Welcome Matt: Rachel Doerrie taking on the Canucks publicly takes courage
I’m not surprised Rachel Doerrie went public, but I’ll bet the Vancouver Canucks are.
Her dismissal in September was public — as dismissals tend to be with pro sports teams — and she was most comfortable on social media given her previous incarnation as a podcaster. She is now back podcasting.
Let’s face it: taking on a beloved brand like the Canucks in the public sphere takes courage. She’s not short of that, either.
So whether her complaint to BC’s Human Rights Tribunal is successful or not, I do think she will have served notice to those looking at employment with Canucks Sports and Entertainment from this point forward.
For one, the politics of a hockey front office. Secondly, management’s apprehension towards the press. And third, that while you the employee will have a public end to your employment, the organization itself will not be called to public account minus extraordinary measures like human rights complaints.
That’s what Doerrie tells us on today’s show. That’s she’s hoping the Canucks have to account publicly for their actions.
Ideally, that’s what we all hope.
That the organization can operate in a manner where it doesn’t feel a need to silence employees with NDAs and other bully-pulpit mechanisms. That it operates in a manner that fans can be proud of. Where they don’t have to separate their affection for the team on the ice, with misgivings about management and/or ownership.
Blake and I are into our third decade covering this team, and the common theme from ex-employees is that there is a sadness or anger in the immediate aftermath when they are let go, followed by a liberation of being free from a restrictive workplace environment.
.@racheldoerrie on the #Canucks pressuring her to stay silent:
"They really said 'we would prefer that you didn't go public'…Peter [Gall] and I felt it was important to go public…it's not about money, all I've wanted is public accountability for it." @FifthAvenueREM
— Sekeres and Price (@sekeresandprice) November 29, 2022
Some incredible people have worked at CS&E over the years, and there are still some to this day. But talk to enough of them and it’s not exactly a bottom-up organization where people are free to do their jobs without interference from above.
If the likes of Mike Gillis and Trevor Linden have an expiration date on their autonomy, then you can imagine how that works for the people they empowered (or tried to empower).
Here’s betting that there are many ex-employees following this Doerrie story from the sidelines, cheering her on in a quest for public accountability.