Editorial April 2026

Rugby Canada Releases Annual Report – What’s Not Mentioned

Sometimes in the news it’s what’s missing that’s important. This is one of those stories. I struggled with writing this article but information was presented to me a while ago that keeps resurfacing in daily thought, and it’s time to share it with the wider rugby community, perhaps to excise it from my list of responsibilities as a rugby journalist. It’s an unpleasant story, it won’t make you feel good, so you may want to pause and turn back before proceeding.

The recent Rugby Canada AGM provided the segue into the article. The AGM document is here. They announced their new board, it’s the old board with a few changes. Steve Swaffield left and was honoured by Rugby Canada for his dedicated service at the Vancouver 7s. He was replaced by Toby Lang. There were 11 directors, now there are 10, who is missing. Jebb Sinclair, the men’s “Athlete-Appointed” Director. That’s where the story ties in. Jebb Sinclair resigned over an issue and nobody wants to talk about it, especially Rugby Canada.

The sad part is this looks like it all traces back to the Women’s 7s v John Tait issue, which subsequently caused the fall of Jamie Cudmore and now it looks like it’s claiming another victim or two. I should mention that one of the original complainants against John is on the Board and has an influence in the decision making, you can decide whether that’s ethical or not. I should also mention John was exonerated in an independent external review.

Here’s the story, one of Canada’s finest players was put forward for Hall of Fame consideration, the person is already in a Provincial Sports Hall of Fame, it seems a no brainer. The nomination was approved by the Rugby Canada Hall of Fame committee and initially approved by the Rugby Canada Board, the Board however held a subsequent meeting. This is where it gets dodgy, as it was explained to me, “Kathleen McGinn manipulated meeting protocol by sending out meeting requests with no agenda and then when Jebb said he had a conflicting business commitment and would have to miss the call, Kathleen McGinn went ahead knowing Jebb wouldn’t be on the call to defend the nomination and they reversed their decision.”  I should also mention Mark Wyatt resigned from the Hall of Fame committee after this. Also the player being nominated was a friend and teammate of John Tait and Jamie Cudmore.

I think the call should be for an independent review of the Board specifically in this matter, the Chair is “is a professor of Governance & Ethics of Data Analytics at the Humber Business School in Toronto, teaches Business Ethics at the Rotman School of Management, and is currently the director of Trustlab, a research + consultancy firm focused on organizational trust” so certainly understands how this matter effects organizational trust and may be a breach of ethics. If you want more on this story contact the people involved, the Board and HoF committee members are listed below.

Appendix

2025 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kathleen McGinn Chair
Steve Swaffield Vice Chair (replaced by Toby Lang)
Jim Logan Finance & Audit Committee Chair, Treasurer
Sandy Donald Secretary
David Fortier HR Committee Chair (now Vice Chair)
Lauren Wolman Governance Committee Chair
Tara Erskine Director
Sean Hofstetter Director
Dara Parker Director
Jebb Sinclair Director Athlete-Appointed
Karen Paquin Director Athlete-Appointed

2026 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kathleen McGinn (Chair)
David Fortier (Vice Chair)
Sandy Donald (Secretary)
Jim Logan (Treasurer)
Lauren Wolman
Karen Paquin
Dara Parker
Sean Hofstetter
Tara Erskine
Toby Lang

Hall of Fame Project Team Members (from RC site April 15th)

Mike Luke – Chair & Hall of Fame member
Al Charron – World Rugby & Rugby Canada Hall of Fame member
Bobby Ross – Hall of Fame Member
Stephanie White – Honorary Life member & Hall of Fame member
Mark Wyatt – Hall of Fame member
John Billingsley – Secretary Honorary Life Member
Roxanne Butler
Liz Ferguson
Josee Lacasse

Note: I didn’t specifically mention the player’s name at the request of the person providing information. People in the know will know. This person has daughters playing rugby and Rugby Canada can be vindictive.

Rugby Canada AGM media release

Rugby Canada held its Annual General Meeting on Friday, April 10, 2026, bringing together member unions from coast to coast to coast for a virtual meeting that reflected both the breadth of the organization’s community and the extraordinary momentum of the past year.

The 2026 AGM recognized the formal close of what can only be described as a generational year for Canadian rugby one that captured the nation’s imagination, grew the game at every level, and set the stage for an even more ambitious future.

A Historic Year on the Field

The 2025 season will be remembered for a long time. Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team reached the final of the Rugby World Cup in England, defeating New Zealand 34–19 in a historic semi-final before falling 13–33 to England in front of 81,885 spectators, the largest crowd ever to attend a women’s rugby union match. More than 3.7 million Canadians tuned in to watch the final on TSN and CTV, making it the most-watched rugby game in Canadian history.

Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team secured qualification for Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia through the Pacific Nations Cup, claiming their first victory over the United States since 2021 in front of a record Alberta crowd of over 11,600 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.

On the Sevens circuit, Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team earned bronze medals in Hong Kong, Singapore, and at the World Championships in Los Angeles, finishing fourth overall in the HSBC SVNS World Series. The Men’s Sevens program completed a rebuild year and qualified for SVNS 3 World Rugby’s tiered pathway back to the top flight.

Growing the Game

Rugby Canada closed 2025 with 46,118 registered participants an 11.9% increase year over year and formally launched the National Growth Plan 2025–2030, a five-pillar roadmap developed in collaboration with all ten Provincial Unions to continue to build strong, sustainable, inclusive rugby communities across the country.

The organization also completed the rollout of PlayHQ as Canada’s new national membership and registration platform, with full operational launch set for the 2026 season. The platform brings a modern experience to players, parents, coaches, and club administrators, with real-time analytics and integrated compliance tools.

Supporting our Teams to Win

The Mission: Win the Rugby World Cup fundraising campaign launched on International Women’s Day became Rugby Canada’s most successful team-based fundraising initiative in history, raising $1,129,550 to directly support the Women’s National Team’s World Cup preparations.

Board Elections

At the meeting, members voted to elect three directors to the Rugby Canada Board of Directors:

Jim Logan, currently serving as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee, was re-elected for a second three-year term.

Sean Hofstetter, Former Chair of the Nominations Committee, was also re-elected for a second three-year term.

Toby Lang of Vancouver, an experienced corporate-commercial lawyer at Loblaw Companies Limited with an extensive background in sport media rights and a long-standing member of Rugby Canada’s Governance Committee was elected as a new director for a three-year term. Toby brings expertise in commercial agreements, technology and media law, and sport governance, having previously negotiated media rights agreements with the IOC, World Rugby, and other major sporting bodies during his time at Bell Media.

Members also approved an amendment to Section 4.3 of the Rugby Canada Bylaws, clarifying term limits, eligibility for re-election, and how partial terms are counted strengthening the governance framework as the organization continues to mature.

The Rugby Canada Board of Directors for 2026/27 consists of:

• Kathleen McGinn (Chair)
• David Fortier (Vice Chair)
• Sandy Donald (Secretary)
• Jim Logan (Treasurer)
• Lauren Wolman
• Karen Paquin
• Dara Parker
• Sean Hofstetter
• Tara Erskine
• Toby Lang

2025 Annual Report & Audited Financial Statements

The 2025 audited financial statements and Annual Report have been posted to the Rugby Canada website. 2025 saw the organization navigate an extraordinary year of investment in high performance rugby, culminating in a Women’s Rugby World Cup Final and Men’s Rugby World Cup qualification. Rugby Canada remains committed to the financial sustainability of the organization as articulated in the Strategic Plan.