicking, pulling hair or ears, throwing, shoving, grabbing, hazing or excessive exercise as a form of punishment.
Neglect
A general definition of neglect is the chronic inattention to the basic necessities of life such as clothing, shelter, nutritious diets, education, good hygiene, supervision, medical and dental care, adequate rest, safe environment, moral guidance and discipline, exercise and fresh air. Neglect may apply in a hockey setting where there is a chronic inattention in the hockey context (ie, when a player is made to play with injuries). Sexual Abuse Sexual abuse is when a child or youth is used by a child or youth with more power or an adult for his or her own sexual stimulation or gratification. There are two categories of sexual abuse: contact and non-contact.