Media

From the St. Thomas Times Journal, Thursday December 17, 2009

A story about the road back

Posted By ERIC BUNNELL, Times-Journal

He's back on the ice -- and finally liking it.
"I'm starting to enjoy the game again -- for a long time, I didn't enjoy it," Sheldon Kennedy tells his audience of young people.

He's a former NHLer.  And he's a survivor of horrific sexual abuse by his former coach in the juniors.  It derailed his life.

Retired 10 years from pro hockey, Kennedy has returned to the ice, playing in Calgary,where he lives, with NHL alumni.  "I'm not bad," he smiles in an interview. "I'm probably better than when I was playing."   

And he is on the road again, as a founder of an organization which has developed leadership programs to equip adults and youth with the tools they need to recognize and respond to instances of abuse of young people.
Kennedy and co-founder Wayne McNeil were in St. Thomas on Wednesday at Parkside Collegiate Institute to say thanks to a school which has piloted their Respect Group Inc.'s online certification programs for leaders in school and sport.
"What an opportunity," he told a classroom of students, a number of them, themselves, coaches of younger children.   "What a gift, as a leader of youth, to be able to shape the lives of people in our care."Or wreck them."

The two men are hoping Thames Valley District School Board will pick up their courses board-wide.  "We look for leaders, and Thames Valley is looked at as a leader. We've been discussing with the Calgary board of education and they look at Thames Valley as a leader."   

Kennedy believes that had similar programs existed when he was victimized, his abuser might have been found out long before Kennedy had been abused hundreds of times.  "I think if Graham (James) had been charged back when he was 19 . . . the odds of it happening to me would have been unlikely."

Kennedy also recognizes there has been a sea of change in how society views abuse and its victims since he accused James publicly in 1996 -- only to be ostracized himself.   But James eventually was jailed for 3-1/2 years and Kennedy says the public now expects children to be better protected.

"It's never one guy," he deprecates of his own role in raising awareness.   "The media have kept stories like this in the forefront and centre across this country and abroad for a lot of years now, and I think society is ready for it."
Spearheading the pilot at her school, Francie Johnston, a chemistry and science teacher at Parkside, and a coach, said the respect programs give participants a common language to be able to identify issues and resolve them.

End of Article

If you have a media request for Respect Group Inc., or for interview requests with Sheldon Kennedy, please contact Wayne McNeil at 403-249-2963, or by email.