Ottawa Sun apologizes to Melnyk, Sens for errors published about charity work

The Ottawa Sun issued a correction and apology to Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk after becoming aware of errors in a pair of columns by Rick Gibbons the publication ran last week, per Sportsnet's Wayne Scanlan.

One of the two articles is from June 5 entitled "Split between Senators and foundation boils down to money" and the other is from June 8 with the headline "Melnyk's tussle with Sens foundation could be a messy one."

"We sincerely apologize and regret any misunderstanding caused by the errors contained in the two columns," the Sun wrote.

"The Sun would like to clarify that it did not intend to suggest that Eugene Melnyk or the Ottawa Senators had exercised improper influence over the Ottawa Senators foundation or that they had attempted to misdirect, misappropriate, or misapply charitable funds of the foundation or The Organ Project."

According to the Sun, the June 5 article incorrectly inflated the amount that the team charged the Senators Foundation for rent. The original article cited that Melnyk charged "hundreds of thousands of dollars annually" when in fact that number was $78,750 in 2019.

The column also noted that charging charitable foundations for rent is not a common practice among sports franchises, but the Senators said they are "required by law to charge rent because of the arms-length structure of the foundation," also noting that the rent charged was below market.

The June 8 column referred to a Canada Revenue Agency filing that indicated Melnyk's private foundation, The Organ Project, donated just $5,000 of the nearly $1 million it raised to the Kidney Foundation in 2018. However, The Organ Project notified the Sun that its main goal wasn't to distribute money to other charities, but instead "to spend money it raised on activities aimed at promoting organ awareness and registration."

Melnyk issued a response to the Sun's apology later Friday:

"The unequivocal public apology by the Sun for the inaccuracies and mistakes it published will not undo the damage to my personal and professional reputation, my charitable work, the hockey club, and the stress on my family," Melnyk said in a statement from the team. "However, the apology is a necessary step to correct the falsehoods and to set the record straight."

Melnyk remains "disappointed and troubled by Gibbons' failure to live up to basic journalistic standards," per the team's statement. However, the statement also added that Melnyk is hopeful the Sun's apology will clear up any misunderstandings.