16 years ago, life as Derrick Henderson knew it changed.

"I can't ref hockey. I can't skate. I can't walk on my own. I can't golf. These were passions I used to do,” said Henderson.

The day it changed, Henderson said, Feb. 10, 2002, refereeing a pee-wee hockey game in Brandon.

In the second period, he remembers following a play in front of him and said he suddenly blacked out and fell into the boards.

“We had to do surgery on my spine, on my neck, four vertebrae were removed on my neck. I have rods on either side of my neck. I have to use crutches for the rest of my life,” he said.

Henderson is chief of Sagkeeng First Nation, located about an hour north of Winnipeg. He lives with a spinal cord injury.

Since his injury, he's spent a lot of time thinking about how referees in Canada are protected in the event of an accident.

After decades of officiating hockey and being a member of Hockey Manitoba, which has an insurance policy through Hockey Canada, Henderson said he got $300 dollars for physiotherapy.

He decided to go to take his fight for more compensation to court.

Henderson argued he suffered permanent spinal cord injuries as a result of a collision with a 13-year-old hockey player immediately after the player left the players' bench, with no warning and no opportunity to avoid it.

He claimed it's the legal responsibility of the coach when directing line changes during the play of a game to pay attention to the proximity of a referee in relation to the players' bench.

The case went to The Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba and The Manitoba Court of Appeal. Both dismissed the claim on the basis of no negligence or intent to injure or carelessness.

This past January, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal.

"I feel very defeated,” said Henderson. “Because when you do something that you love right, and you do it to the best of your ability and then when you ask someone for help and there's no one there.”

‘Unfortunate Accident’: Hockey Manitoba

Peter Woods is the executive director of Hockey Manitoba. He said injuries like Henderson's are not very common, and it's important refs educate themselves about available insurance policies.

Woods said if officials feel they need additional coverage they should access it themselves.

“As an organization we take safety of all our members seriously,” said Woods. “I think you also have a situation that was an unfortunate accident that did occur and if the individuals must recognize that there is a level of risk."

Kyle Scrivens has been reffing for 20 years. He said he's seen officials go down on the ice and refs hit in the face with pucks.

Scrivens has collided with player, and been hit with a puck, but overall believes reffing is relatively safe.

“If you put yourself in the right position, you don't have to worry about getting hit with players and pucks, sticks,” said Scrivens.

Henderson says the 16-year legal battle cost him $130,000.

He never imagined such a lengthy endeavour, let alone the injury, happening in the first place. He hoped by going to the Supreme Court, it might have set some new rules around officials who accidently get hurt. Now, he wants to warn other refs to hopefully help them avoid a similar fate.

Accident maximum $5,000: Hockey Canada

Hockey Canada said referees have been covered under their policies since 1986.

For anyone covered under their insurance which includes refs, coaches and players, it said the accident maximum is $5,000.

Hockey Canada encourages people to look at their policies online and make sure they're comfortable with them.